Esther Kinsky

It is said that the nature of a couple’s relationship becomes clear during the holidays. Far from work and everyday life, one cannot escape one another, and the mechanisms of a relationship emerge undistorted. (…) That is definitely the case in the Hungarian holiday village in Esther Kinsky’s novel Sommerfrische. They are all here together, all through a dry summer, old and young, strangers and friends. The women are called Zsuzsa and Marika, and the men are called Feri and Attila. They go fishing and have barbeques, laze around or do DIY on their houses. “Üdölö” is the name of the village, which sounds almost like idyll.
But only almost. The monotonous tranquillity soon brings out the worst sides of human coexistence. Here, everyone exists at the expense of someone else. A woman gives her children’s room to passing travellers to earn money. A man who “is in the onion trade” makes other people peel sacks of onions for months on end. But the whole thing is illegal and the police confiscate everything, leaving the onion peelers with nothing but tears in their eyes. Even people who are right at the bottom of the pile find someone who is further down the food chain.

Verena Mayer: "Nichts ist wie etwas anderes"
© Literaturen 7/8, 2009