{"id":297766,"date":"2014-04-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wdev.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent-dev\/2014\/04\/24\/in-times-of-fading-light\/"},"modified":"2018-04-16T15:44:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T15:44:22","slug":"in-times-of-fading-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/2014\/04\/24\/in-times-of-fading-light\/","title":{"rendered":"In Times of Fading Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

The historian John Lukacs observed, \u201cFictitious characters may represent characteristic tendencies and potentialities that existed in the past\u201d and thus \u201cmay serve the historian under certain circumstances\u2014when, for example, these are prototypical representations of certain contemporary realities.\u201d Eugen Ruge\u2019s In Times of Fading Light<\/em> (translated by Anthea Bell) demonstrates the truth of this observation. It is much more than a \u201chistorical novel\u201d; it is not a plot imposed on a \u201cperiod background,\u201d as much historical fiction is. Rather, it is a thoughtful exploration of certain themes and problems of East German history from the foundation of the GDR<\/span> to reunification through (fictional) characters who exemplify the tendencies and traits prevalent among East Germans.<\/p>\n

Ruge accomplishes this character-driven exploration of the past through vignettes, each seen through one of the members of a family. Some of these impressionistic glimpses show the same event through the perspective of different characters. The different views of Wilhelm Powileit\u2019s ninetieth birthday party (six scenes in total) not only illuminate the actions of characters that at first seem incomprehensible; they also (perhaps more importantly) illustrate the influence of dominant generational qualities on the characters\u2019 experience. For example, Kurt, a gulag survivor who came of age in the Second World War, shows only contempt for the obsequies poured on his stepfather Wilhelm, and ancient party functionary who spent most of his life in an office, while Wilhelm is disdainful of the influence of Gorbachev and the decline of support for the party. It is interesting to note the similarity between the perspectives of the semiliterate babushka Nadyeshda Ivanovna (whose worldview is not far removed from the Dark Ages) and her great-grandson, the hedonistic, tech-savvy Generation X Markus; both are only vaguely aware of what is happening at the party and the situation of East Germany.<\/p>\n

Along with this examination of East German history are musings on the relationship of former East Germans with their past. Woven among these vignettes is the middle-aged Alexander\u2019s trip to Mexico in September 2001. Inspired by his grandmother\u2019s reminiscences of Mexico, Alexander attempts to take a brief respite from the reminders of his painful life in Germany (chief among them his senile father). But even in Mexico he encounters reminders of East Germany. He takes with him his father\u2019s papers, partially unintelligible remnants of his family\u2019s life over the last half century. The final great irony on this ostensible break from his past is when he unwittingly travels to the very spot on the Pacific coast where his grandparents vacationed. Perhaps this is symbolic that however they may try, East Germans cannot escape their past.<\/p>\n

Ruge\u2019s exploration of East German history ought to be a model for future authors (not only novelists) who are interested in historical problems. History is not only politics and war\u2014it includes everything<\/em> that humans did in the past. This includes the characteristics and relationships and inclinations of all people. No amount of psychology can show exactly how a real person thought; but the reconstruction of fictional characters, informed by a deep knowledge of dominant qualities of individuals and nations at a particular time, can illuminate certain historical realities far better than a thousand statistical surveys or the most detailed biography. And Eugen Ruge has accomplished that in his novel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The historian John Lukacs observed, \u201cFictitious characters may represent characteristic tendencies and potentialities that existed in the past\u201d and thus \u201cmay serve the historian under certain circumstances\u2014when, for example, these are prototypical representations of certain contemporary realities.\u201d Eugen Ruge\u2019s In Times of Fading Light (translated by Anthea Bell) demonstrates the truth of this observation. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67486],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338086,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297766\/revisions\/338086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}