Times of Turmoil (novel)

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Times of turmoil (English original title: Revolutionary Road ) is the 1961 debut novel by the American writer Richard Yates . The novel appeared in the GDR for the first time in German under the title The Year of Empty Dreams 1975. In 2002 a new translation was published under the title Times of Unrest . The film was released under the same title in German-speaking cinemas in 2008. The literal translation of the title Revolutionary Road is road of revolution . In a street of that name, which refers to the American Revolutionary War ( English American Revolutionary War) refers to inhabit the protagonist of the novel, the couple Wheeler, their homes. Against the background that a ton of pressure to conform drowns every revolutionary spark in the hearts of the two characters in the novel, the choice of the title was full of bitter irony; Yates said in an interview in 1972, "There was a great need for conformity across the country, and not just in the suburbs - it was a kind of blind and desperate clinging to safety and security at all costs."

1962 Times of Turmoil was nominated for the National Book Award , but lost together with the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller to the novel Der Kinogeher by Walker Percy . All three novels are now considered classics of American literature .

action

The novel takes place in a typical American suburb in 1955. The book revolves around the hopes and longings of Frank and April Wheeler - a young married couple who believe they are better than their neighbors even though they lead the same made-up life. April and Frank come from a middle-class background. In his youth, Frank was considered by his friends to be the one who was “responsible for the intellectual”. April dreamed of a career as a star in a drama school. When the action begins, they are in their late twenties and already disaffected to a certain extent: April is a housewife and mother, her husband Frank works as an office worker in what he sees as a completely stupid job. But both still think that they will escape the rut in the near future, because they believe they are called to higher things.

The novel begins with the description of an evening at the theater in a school. An amateur playgroup gives the play The Petrified Forest by Robert E. Sherwood . April Wheeler has the female lead. Her husband hopes that if the performance is successful, people will see him as the intellectual he thinks he is. But everything turns into a fiasco: The amateur players are overwhelmed, the nearsighted director with bald head has to give the youthful hero at short notice because the male lead has diarrhea, and April Wheeler acts helpless and headless on stage.

On the way home from the theater performance, there is a heated argument between April and Frank. A little later, Frank starts an affair with his colleague Maureen. Convinced that they could leave their conformist suburban life behind them, April suggests to her husband that they should emigrate with the children to France. Frank knows Paris from a short stay during his stationing as a member of the American armed forces and has since equated France with cliché with an unconventional lifestyle. April fantasizes about the idea that she would already find work there and earn so much that Frank could start studying at a French university. Frank already feels close to great intellectuals like Sartre , of whom he once heard, and pretends to himself and April that he has more than just a rudimentary knowledge of French. Hope for a new beginning in France brings the couple closer together again, and Frank also seems to give up his relationship with Maureen.

The France dream bursts when April becomes pregnant again. Frank is now beginning to identify more and more with his office work and can hope for a promotion. April is considering an abortion while Frank tries to convince her that she needs psychiatric help because of her difficult childhood and adolescence. In their hopelessness, April Shep Campbell, a family friend, gives in, while Frank resumes his relationship with Maureen. Finally, April tries to have the child she's expecting abortion herself, injuring herself so badly that she dies of blood loss. The novel ends with a new couple moving into the Wheelers' home on Revolutionary Road.

The Wheelers' critical attitude towards the life they lead is shared by three other characters in the novel. Like the Wheelers, their neighbors and friends Shep and Milly Campbell also reflect their reservations about the American way of life , although such insight is not followed by action. The caricature of such an “act”, on the other hand, is the nervous collapse of John Givings. John is the son of a real estate agent who, according to the Wheelers' judgment, stands for everything they reject: superficial, mindless, consumer-oriented, conformist America. The only way John escapes his mother's stupid and sweet smile, in which all this culminates, is in the mental institution where he has lived since his breakdown. From there, Mrs. Givings brings him with her for the occasional lunch with the Wheelers, because she is convinced that he is a good fit for the couple. Indeed, John Givings' honest, if erratic, contempt for his mother's suburban lifestyle resonates with the Wheelers.

Reviews

Jessica Schneider points out how effectively Yates used dialogue in a review for The Moderate Voice . Yates is able to write gripping, realistic and script-ready dialogues, but does without it in moments when the reader does not need them due to his knowledge of the characters and the familiarity of the situation. As an example, she cites the scene in which Frank Wheeler separates from his lover. The scene begins with the sentence I think we should talk to each other . Then Yates continues:

“What happened after that, even while it was happening, was less like reality and more like a dream. Only parts of his consciousness were involved, the rest was a distant observer of the scene, ashamed and helpless, but relatively certain that he would wake up soon. The way her face darkened when he started talking, the way she jumped off his lap and fled to her dressing gown, which she was clutching around her neck as if she were wearing a raincoat in a downpour as she paced the carpet step - good; in that case you don't need to say anything more, do you? There was no reason for you to come at all, was there? - it all seemed to be nothing but unpleasant memories before it even happened. It was no different with the way he followed her in the room, wringing his hands miserably while he apologized and apologized. "

- Times of Turmoil, Part 3, Chapter 4

Michael Schmidt calls in a meeting for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung Revolutionary Road a snapshot of a New York Suburbs in the summer of 1955, which had been unjustly forgotten. As soon as it appeared, this novel struck the heart of society; it was precise in detail, but not as mocking as John Updike, for example, and not as fatalistic and laconic as Raymond Carver later demonstrated with comparable subjects.

Marion Lühe writes on the occasion of the new translation of the novel in the taz that Yates' novel is the precise and haunting psychogram of a marriage that carries the “virus of failure” from the start. With biting comedy, Yates registered hatred and violence under the thick surface of kitsch sentimentality, the hidden humiliations and destructive self-reproaches, the abysses that still open up behind the most trivial utterances. In razor-sharp snapshots he shows the tragedy of two people who see through their situation very clearly and yet do not have the strength to free themselves from this “state of total self-deception”.

filming

John Frankenheimer thought about a film adaptation shortly after the publication of Times of Turmoil . The film rights were first acquired in 1967 by the producer Albert S. Ruddy , then by the actor Patrick O'Neal , who did not make the film until his death in 1994. Eventually David Thompson acquired the rights to BBC Films. In March 2007, BBC Films partnered with DreamWorks and the rights to sell the film worldwide were given to Paramount , the owner of DreamWorks. The novel was finally filmed by Sam Mendes in 2008 under the same name ; the script was written by Justin Haythe.

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  1. ↑ Henry, DeWitt and Clark, Geoffrey. An Interview with Richard Yates, Plowshares , Winter, 1972
  2. ^ Revolutionary Road , Random House 2007, Epub ISBN 978-1-4464-2072-0 . P. 10.
  3. ↑ English-language review of the novel by Jessica Schneider, January 2008 ( Memento from January 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 17, 2014
  4. ^ Revolutionary Road , Random House 2007, Epub ISBN 978-1-4464-2072-0 . P. 149. In the original the quote is: What happened after that, even while it was happening, was less like reality than a dream. Only a part of his consciousness was involved; the rest of him was a detached observer of the scene, embarrassed and helpless but relatively confident that he would soon wake up. The way her face clouded over when he began to talk, the way she sprang off his lap and fled for her dressing gown , which she clutched around her throat as tightly as a raincoat in a downpour as she paced the carpet - 'Well; in that case there really isn't anything more to say, is there? There really wasn't any point in your coming over today, what there? - these seemed to exist as rankling memories even before they were events; so did the way he followed her around the room, abjectly twisting one hand in the other as he apologized and apologized. '
  5. ^ Review of Richard Yates' work, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2006 , accessed on August 17, 2014
  6. ^ The Lies of the Suburbs - Review of the novel by Marion Lühe, taz, March 11, 2003 , accessed on August 17, 2014
  7. ^ Blake Bailey: Revolutionary Road - the Movie. Leonardo DiCaprio. Kate Winslet. Richard Yates' dark novel is finally being made into a Hollywood movie . On: slate.com , June 26, 2007.
  8. ↑ Pamela McClintock: DiCaprio, Winslet to star in 'Road'. Duo together again for 'Revolutionary' . In: Variety , March 22, 2007.

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