Books – Books – a book about the reunification in Germany by Ingo Schulze

A reading at the Goethe Institut Nicosia with the Winner of the Berthold Brecht Prize 2013

By Heidi Trautmann

The chronicle of reunification of Germany, not of the reunification itself, but of its ‘dramatic’ psychological impact on private life circles, here ‘Adam and Evelyn’ also the title of the book.  The interesting fact is, that the book was also translated into Greek and Turkish only recently, and it was available for sale on the occasion brought to the Goethe by the owners of the famous bookstores Moufflon and Işik Bookstore themselves.

The author Ingo Schulze had been invited to Nicosia by the Goethe Institut and in cooperation with the two Writers Associations in the North and South respectively the reading took place on October 10. Writers and artists from both sides of the Green Line were attending the reading by the author - they call him the most persistent chronicler of the German reunification – who for that reason besides his style of writing was awarded the Bertold Brecht literary prize 2013. The story begins in summer1989, the time of mass upheavals in East Germany, and shows its impact on the people in the East, the ordinary people and their daily life, how the idea of ‘freedom’ and escape from a totalitarian state via Hungary was invading their heads and daily decisions during that time; how they found themselves settling in the West with a glance back to the life that they had just left which held for them the looks of paradise.  Life was not that bad after all. The irony of having exchanged mass culture in the East for mass culture in the West.

Ingo Schulze was born in Dredsen in 1962, studied classic philology in Jena and had worked as dramaturg in Altenburg near Leipzig, and as a newspaper editor. He now lives in Berlin since 1993. His books received many international awards and are translated into more than 30 languages. His first book ‘33 Moments of Happiness’, a collection of short stories was published in 1995.

Mr. Björn Luley, director of the Goethe Institut Nicosia, introduced the author to the audience giving a short overview on the author’s works and questioning him on the background of the novel ‘Adam and Evelyn’. Ingo Schulze read various chapters from his book in German, the actor and poet Kyriakos Efthymiou read in Greek and Nafia Akdeniz - I know her as an excellent photographer -  read in Turkish.  The reading was well done, especially by Kyriakos and Nafia, …..authors are known to be bad readers of their own work, they are supposed to write and not to read.

Any Questions? There were none. There were no ordinary people to ask questions. The others present have already asked themselves these questions and discussed them for the last decades, what will be the impact of a reunification.  Above that, besides being divided by a wall, the situations of Germany and Cyprus have little in common where the reasons for the division are concerned.

The story of Adam and Evelyn ends at the house they have left in the East now unified with the West; they find the house looted.

The book is also available in English, translated by John E.Woods