Without breathing space
Without respite (Russian Не переводя дыхания , Ne perewodja dychanija ) is a development novel by the Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg , written in Paris from November 1934 to January 1935 - published in 1935 in the March issue of the Moscow literary magazine Snamja .
Emergence
Although living in Paris, Ilya Ehrenburg took part in the 1st Congress of the Writers' Union of the USSR from August 17 to September 1, 1934 , where she played one of the leading roles. After his return to the French metropolis, as a leading Soviet author committed to socialist realism , he wrote without taking a break . The novel, dedicated to the second five-year plan of the Soviet Union , was acclaimed by Soviet literary critics in 1935, but the author considered its product to be less successful.
content
Komsomol and other communists came from the European part of the Soviet Union to the area around Arkhangelsk , that is, to the living space of the Nenets and Pomors , to build socialism there. Living there in 1934 means fighting the kulaks in those polar regions , draining the swamps around the Dwina , Suchona , Jug , Wytschegda and Vologda , and rafting and sawing the precious wood.
The father of the 24-year-old Russian Genja Sinitsyn was a typesetter on the shores of Lake Onega . Genja and Lolja Tatajewa got married. When the couple's daughter Dasha - not even a year old - dies of diphtheria , the marriage falls in two. Genja, the man with the green eyes, quickly gets over the loss: "Lolja was a mistake". He makes a name for himself as a speaker at meetings of his party at the presidium table. When another Komsomolze dies on one of the construction sites outside - Zwetkow was crushed by an excavator - he goes and talks to the people. His teaching is not well received. Even more - hatred hits him. One of them shouts: “Conceited Fatzke!” Genja resigns himself and thinks with envy that what he thinks is a stupid Petya Mesentsev will become the Komsomol secretary. Genja denounced Petya to the leading comrades. Petya married into a foreign class. His wife Varya Stasova is a Kulak daughter. That's true, but it turns out that Varya grew up with an aunt who was loyal to the line . Varya goes to the raftsmen and becomes a respected Wiedenbinder .
Genja lets herself in with the two years older, thin, pale Natascha Krasnikowa. The young woman works at the forest institute. Natascha - like Lolja - does not appear to Genja as the right one. What to do in the Arctic Circle Tolstoy and Stendhal's novels are boring.
According to the will of 47-year-old comrade Golubjow, head of the raft locks, the “qualified youth organizer” Genja should start a university course. Genja now supports Petya's candidacy for the post of Komsomol secretary and wants to go to Moscow.
In Moscow, Genja spent months projecting a rope bridge. The project fails. The necessary ropes are not made in Germany. In addition, Genja has to educate herself mathematically with all her talent. The years of study required is not Genja's business. But he also does not want to do an ordinary day's work - like everyone else.
So - Genja explains to his new Moscow friend Vera Gorlowa - he wants to write. Vera, the daughter of a lawyer, had proven herself as a worker in a textile factory for three years after her father's death and was accepted into a technical college.
Genja confesses to Vera that he thought Petya Mesentsev was a fool because he showed consideration for the others. Moscow with its crowds is not for Genja. He wanted to live under harsh conditions and had to part with Vera even though he loved her dearly. He also loved Lolja, even if he hadn't admitted that to Vera beforehand. Genja goes to the island of Waigatsch . As a mechanic he wants to overwinter where zinc is extracted. Vera goes to Sverdlovsk ; works at the Verkh-Issezki plant. In a greeting broadcast on the radio to those hibernating, Vera also speaks up and says: “Genja, can you hear me? This is Vera Gorlowa speaking, your wife ... I'm waiting for you ... “Genja hears it and his green eyes shine.
Other things
Ilja Ehrenburg sprinkles Soviet achievements into the text. Raftsmen afflicted with rheumatism should be sent to Solvytschegodsk , Krasnoborsk or Totma for treatment.
Names of excellent workers come up on the red board .
The botanist Iwan Nikititsch Ljass, probably an image of Trofim Lyssenko , suits the romantics in the far north. The scientist Lyass raves about ships on the Arkhangelsk-Vladivostok line , about the cultivation of mulberry trees at the 65th parallel , jarovizes wheat at the Arkhangelsk Agricultural Institute and is sullenly rejected by the established peasantry. Ljass never gives up. The tough explorer winters on the island of Kolgujew .
Web links
- Entry at fantlab.ru (Russian)
German-language editions
- Without breathing space. From the Russian by Ruprecht Willnow. P. 281–495 in: Ilja Ehrenburg: The second day. Without breathing space. Novels. With an afterword by Ralf Schröder . Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1974 (1st edition, edition used)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Russian Знамя (журнал), The banner
- ↑ Second Five-Year Plan 1933–1937
- ↑ On contemporary reviews of the book at livelib.ru (Russian)
- ↑ Edition used, p. 327
- ↑ Edition used, p. 487, 3rd Zvu