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Available
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Amsterdam Cossee 2016
User reviews
LibraryThing member thorold
Weidermann gives us a charming, intelligent vignette of the life of the complicated, diverse community of writers exiled from Nazi Germany from the perspective of the group that came together to spend the summer of 1936 in the Flemish resort of Oostende. Maybe not the first place we would pick for
At the heart of the story is the unlikely friendship and literary collaboration between Zweig and Roth and the perhaps equally unlikely love affair that developed between the jaded Roth the bright young novelist Irmgard Keun, an author of frivolous "chicklit" novels thrown together with the heavyweights of German Lit only by the quirks of Nazi censorship, but apparently well able to keep up with Roth's drinking. From reading their books, it would be hard to see what Roth and Zweig might have had in common apart from race and nationality, but clearly they each had a great deal of respect for the other's work, and they trusted each other far enough to work on rewriting unpublished texts together. Weidermann describes Roth solving a difficult problem of composition in one of Zweig's stories by writing a complete new scene for him.
Although it's presented like a novel, this doesn't really seem to be a work of fiction in the usual sense - it's more like a piece of imaginative biography. Where Weidermann attributes thoughts or statements to his characters, he always seems to have a letter, diary entry or memoir to back it up, although he doesn't go to the length of providing footnotes. The novelist's freedom of invention seems to be exercised more in identifying patterns in the random events of his characters' lives than in interpolating fictional events between those in the historical record. It's obviously not meant as a profound piece of scholarship, but it gives us a few interesting insights into how literature copes with the idea of exile and it brings a generation of writers it's all too easy to overlook back into the limelight for a moment or two.
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a holiday, but it was apparently a lot nicer before it was bombed in WWII; and it seems to have been a convenient spot for them, not far from the exile publishing centre of Amsterdam, and only a short hop from both London and Paris. In any case, there was a formidable array of German literary and political talent assembled there, including the two writers who most interest Weidermann, the urbane, wealthy and popular Stefan Zweig and the touchy, impoverished and alcoholic Joseph Roth. At the heart of the story is the unlikely friendship and literary collaboration between Zweig and Roth and the perhaps equally unlikely love affair that developed between the jaded Roth the bright young novelist Irmgard Keun, an author of frivolous "chicklit" novels thrown together with the heavyweights of German Lit only by the quirks of Nazi censorship, but apparently well able to keep up with Roth's drinking. From reading their books, it would be hard to see what Roth and Zweig might have had in common apart from race and nationality, but clearly they each had a great deal of respect for the other's work, and they trusted each other far enough to work on rewriting unpublished texts together. Weidermann describes Roth solving a difficult problem of composition in one of Zweig's stories by writing a complete new scene for him.
Although it's presented like a novel, this doesn't really seem to be a work of fiction in the usual sense - it's more like a piece of imaginative biography. Where Weidermann attributes thoughts or statements to his characters, he always seems to have a letter, diary entry or memoir to back it up, although he doesn't go to the length of providing footnotes. The novelist's freedom of invention seems to be exercised more in identifying patterns in the random events of his characters' lives than in interpolating fictional events between those in the historical record. It's obviously not meant as a profound piece of scholarship, but it gives us a few interesting insights into how literature copes with the idea of exile and it brings a generation of writers it's all too easy to overlook back into the limelight for a moment or two.
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LibraryThing member MeisterPfriem
Verfolgte Schriftsteller, eine Gesellschaft der Stürzenden, die sich in diesem Badeort im Sommer 1936 treffen: Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth, Irmgard Keun, Kisch, Toller, Koestler, Kesten, …, sie kennen sich, sie haben ihre Bücher gelesen, sind schon Freunde oder werden es in diesem
Zweig diktiert seine Legende von dem begrabenen Leuchter seiner Sekretärin und Geliebten Lotte Altmann, bleibt stecken, Joseph Roth wird ihm ungefragt aushelfen.
Die Sprache dieses Büchleins ist knapp berichtend, fast nüchtern zu nennen, doch nicht ohne Anziehungskraft. Ich glaube kaum, dass es hätte anders geschrieben werden können. Es läßt mich zu Zweigs Legenden greifen. (XII-17)
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magisch-unreellen Sommer, die Einsamkeit des Exils bringt sie zusammen, noch einmal, sie ahnen es: zum letzten mal, jeder wird seinen eigenen Weg gehen in die Fremde, in den Tod.Zweig diktiert seine Legende von dem begrabenen Leuchter seiner Sekretärin und Geliebten Lotte Altmann, bleibt stecken, Joseph Roth wird ihm ungefragt aushelfen.
Die Sprache dieses Büchleins ist knapp berichtend, fast nüchtern zu nennen, doch nicht ohne Anziehungskraft. Ich glaube kaum, dass es hätte anders geschrieben werden können. Es läßt mich zu Zweigs Legenden greifen. (XII-17)
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LibraryThing member MissBrangwen
The title of this biographical novel already tells us the scene: It is 1936, and the main characters meet in O(o)stend(e) to spend one last glorious summer there, one summer to pretend that everything is good, that the darkness will not come, that they are happy.
In the centre of the story there are
The story does not have a real plot, but it does not matter. I could not stop reading because the author puts scene after scene together like a mosaic, painting a vivid and emotional picture of this unique place and time, where a circle of friends come together once more before everything falls apart, and they drift from each other through further exile, sickness, suicide.
It is a short work, but I savored every sentence, every word.
In the centre of the story there are
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Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth, connected by a strong friendship, but there are also Irmgard Keun, Ernst Toller, Egon Erwin Kisch and a handful of other writers, as well as their wives and associates: All of them exiled, trying to find a way in this new world, needing to come to terms with the hatred of their home countries of Germany and Austria, but some of them also still hoping against reason that everything will be alright. The story does not have a real plot, but it does not matter. I could not stop reading because the author puts scene after scene together like a mosaic, painting a vivid and emotional picture of this unique place and time, where a circle of friends come together once more before everything falls apart, and they drift from each other through further exile, sickness, suicide.
It is a short work, but I savored every sentence, every word.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
2016 (English Translation)
2014
ISBN
9789059366817