Novel set in 1980s EAST BERLIN

22nd August 2024

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, novel set in 1980s East Berlin.

TR: Michael Hofmann

Winner of the International Booker Prize 2024

Nineteen year old Katharina meets Hans by chance on a bus. He is 30+ years her senior and is, in fact, older than her father. This is their story set against the stark backdrop of East Berlin as they snatch stolen moments together, given that Hans is married and has a child. It is an unremarkable story of lust and intense intimacy told in lacklustre terms. I assume the story is written in this way in order to mirror the dreary nature of life in East Berlin at the time, with their Stasi and Trabants, lives coloured by the muted cream, mustard and brown hues of the buildings and interiors. There is no luminosity, no colour – it exemplifies life as it was behind the Iron Curtain, and the ochre colour of the book cover echoes the routine humdrum of life. This bland depiction, of course, doesn’t engender an immersive reading experience, it can feel alienating and monochrome, which is perhaps the intention – although that makes it a rather dull and intense read.

Katharina gets an exit pass to visit her grandmother on her birthday and seems shocked by the down-and-outs and the drug-taking on the other side of the Wall, and soon scuttles back to the safety of East Berlin, shocked by some of the things she saw in the West. Hans counts down the hours to her return, she, too, desperate to be reunited with him. The author captures the essence of life in the Eastern part of the city, as the drama of the relationship between the two people plays out.

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Sex, of course, is a binding element, and part way into the relationship, Hans decides to thrash her with a belt. This activity comes out of the blue and was the point at which I felt I had to consciously persevere with reading this novel, the text was beginning to feel like words on a page rather than an exploration of feelings and emotions. It is telling that Hans resorts to flagellation and in the same breath reveals that, as a child, he was aroused at the dentist when he heard screams from the treatment room. Katharina’s response to the belt is emotionally uninspired: “Only now, thinks Katherina, do I know him“. Really?

The narrative feels quite stilted and it may be that that is how the German is penned. But I do, however, think there are issues with this translation that exacerbate the clunky nature of the prose and I am surprised an editor hasn’t picked up on this. Michael Hofmann is an acclaimed and experienced translator, it is strange, therefore, that oddities have crept in. The English is a slightly unedifying mix of American and British-English, so it feels the translator can’t make up his mind which to use.: “Mum” (UK English) is used, as is “Oldster” denoting an older person (American English). “Just as he is about to turn off the standing lamp….” – in UK it is a standard lamp –  standing lamp may be American English, I don’t know, but it is also certainly a literal translation of the German Stehlampe. The major faux pas is that he refers to Alexanderplatz as ‘the Alex’ and no-one in Berlin would say that …”Shall we meet on the Alex?” is just odd (and a literal translation), it’s always just ‘Alex’ in English. “At her back, cars are moving and stopping…” which just isn’t quite right. And at one point Hans is described as getting ‘tight‘ in the Hotel Berolina, which may be a nod to typical parlance of the era but probably won’t mean anything to most readers (it means getting drunk). Overall, I just couldn’t help but hear the clatter of the German rumbling on in the background and that is never a good sign.

I felt that the book did conjure up the feel of East Germany of the Cold War very well and there were many specifics which made it feel era correct and evocative of the times, but the story of the unfolding relationship and the way it was translated, just left me cold and slightly irritated – and mildly surprised that it won such a prestigious prize given some of the other contenders. I did take the book with me on a recent trip to Berlin – amused to see another passenger on the plane also reading it (obviously someone else who is into #literarywanderlust). It did give me a sense of footsteps past as I moved around the city, although marred by the points above.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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