Open Password – Wednesday February 9, 2022
#1027
Homage to the book – Open Password – Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen – Martine Demay – Trobadora Beatriz – Irmtraut Morgner – Guardianship of men – France and Germany – Prosperous society – Politicized student body – GDR – Women’s movement – Emancipation epic – Aufbau-Verlag – Equality of women – Emancipation epic – Alice Schwarzer – Stella Dobertin – Christina – Bernadette von Dreien – Johanna Föhlisch – 17 – Rose Snow – Jule Föhlisch Soul Surver – Bethany Hamilton – Marzahn Writing Workshop – “Mark Twain” District Central Library – Renate Zimmermann
Homage to the book (II)
An initiative by Open Password
and the Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen
with heart, passion and deep knowledge
about books “that moved us”
Now that the book is threatened by short attention spans, lack of reading pleasure and electronic formats, it is time for a tribute to the book. Open Password and the Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen have teamed up on the project “Books that moved us” and have recruited 41 authors who report with passion, passion and deep knowledge how they were influenced by a particular book.
In the second episode of our homage to the book, Martine Demay experiences an ongoing French-German romance and, in “Trobadora Beatriz” by Irmtraut Morgner, experiences how perhaps the only Provençal minstrel searches for “paradise” in the GDR with the help of time travel Men and women are truly equal. An emancipation epic that also inspired the West German women’s movement. Further contributions were created in the Marzahn writing workshop, a meeting place for young authors in the “Mark Twain” district central library, with the course leader Renate Zimmermann. Today’s authors are Stella Dobertin, Bernadette von Dreien and Johanna Föhlisch.
Martine Demay is reading the book of her life
“Trobadora Beatriz” by Irmtraud Morgner
When I came to Germany following my heart in the 1970s, I had no idea what was to come. Influenced by the unproblematic way of life in Bordeaux in southwestern France, I voluntarily ventured into unknown territory, which was more or less met with frowns from my French circle of friends. Thirty years after the end of the war, Germany’s reputation was still tarnished and tourists from there continued to be met with resentment here and there. In addition, in my imagination, my surroundings had the climate of a transit landscape towards Siberia… At school I decided to speak the two mainstream foreign languages of my area: English and Spanish. Apart from the fact that I had a head-over-heels crush on a fellow German counselor at a holiday camp in the French Basque Country, I knew very little about the neighboring country to the east and, to make matters worse, I didn’t speak a word of German. The student environment that I came into through my friend was very open to me and offered me quick access to language and culture. At first I communicated with my hands and feet, but I quickly got used to the new language and, fascinated by the broadening of my horizons, I soon decided to do a distance learning course in German at my home university with relatively long examination phases on site, a good opportunity to get in touch with Gironde to keep!
In France, at the time of my move, the restriction on a woman’s legal capacity, i.e. the de facto guardianship of her husband, had only been lifted for a few years, while a lot seemed to have already changed in this regard in the Federal Republic. On the other hand, almost all of our small children were looked after in the “Maternelle” and later attended all-day schools, which made it easier for French women to work, while there was by no means a kindergarten place for all West German little ones and school usually ended around 1.30 p.m., which was something for women tied to the household and didn’t exactly support her professional activity. The difference between the politicized students I interacted with and the conventionality of the affluent German society as a whole was striking to me.
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Emancipation epic without foaming at the mouth.
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In 1975, a recently published extensive novel by the GDR writer Irmtraud Morgner with the baroque title “Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatriz according to the Testimonies of Her Playmate Laura” circulated – initially as an insider tip at literary studies seminars. The work, which was published in 1974 by the East Berlin-based Aufbau-Verlag and was soon also published in the Federal Republic, quickly became a cult book of the West German women’s movement, which was of course also eagerly read and discussed in “my” shared apartment, by both female and male students. The poetic and pragmatic grounding of Morgner’s emancipation epic was obviously well received when compared and contrasted with the shriller tones of the West German activists. We even took the book with us to Portugal during the semester break, where we struggled through the tome between Alentejo and Algarve, which was anything but easy for me in terms of language. But the minstrel from Provence, who wakes up in 1968 after centuries of sleeping beauty, is catapulted into the Paris May Revolt and then, on the advice of a GDR journalist, travels to his “promised land” in order to finally feel free as a woman and therefore Hals Learning German over my head didn’t let go of me so quickly, as there were one or two biographical parallels with me. Hadn’t I also set out from my province into unknown realms and – love or women’s issues – acquired the German language at fairly short notice? Incidentally, the Paris May Revolt was part of my generation’s dowry anyway! And so it was no coincidence that, at the end of my studies in Bordeaux, I made Irmtraud Morgner’s Trobadora novel the subject of my master’s thesis.
Beatriz de Dia, one if not the only Provençal minstrel from the 12th century, of whom only five songs have survived, is disregarded as an artist by her lover, the troubadour Raimbaut d’Aurenga, even though she is her husband for him Guilhem de Poitiers left. But how could even a noblewoman in the High Middle Ages dare to sing the most sensual praises to her lover! Beatriz wants to leave this misogynistic era for everything in the world, which she manages to do with magical sleep therapy, from which she wakes up a good 800 years later just at the moment when her enchanted fairytale castle is about to give way to a motorway. In the course of a number of more or less pleasant acquaintances with men, she finally gets to know the GDR editor who had recommended his home country to her, especially with regard to equality for women. Let’s go, Beatriz thinks, leaves Paris by train in May 1968 and travels to the “promised land” as a courageous and naive minstrel at Friedrichstrasse train station. When the border police officer at the passport counter asks her why she is traveling, she replies “settlement in paradise” to look for work, to which he replies that the GDR is not a paradise, but a socialist state in which there is a shortage of workers and every working person is welcome. “Beatriz thanked the policeman and praised the shine of his white, evenly grown teeth, which beautifully accentuated his brownish complexion. The smile faded, throat cleared. Embarrassed cough. Returning the passport through the gap with a wish for a speedy recovery.” What a delicious introduction!
Irmtraud Morgner provides the naive-radical Trobadora, who after waiting for centuries does not want to be deprived of the reward of her hopes again, with the pragmatic-realistic Laura Salman as her alter ego, a qualified German studies major and a divorced mother with a small child who now makes her living as a S-Bahn driver earns money, but still has a connection to literature. Morgner – himself a railway worker’s daughter whose parents have never read a single line from their daughter – solves the meeting of the worlds of these two female characters stylistically using an montage technique that juxtaposes and links the fictional and the documentary. For example, she simply inserts large parts of her 1964 novel “Rumba in an Autumn,” which had previously not been approved for publication, as interludes. Basically, she avoids a linear plot, assembles newspaper articles, interviews, political and scientific bits, but also fables, short stories, songs and poems, and incorporates Bible verses as well as quotes from Rousseau, Lenin or her fellow writer Volker Braun. The result is a colorful potpourri in form and content. Morgner sees her writing style as influenced by the “rhythm of life of an ordinary woman who is constantly distracted by household-related concerns.”
With regard to the “promised land” into which she has arrived, Beatriz finally realizes that the legal and economic equality of women has not actually brought about any fundamental change in female living conditions and so she leaves this world as absurdly and abruptly as she entered it got into it: she crashes while cleaning the windows in Laura’s apartment.
The fact that a GDR writer, who was far away from the beaten track at the time – especially without a cell phone or computer – knew how to report on the social unrest and upheaval in France in such detail and authenticity that she wrote the “Sleeping Beauty” story that the brothers Grimm, who used it so congenially from Charles Perrault’s “La belle au bois dormant”, which had already been published in 1697, impressed me, as did her narrative statement on the emancipation debate without foaming at the mouth. With my master’s thesis, I had now arrived in Germany with a reflection on literary studies.
“Trobadora Beatriz” was one of the most important and interesting novels of the 1970s, and not just for Alice Schwarzer, protagonist of the West German women’s movement: I still like Morgner’s style, including the “trickster legend”! And as far as my motive for coming to Germany almost 50 years ago is concerned, the romance back then has lasted to this day, longer than any liaison of the legendary minstrel.
Stella Dobbertin** is reading the book of her life.
“Christina” by Bernadette von Dreien
A book that changed me. My mother read it, handed it to me and said, “Read this!” It’s about a mother who describes life with her daughter. This daughter was different. She could see subtle beings (deceased people) and converse with them. She could see three-dimensionally, but also ten-dimensionally. She was very close to nature and saw the good in everyone.
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Everyone is special and has the right to be treated equally.
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The book showed me that everyone is different and has their own identity and their own opinions. You don’t have to adapt to the “grey crowd” and follow any trends. Everyone is special, regardless of whether they are famous, have special abilities or not. Everyone has a talent and the right to be there and be treated equally. And when a problem arises, you have to do something about it, not just say that you have to do something.
Johanna Föhlisch** is reading the book of her life
“17” by Rose Snow
It all started at the Leipzig Book Fair. Because of the crowds, it was difficult to view the books on display there in peace. Finally we arrived at the publishing house “Ravensburger”. I saw the big blue sign with white writing from afar. I really wanted to look at the books there, as if some magical attraction were pulling me there. I looked around and saw the pink cover. I picked up the book and read the blurb. I didn’t have to think twice and bought it. I literally devoured the book. I also read the second part in a flash. So I waited for the third volume. In the last pages of “A Moment Forever” “17” was suggested to me and in the second volume I found a reading sample that I really liked. So I decided to read the book series “17”, written by the same authors as “A Moment Forever”, while I was waiting for the third book. _____________________________________________________________________
“How different perspectives on a person can be!”
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The book is about a girl who, shortly before her 17th birthday, is able to look into strange memories. It showed me that you can be very mistaken about people. And above all, how different the perspectives on a situation or on a person can be. I have experienced firsthand what it is like when trust is betrayed. Despite her ability, I was often able to identify with the main character, “Jo.” This also contributes to the fact that I really like the books. I also really like the writing style, which makes me feel like I’m part of the story. Maybe this is another reason why I can identify so well with the protagonist.
Jule Föhlisch** is reading the book of her life.
“Doris Rikkers: Soul Surfer”***
by Bethany Hamilton
When I was around 16/17, I went through a phase where I really enjoyed everything that had to do with surfing. My best friend at the time was there. At one point she suggested watching this one movie about a surfer. She praised the film to me by saying: “By the way, she loses her arm.” I was initially reluctant to watch the film because I thought it was a horror film or something similar. Somehow she managed to get us to watch the film. And it was completely different than I expected! It was by no means a horror film, but rather the story of the young surfer Bethany Hamilton, who loses her arm in a shark attack while surfing and then gets back up and continues surfing. In my opinion, the title “Soul Surfer” sums it up perfectly. I came across her story through this film. Shortly afterwards I received her book as a gift.
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“Keep going and look forward and don’t give up. That is the solution.”
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I loved this book and still do. It gives me so much courage and energy. Since I read it, I know: no matter what happens, there is always a way, it always goes on. Even when negative things happen, there are also positive moments. Keep going and look forward and don’t give up is the solution. This has given me so much courage and that’s why I love this book. I even bought and read it again later in the original language “English”. I used to be fascinated by Bethany Hamilton, she was something of a role model.
Unfortunately, I have to say, that has now changed. Bethany Hamilton became famous through her book and film. She is now also using her fame for commercial purposes. I don’t like that. She was always an inspiration to me, a role model through her story. And that has been lost on me since she started using her social media profiles for advertising. However, her book and the film still inspire me. They encourage me and give me hope.
** The texts were created in the Marzahn writing workshop, a meeting place for young authors in the “Mark Twain” district central library. – The course leader was Renate Zimmermann.
*** From: “Stories from Bethany’s Life – a 90 Day Devotional Book for Teens”
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