Remsik
Remsik ( Russian Ремзик ) is a short story by the Abkhazian writer Fasil Iskander , which appeared in 1974 in issue 9 of the Moscow literary magazine Junost on pages 21-39. The translation into German by Renate Landa came out in 1978 at Volk und Welt in Berlin.
content
It's a war summer. The twelve-year-old boy Remsik does not understand why there can be a hero and a pest in his family. The latter is Remsik's father, a Russian geologist who the mother met during an expedition in the mountain village of Tschegem , her birthplace. For four years now, Remsik and his two older siblings have had to do without their father. When his father discovered mercury in the mountains, he had made some mistake. He was arrested for this and still has to work in the Vorkuta mine . The hero in the family is Remsik's uncle Bagrat, a pilot who has survived previous missions against the Germans in his Po-2 . Unfortunately, Aunt Lyussja, his young, childless, fun-loving wife from Moscow, is far too often alone in her place of residence, an unnamed Caucasian city. Remsik lives with his aunt so that she is not so lonely. The mother has ordered her youngest there. Remsik does not want to admit that Aunt Lyussja cheats on his beloved Uncle Bagrat with a local doctor during his war missions against the enemy at home. But the mother convinces Remsik of the truth. The very truth becomes unbearable for the schoolboy. The bad thing is, Remsik wants to do something for his father and his uncle, but he doesn't know how to lead the hopeless fight against the omnipresent injustice in the world. So he bugs out; hitchhikes to the siblings in the village of Anchara. The mother lives with the children there with the sister and works as a doctor in the hospital. She won't come home until evening. Remsik, for example, accepts his grandfather's offer and in the summer heat swims a half-wild, rebellious horse in the nearby river. Remsik finally sees an opportunity to steel himself in the fight against the overpowering world. The schoolchild wants to tame the stubborn, furious horse and dies while trying, left alone.
reception
Krempien calls the "substitute fight of the child hero" Remsik against the rebellious horse a Donquichotie .
German-language editions
- Fasil Iskander: Remsik. Translated from the Russian by Renate Landa . Pp. 5–55 in: Exquisite 3. Caucasian Novellas. With an afterword by Herbert Krempien (also contains: Tschingis Hussejnow: Comrade Unknown . Hrant Matewosjan: Mother is going to marry the son . Maksud Ibragimbekow: All good things stand for death . Artschil Sulakauri : The waves are drifting to the shore ). Volk und Welt, Berlin 1978. 328 pages (used edition)
Web links
- The beginning of the text online at e-reading.link (Russian)
annotation
- ↑ To localization: Chernyavka (Russian Чернявкa) and Mayak (Russian Маяк) are nearby. The village of Anchara (Russian Анхара) is not far. (Edition used, p. 10, 5. Zvo and p. 11, 9. Zvu)