The Fantastic Ordinary World of Lutz Rathenow: Poems, Plays & Stories
Encyclopedia
The Fantastic Ordinary World of Lutz Rathenow: Poems, Plays & Stories, by Lutz Rathenow
, is a book of poems, plays and stories written originally in German
.
author Lutz Rathenow
depicts is the colorless, flat, thuddingly dull DDR — the German Democratic Republic
, as it called itself, or Communist East Germany, as we knew it: a sub-Soviet
, sub-standard, bureaucratic parody of a society (1949-1990). And he depicts it very well, only not from the outside, with detailed descriptions, historical costumes and polemical plots, but rather from the inside, dropping in on the mind of one or another of its characters. Here is the little man starved of human contact and longing for romance ('The Girl in Finland
'), the timid bureaucrat standing in front of an office door and wondering how to knock ('Mr. Breugel), the writer facing the blank page and fearing both to write and not to write ('The Blank Page'). Here, in other words, is Angst, paralysis, a funnel of doubt and indecision. Out of it comes murderous resentment ('Professor Dr. Mitzenleim'), mocking defiance ('Reasons for Refusing to Make a Statement'), ironic futility ('Meditations on Peace'). People who are emotionally starved, anxious and futile develop a perverse sense of humor ('The Phone Call'); they find grim little pleasures in their living death ('Obituary').
"Rathenow's works crystallize not only a past, but also a present and recurring assault on the mind. The government, the political party, the church, the organization, the television program, the newspaper, the company, the office, the boss all want you to think the same way, their way, whatever the country and whatever the time. And if you do, this is what results: reduced capacity, distorted thought, fragmented language, inverted feelings, a sense of unreality, a drabness unto death. The Fantastic Ordinary World of Lutz Rathenow draws this lesson and thus the pleasure out of the painful republic.
~ From the Introduction by Karl Kvitko
Lutz Rathenow
Lutz Rathenow is a dissident German writer and poet who was haunted by the Secret Police until the German reunification...
, is a book of poems, plays and stories written originally in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
Synopsis
A bilingual edition of satires, skits and grotesqueries conveying the maddening humdrumness of the ultimate police state.Summary
"The world BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
author Lutz Rathenow
Lutz Rathenow
Lutz Rathenow is a dissident German writer and poet who was haunted by the Secret Police until the German reunification...
depicts is the colorless, flat, thuddingly dull DDR — the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, as it called itself, or Communist East Germany, as we knew it: a sub-Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, sub-standard, bureaucratic parody of a society (1949-1990). And he depicts it very well, only not from the outside, with detailed descriptions, historical costumes and polemical plots, but rather from the inside, dropping in on the mind of one or another of its characters. Here is the little man starved of human contact and longing for romance ('The Girl in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
'), the timid bureaucrat standing in front of an office door and wondering how to knock ('Mr. Breugel), the writer facing the blank page and fearing both to write and not to write ('The Blank Page'). Here, in other words, is Angst, paralysis, a funnel of doubt and indecision. Out of it comes murderous resentment ('Professor Dr. Mitzenleim'), mocking defiance ('Reasons for Refusing to Make a Statement'), ironic futility ('Meditations on Peace'). People who are emotionally starved, anxious and futile develop a perverse sense of humor ('The Phone Call'); they find grim little pleasures in their living death ('Obituary').
"Rathenow's works crystallize not only a past, but also a present and recurring assault on the mind. The government, the political party, the church, the organization, the television program, the newspaper, the company, the office, the boss all want you to think the same way, their way, whatever the country and whatever the time. And if you do, this is what results: reduced capacity, distorted thought, fragmented language, inverted feelings, a sense of unreality, a drabness unto death. The Fantastic Ordinary World of Lutz Rathenow draws this lesson and thus the pleasure out of the painful republic.
~ From the Introduction by Karl Kvitko
Editions
- Translated from the GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
by Boria SaxBoria SaxBoria Sax is an award winning author and lecturer and a teacher at Mercy College.Boria Sax is probably best known for his writing on human-animal relations, where he has developed a style that combines scholarship with narrative and lyricism. He views the representation of animals in human culture...
& Imogen von Tannenberg, with an Introduction by Boria SaxBoria SaxBoria Sax is an award winning author and lecturer and a teacher at Mercy College.Boria Sax is probably best known for his writing on human-animal relations, where he has developed a style that combines scholarship with narrative and lyricism. He views the representation of animals in human culture...
; illustrations by Robyn Johnson-Ross & Boris Mukhametshin. Grand Terrace, CA: Xenos BooksXenos BooksXenos Books is a publishing company in Riverside, California that was founded in 1985 by Karl Kvitko and Verona Weiss. The company is known for publishing bilingual books, and modern American and foreign writers in translation.- Poetry :...
. ISBN 1-879378-31-0 (paper), 176 p.