Sven Regener: Berlin Blues
In late October, ‘Sven Regener’ brought up 157,000 entries on my web site, many of which referred to Berlin Blues, Regener’s first novel. The book has sold over 250,000 copies, it has been adapted to film (2003) and has won Regener first prize at the German Film Awards 2004 for the best screen play. Its success has, presumably, encouraged Regener to write two prequels, the first of which, Neue Vahr Süd, was published this year and went instantly to number 3 on the best-seller list. So is there anything left for a reviewer to say other than ‘read it’? Especially a reviewer who does not have, and would not understand if she did, the original German text, in which there are no doubt nuances that enrich the story further. However, the English translation by John Brownjohn stands on its own two feet. It is a cheery read. And since reviewers are seldom lost for words – an overview follows!
Berlin Blues is a cartoon romp. The characters bounce from one antic trauma to another but, in true comic-book style, they emerge unscathed and ready to entertain us all over again. Protagonist Frank Lehmann, nearly 30, although buffeted by outrageous fortune in the shapes of an idiosyncratic dog, insistent parents, enigmatic girlfriends, belligerent drunks, officious clerks of the GDR and a depressed friend, concludes indifferently that life will ‘all work out somehow or other’.
Setbacks roll off the characters like the proverbial water on a duck’s feathers, and it is here that Regener displays his comic skill. Their lives appear to be going nowhere; relationships falter; Lehmann can be downright misanthropic; and his best friend Karl is torn destructively between genuine artistic expression and an unproductive bohemian life. Berlin Blues could quite easily have become depressingly nihilistic. The line between tragedy and comedy – between serious consequence and no consequence – can be a fine one, but Regener knows how to draw it consistently well.
Berlin Blues is a light read, but a quality light read, and that is rare. Like a good German white wine, it’s delicious, spritzig, goes down easily, and lingers on the palate. Critics refer primarily to Regener’s sparkling dialogue. This is not surprising. He writes not only from experience, but also with a musician’s ear for sound and meaning. Regener was born in 1961 in Bremen. In the 1980s he moved to West Berlin. He has written over 130 songs for his highly acclaimed band Elements of Crime, in which he is lead singer and virtuoso instrumentalist. His dialogue is a linguist’s delight: the characters say nothing and everything about themselves simultaneously. They use language as a social binder, a defence, a game, an inadequate medium to explain ideas like fulfilment and time; or as an outright insult. Language becomes a mire of frightening bureaucracy when Lehmann is interrogated in the GDR. On the other hand, a discussion – not one, but two! – on the merits of roast pork can cement friendships!
The comic elements, the dialogue, and the characters were the chief rewards that this reviewer reaped from Berlin Blues. Don’t look for a conventional or complicated plot structure - just like the life that it portrays, the story is episodic and linear. It is an impression, a comedy of manners that transcends the narrow timeframe in which it is set – September to 9 November, 1989. It joins the twentieth century genre of deliberate detachment from a broader reality. ‘In [Lehmann’s] opinion, [his boss] Erwin’s only problem was that he read Der Spiegel every Monday and took what it said far too seriously.’ Lehmann is disturbed by his girlfriend’s apartment, which seems to exude a meaning and purpose to life, though he can’t say precisely how ‘and, just to make matters worse, the question didn’t interest him in the least.’ His reaction to the fall of the Berlin Wall deserves you to read it.
All the characters are entertaining and likeable. There are four main ones. Despite his pragmatism and weltschmerz, Lehmann earns his reputation as ‘German literature’s favourite anti-hero’. He loves his parents – more so since they live ‘two national frontiers and several hundred kilometers away’ – and he loves his job at the Einfall, where he works ‘with a speed unrivalled by any other barman in town’. He drinks judiciously – sometimes – and he abstains from drugs. He falls in love with statuesque, independent Katrin, who in true emancipated style differentiates between loving and being in love. Karl is the guardian angel with, ultimately, very limp wings. The fourth ‘character’ is Berlin itself, particularly the Kreuzberg district. Landmarks are described with such affectionate detail that it would not be surprising if Regener draws literary pilgrims to Berlin just as John Berendt did to Savannah and Dan Brown has to half of Europe.
Enjoy Berlin Blues. Watch for the international distribution of the film. According to the web, it has become a romantic comedy. Hopefully, it is more than that. If not, the film has failed to do the book justice.
The Book
Regener, Sven: Berlin Blues / translated by John Brownjohn. - London : Vintage, 2003. - 249 pages
ISBN 0-09944923-4
