Romansuche – Page 5

The Pigeon

January 19, 2017 Novella

When you begin to read this story, you cannot understand: whether you are crazy, or the author. Everything in Jonathan’s life is good, he is satisfied with everything and has no complaints, but one day he leaves his room, and on the doorstep – you just will not believe in it! – there is the dove. She sits like that and looks into Jonathan’s eyes, and her eyes are strange … In general, Jonathan was afraid of the dove and he ran away from home. Here I stopped and sighed. Was afraid of the dove? Are you kidding? But the story intrigued me and I keep reading, and there I completely forgot about the dove. Do you have such a feeling that everything goes bad because of one thing? Yes, I bet you do. The same thing happened with Jonathan. The protagonist is sociopath, partly misanthrope. Jonathan just a little more over fifty years, he is the guard at the bank, who lives in a house with concierge. He has no close friends, but he doesn’t need them. He was well on his own. He is just a lonely man who is surrounded by fears. But these fears are not...

The Story of Mr. Sommer

January 17, 2017 Novella

This book opens us new sides of talent of Patrick Süskind, the author of the famous “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”. “The Story of Mr. Sommer” is a very strange and sad story. The writer tells the story on behalf of a teenager whose inner world he presents with unconcealed tenderness and a touch of irony. It is a piece that is absolutely not similar to any other. It speaks on behalf of the child, contemplating adulthood. Childlike innocence with powers of observation combines with the same childlike fear, snare and, thereby, forming a Personality. It is amazingly interesting process for which Süskind did not regret paints. What is Mr. Sommer? It is a man without a past, who along with his wife once appeared in the village, where the boy lived. Once she got off the bus, he came on foot. From nowhere. No one knew for sure either his name, or any personal information, at least, partially revealing the real nature of Mr. Sommer. I want to mention that these elements are extremely symbolic. Is a man a mystery? Who is he? From where? What for? What is the purpose of his stay on this Earth –...

The Double Bass

January 14, 2017 Play

The protagonist is playing double bass for 18 years, he has a place in the state orchestra, stable salary with a stable pay raise every other year, fixed working hours and vacation days, and insurance. And he has this very double bass, made in 1910, which can be sold at a price to twice as for which it was bought, and that destroyed the life of his owner. Double bass is important bass instrument in an orchestra, and at the same time, double bassists stand always behind, being the most invisible, receiving the last applause. Double bass is one of the largest musical instruments, it is mobile, but it takes up much space, it is always in sight, he is watching you … Unfortunate musician may have the craziest thoughts. The main hero insulated himself from the whole world, locked himself in the sound-proof room, and said no to love, and all to his double bass, everything he is doing is because of it. In his room, the musician shares with us his own thoughts, feelings, talks about his life, about the musicians, the woman he loves. Different feelings are fighting in him, now he is praising his instrument, now...

Every Man Dies Alone

January 12, 2017 Drama, Novel

Optimistic readers should pay attention not only to the location where the events took place, but also to the title of the book. The emphasis is on word “alone”. Everyone dies alone. Everyone dies. But Otto and Anna does not have to die. They could survive, continuing their quiet life, working Otto, keeping a modest household Anna, almost without communication with their neighbors, economy, humility and constancy. But dying the only and beloved son, and has long been sneaking suspicion about the unrighteousness of war and Hitler’s crime policy takes the form of confidence and conviction. And now Berlin to Otto and Anna is not native and favorite city, and, above all, a place of feat, quiet modest feat, that maybe saved nobody, that maybe nothing changed, but which approved the humanism and humanity once again, and already it is so important and beautiful. Fallada’s style is simple, clear, realistic and it is very good in the “Little man” of the early thirties, but in this last novel, it is simply brilliant. When the choice is made, its consequences are inevitable, and not everyone can be proud meet adequately the consequences of their own choices with pride and dignity. Otto...

The Reader

January 9, 2017 Drama, Novel

The book is not large, the plot is rather interesting, and so I have read it very quickly. The whole novel is divided into three parts. The first one is bright and sensual. Michael meets Hannah not under the most romantic circumstances. He could not imagine how this accidental will affect him. He is a 15-year-old boy, she is over thirty. He is a student, she is a tram conductor. What do they have in common? Not so few things – sex and books. She once helped him when he needed it, and that way the story begins. A 15-year-old teenager falls in love with a woman, who is now 36. But was it love? I don’t think so. The mutual satisfaction, but not love. I do not blame Hannah, but I don’t understand why she did it, is she really so lonely? Of course, Michael was inspired by his secret life after the lessons, and Hannah listened enthusiastically when he read to her out loud. But their affair did not last long. One day, Hannah simply disappeared. Part II. Trial. It has been eight years since Michael saw Hannah the last time. And soon they meet again in the...

Little Man, What Now?

January 7, 2017 Novel

Little Man, What Now? Is a novel by , published for the first time in 1932. The novel appeared in the period of the global economic crisis that has been going on since 1929, which began on the collapse of the American stock exchange on 24 October 1929. The crisis brought misery and poverty to the world and has led to a rapid rise in unemployment. Fallada describes the fate of a “little man” and his wife in Germany during the Weimar Republic. The story is very ordinary. The ordinary young family is renting a room, waiting for a child, counting money and trying to make their way in the world – with all the forces, but not by any means. Of course, they do not get everything and they do not have much, and yet they have something big and very important – understanding, mutual assistance and love. How they are called, where and when they lived – it’s not so important, because their history is out of time, about eternal values and enduring problems. Despite the fact that the novel is set during the crisis in the Weimar Republic, in the 20-30s of the last century, it remains relevant for today, and for other countries....

The Black Obelisk

January 5, 2017 Novel

The Black Obelisk is a masterpiece of artistic creation written by Erich Maria Remarque. Time has no hold on the eternal values of classical literature...

The Decline of the West

January 2, 2017 Philosopher work

Oswald Spengler is a famous German philosopher, historian, one of the founders of modern philosophy of culture, creator of the cyclic theory, publicist.

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr

December 31, 2016 Novel

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr is the last, almost autobiographical novel of the great German writer E. T. A. Hoffmann, the brilliant result of his work, combining reality and fantasy, a romantic impulse and satire. This unusual, novel is written in a form of a note of a self-taugh cat, a pragmatist and an epicurean Murr. According to the writer, Murr had a prototype: “It is a cat of marvelous beauty and even greater intelligence, which I raised, and he gave me a reason for this amusing mystification.” I understand why literature scholars especially highlight this novel in Hoffmann’s work and in the history of literature. For example, the structure of the novel is very interesting, two storylines alternating one another; each part ends literally in the middle of a sentence… For us, accustomed to postmodernism, it is not particularly surprising, but for the beginning of the 19th century it was unusually and boldly. Romantic ideals are combined with the satirical depicting of real society, a twisted plot – with ageless morality. It is magnificent work of art. It should be mentioned that this novel itself is not independent, but it is part of the Kreisleriana – a small cycle of individual texts consisting mainly of stories about the life and work...

Demian

December 28, 2016 Growing-up novel, Novel

Demian is a philosophical novel, gloomy and mystical. We can consider it autobiographical as well – it is said in the foreword to the novel. It is a famous work, which had a huge impact on the writer’s further work, and the great Thomas Mann compared this book with The Sorrows of Young Werther. It is the story about a human being and how he is growing up and becoming a young man, who step by step moves farther away from the hypocritical norms of public morality and more and more reveals for himself his deep, dark personality. He is assisted by a mysterious friend of Demian – either the devil, or the mysterious deity, or just the product of the imagination of the main character… In the book, in theory, there are two main characters, as well as those who appear only for a couple of chapters, but also plays an important role and makes some changes. But missing the fact that the narrative is conducted only from one of the main characters – my attention was definitely focused on the second one. In any case, the title of the novel is his name – Demian. Who is Demian? Who knows. From the first pages he is a mystery and the word...

The Tin Drum

December 25, 2016 Novel

Günter Grass became popular after the publication of the novel The Tin Drum. In the novel the author criticizes the German policy of the first half of the 20th century. In the novel there is also the theme of human vices – those ones that the main character Oskar tries to escape, trying to remain a child. The most difficult thing when you talk about this book is to write about what it is. If we talk about what’s on the surface, I shall try to write briefly. In the 1930s, a family lives in the city of Danzig, relationships in the family are very complicated. And a boy named Oskar lives in this famil . The boy is amazing in all respects. When he was three years old, he received a red-and-white tin drum, he keeps it with him all the time. The drum became his best friend, his eternal passion and his damnation at the same time. With his drum he can tell you any story, describe any person, take you through the years, move to another city, to another life. And Oskar is very little boy. In Oscar there are a lot of unusual and strange things. People who surround him, the events that happen to him, are no less strange...

Mario and the Magician

December 22, 2016 Novella

Never read Thomas Mann on the go, in the subway, in buses and at bus stops, surrounded by a crowd of people, big buildings and constant noise. He, like nature itself, requires silence, tranquillity...