Cairos is the god of the crucial moments in life. He stands in contrast to Kronos who is the god of the long time spans. By choosing this particular figure from Greek mythology, there is reason to believe that German Jenny Erpenbeck more than suggests that even very unequal couples can fall in love with each other in a way that becomes vital. This time it’s about Katharina at nineteen, who falls in love with Hans at fifty-four and vice versa. Age difference: 34 years. We are on the east side of the Berlin Wall. The Cold War is coming to an end. They meet on the bus on a Friday in July 1986. He is married and has a son. From here we follow them almost minute by minute as they walk along the streets of Berlin. We are with them on a secret boyfriend trip to Moscow. We are also with Katharina when she is granted a trip to visit her grandmother in the capitalist West. Socialist sexual morality Slowly, almost devoutly, I embrace these aspects of this novel. I enjoy every page, although it is also a bit painful to read. Hans is a classic cultural man. He has had many mistresses, something Erpenbeck portrays without moralizing. It seems rather an obvious thing in a country, which admittedly was a dictatorship, but which was quite liberal in matters of sex and cohabitation. Monogamy was, at least in the cultural, urban middle class around Berlin Mitte, obviously seen as a bourgeois-religious phenomenon. How Erpenbeck builds up East Berlin’s geography in these years is deeply fascinating. Hans and Katharina meet at Ganymed on Schiffbauerdamm, a restaurant that still exists, but most of all the author shows everything that has been lost during the years that have passed since the GDR was removed from the map. On the trail of lost time The jargon and frame of reference are common to two people who grew up in the “Labor and Peasant State”. Hans and Katharina share a common, ideological worldview, which appears very exotic to us today. In Cairos »Jenny Erpenbeck is not only on the trail of lost time. The country is gone. It has made the task bigger, but the result all the more fascinating – and a little exhausting. After the hot summer evenings – that smell of lilacs! – comes colder frost nights, also in the relationship between Katharina and Hans. When the relationship eventually idles, the novel does the same. It’s simply not so charming with a middle-aged, jealous man filming accusations against his young mistress – even if he does it on tape! International fan base Jenny Erpenbeck has made a few German writers succeed. She has gained a committed fan base also outside the country’s borders. Her previous novels have moved across national borders, addressing European and global issues. One does not have to be particularly interested in German history and culture to enjoy the book, but it helps. Here it is easy to get lost in all the (East) German references. Although the love affair could just as easily have arisen in Bodø as in Berlin, there is no doubt that this is her most “German” novel to date. Supporting the Soviet Union Interesting, not least in light of the current war in Ukraine, are also Hans’ thoughts on the Soviet legitimate right to a German “buffer zone”. The Russians, says Hans, and mean then the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, really wanted to allow free elections throughout Germany. The only thing they could not accept was that a united Germany should enter into a military alliance aimed at the Soviet Union. It is possible to strongly disagree with this presentation of history, but in this novel it is first and foremost for Erpenbeck to show how the GDR people thought. More reviews of Jenny Erpenbeck books: news reviewer Photo: Forlaget Oktober Title: «Kairos» Author: Jenny Erpenbeck Translator: Ute Neumann Publisher: Oktober Genre: Roman Number of pages: 391 Date: Spring 2022
ttn-69
“Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck – Reviews and recommendations
