Book of the month 2004

© S. Fischer

"Sometimes" my mother said "your father doesn't answer for hours. You have to see how he closes his eyes when I say baroque and it is not baroque. He knows everything. I know nothing." Her voice sounded almost triumphantly. I thought "That's what it's like to travel with my parents." Further in the text: "I thought about that uneasy feeling which I had so often when travelling with my parents. The feeling of sticking out, looking strange, being watched and laughed at. Freaks. Now I waited for that feeling. However, it never came." In the short story Aqua Alta the narrator describes a vacation in Venice with her parents and how during the stay she experiences an unpleasant erotic encounter with an unknown Venetian.

Most of Hermann's stories are about travelling. They are set in foreign places such as, Venice, Prague, Karlovy Vary, Nevada, Reykjavik and Tromsø. Unlike in her first, highly praised and celebrated collection of short stories The Summer House, Later the author does not relate to life in post reunification Germany. Her second collection Nothing But Ghosts awaited with great anticipation, accentuates new perspectives. The foreign places allow the characters a distanced view from the "outside", emphasise the moment of alienation- a crucial idiosyncrasy of Hermann's stories. The places like the characters however, remain eerily unreal and lifeless.

Only very little happens in the texts. Intentionally they do not comply with the expectations of the genre of the short story. They do not contain any surprising developments or twists and the narratives remain quite unspectacular. In almost motionless images and retrospection the author tells about the characters and their relationships. The stories similarly depict friendship and love with a covert sexual motif. Mostly however, disappointment is the nominator for the relationships, rarely real closeness and partnership.

Nothing But Ghosts the title story describes Ellen and Felix on their journey through Nevada. The desert and the typically functional motel present the perfect backdrop for the couple's relationship, characterised by silence and boredom. In Nevada Ellen and Felix encounter the foreign and unexpected in the most unspectacular way possible: Firstly, in the persona of the ghost hunter who attempts to catch the voices of the dead with an old fashioned tape recorder. Secondly, with Buddy a young baseball-capped American with a beer belly. Both are fascinated by Buddy's "Dominance ...his visible strength and concentration." Together they play a game of pool, chat and shake hands at the end. That's all. For Ellen and Felix however, the encounter will change their whole life.- Eventually they will have a child who will be told that it exists because: " Buddy in Austin, Nevada told us that we don't know what it's like to buy runners for children. A pair of perfect tiny runners."

Judith Hermann's texts are written in plain, almost laconic style. Linguistically they are easily accessible and sometimes even seem trivial in their descriptions. However, the author's talent of capturing everyday situations and moods with detailed precision is captivating. She entices the readers by moving closely to her/his experiences and perceptions. The figures however refuse to be taken in by the reader or identify with her/him. They all seem out of touch with life and affected in their manner, suffering from melancholy and alienation.

Little distinguishes the characters: They are all approximately 30 years old, just like the author, they smoke and drink a lot and where ever they are they don't seem to experience a lot, apart from narcissistic self-reflections: "In Tromsø I stayed inside. Nearly without exception. I decided to pretend that the room in Gunnarshus was a place, where I'd live with no end in sight. A place where the world would pass by outside my window and I could be anywhere I wanted. The outside was meaningless (...) I had a feeling as if I had been washed into this room by chance in order to find out something about me. How things should go on with me and everything else."

Admittedly the characters' extreme indifference towards the world and their actual inability to communicate with each other, is not always convincing and impedes the fascination which Hermann's stories radiate. This fascination lies mostly in her narrating style and the meaning she gives to the smallest gestures and moments.

TD

Bibliographic Details
German	English Translation
Hardcover: Hermann, Judith: Nichts als Gespenster. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 2003 ISBN 3-10-033180-X EUR 17,90	Hardcover: Not available yet.
Paperback: Hermann, Judith: Nichts als Gespenster. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 2004 ISBN 3-596-15798-6 EUR 8,90	Paperback: Not available yet.
Audio-CD Hermann, Judith: Nichts als Gespenster. DHV - Der Hörverlag, München, 2004 ISBN 3-89940-073-9 EUR 24,90