I shock, therefore I am: “Wetlands”
Ort:Toronto
Ereignis: HarperCollins Canada, the Goethe-Institut Toronto and This Is Not A Reading Series launch the controversial bestseller “Wetlands” in North America.
Helen, 18, is about to go under anesthesia for repair of a cut she got shaving her bum. […] Our Helen does survive anesthesia, and the entire 229 pages of Wetlands take place in her three-day recovery in the proctology ward, where she passes the time by remembering petty crimes and lewd sex acts (which seem to be the only two activities she engages in, besides growing and then molesting her avocado "family") and plotting to reunite her divorced parents. The hospital environment is a brilliant vehicle for debut novelist Charlotte Roche to show what it's like to be young and female and damaged, to be both pitiless and powerless and on display. [… But] Helen has exposed herself more than the entire staff could do to her, and in doing so, reversed the relationship: She tramples other people's boundaries in order to repair (a little) the shambles of her own. Exhibitionism as a cure for shyness. [… Charlotte Roche] does not apologize, excuse or explain Helen. […But] how could some of those who have commented on the book in other countries have called Wetlands porn? Helen is a child, a wounded person in a hostile environment, creating her own pride and boundaries. Without self-pity, without therapy. […] Because there is little precedent in literature for a pure female hero, our bad, skinny, lonely, aggressive Helen is difficult to recognize as such. She has no tenderness for herself, and so there is no guide for where or how to see what is true and fragile in this young, gross, criminal slut. […]
Ereignis: HarperCollins Canada, the Goethe-Institut Toronto and This Is Not A Reading Series launch the controversial bestseller “Wetlands” in North America.
Helen, 18, is about to go under anesthesia for repair of a cut she got shaving her bum. […] Our Helen does survive anesthesia, and the entire 229 pages of Wetlands take place in her three-day recovery in the proctology ward, where she passes the time by remembering petty crimes and lewd sex acts (which seem to be the only two activities she engages in, besides growing and then molesting her avocado "family") and plotting to reunite her divorced parents. The hospital environment is a brilliant vehicle for debut novelist Charlotte Roche to show what it's like to be young and female and damaged, to be both pitiless and powerless and on display. [… But] Helen has exposed herself more than the entire staff could do to her, and in doing so, reversed the relationship: She tramples other people's boundaries in order to repair (a little) the shambles of her own. Exhibitionism as a cure for shyness. [… Charlotte Roche] does not apologize, excuse or explain Helen. […But] how could some of those who have commented on the book in other countries have called Wetlands porn? Helen is a child, a wounded person in a hostile environment, creating her own pride and boundaries. Without self-pity, without therapy. […] Because there is little precedent in literature for a pure female hero, our bad, skinny, lonely, aggressive Helen is difficult to recognize as such. She has no tenderness for herself, and so there is no guide for where or how to see what is true and fragile in this young, gross, criminal slut. […]
von Lisa Carver, Globe and Mail, 27. Februar 2009
info@toronto.goethe.org
Anfahrt
