Translated material
Prose with laziness
“Lost and Found” (translation from German by Galina Kosarik) is the latest, 2003, novel by an elderly German author. The main character, 24-year-old loafer Henry Nef, the scion of a wealthy family, categorically refuses to move up the social ladder and, from all the alternative service options, chooses a serene job in the railway lost and found office. Formally, a simple plot is built around this old-fashioned establishment, where losers of all stripes turn every day: a fat bride who has lost her wedding ring; a self-taught circus performer who forgot his suitcase with props; a Russian mathematician who fell out of a train - a long line of attractive outcasts who did not fall into the rhythm of modern life.
Throughout the novel, absolutely nothing happens. The barely emerging detective intrigue hangs with a big question mark, a pretty colleague categorically refuses romantic dates, her only friend leaves for her homeland, and the state reorganization of the railways has nothing to do with the godforsaken department. Everyday life flows as it pleases: without pampering with surprises, without encouraging reciprocity. Lenz wrote a novel about the modest charm of everyday life, about caring for old things, casual acquaintances and close people. His characters watch stupid films, wander around museums and talk a lot about a strange world in which people lose something every day and for some reason don’t try to find it. Forgotten items gather dust on the long shelves of the lost and found office, patiently waiting for their owners and looking with hope at the opening door. Lenz masterfully conveyed the nostalgic atmosphere of this world of unnecessary things, which is guarded by catastrophically unfashionable and chronically out-of-date characters.
The debut novel of another German author, Petra Reska , also features a passion for archiving and collecting old-fashioned stories. “Palazzo Dario” (“AST-Lux”, translated from German by O. Tarasova) is an ironic novel that parodies the Venetian passion for mysticism and ridicules the otherworldly mythology of the “reflected city.” A 35-year-old art critic named Wanda moves from Naples to Venice after winning a competition for the position of curator of the Oriental Museum. She settles in an ancient palace, purchased for unknown reasons by a colorful Venetian relative. In his old age, the heroine’s uncle began to dress up every day in a mandarin costume, surrounded himself with exotic servants and hired an engineering student from Ethiopia to work part-time as a Venetian Moor in his spare time. The apogee of my uncle’s madness seems to be the purchase of the notorious Palazzo Dario, over which, according to Venetian legend, a strange curse has long hung.
Following the mocking description of modern Venetian life with its mannered carnivals, leprous architecture and false passions, there are seven ironic historical short stories that illustrate an unpleasant pattern: all the residents of the “cursed” house die an unnatural death.
The idea of a “bad” home in itself is not original; as the heroine notes, “every village has such a house.” Fraulein Reska's prose is worth reading for completely different reasons. "Palazzo Dario" is a witty catalog of Venetian cliches and stereotypes that have accumulated over several centuries. Here, quotes from Thomas Mann, Mark Twain and Marinetti coexist on equal terms with the enthusiastic platitudes of romantic idiots (“Venice is not a city, but a state of mind, you can’t just live here, swear at work, dye your hair and complain about taxes, Venice doesn’t deserve this!” ) and skeptical remarks of rational inhabitants (“A city for special occasions. Depression is just right here. Nowhere else can you be so luxuriously unhappy”).