Young Light (Seagull Books - Seagull World Literature) - Hardcover

Rothmann, Ralf

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1906497540 ISBN 13: 9781906497545

Publisher: Seagull Books, 2010

Synopsis

Paints a delicate portrait of a twelve-year-old boy named Julian growing up in a mining community in 1960s Germany.

First Light covers only a few summer weeks, following young Julian’s gradual social and sexual awakening amidst his parent’s financial and marital problems. Avoiding any overt drama in the description of his predicaments and observations, Rothmann instead creates a quiet sense of hope and new beginnings. His subtle, restrained prose captures the unarticulated, yet increasingly conscious feelings of the boy as he approaches the end of childhood, but still remains very remote from the adult world he sees around him. From his stressed, exhausted mother to their suspicious neighbor Herr Gorny, the adult characters remind him of his own powerlessness rather than offering encouragement; but his little sister Sophie proves his most devoted ally, gently standing up to their mother’s fits of rage. As the novel progresses, Julian becomes increasingly aware of the weaknesses and failures of the adults; despite his difficulties in understanding what goes on around him, one senses a wisdom and integrity that sets him apart from many of the other characters in his life. Rothmann’s refreshingly unpretentious style offers the perfect medium for this portrait of ambivalent youthful consciousness.

About this title

About the Authors

Ralf Rothmann is a German novelist, poet, and dramatist, whose novels have been translated into several languages. His most recent novel translated into English was Knife Edge. WielandHoban is a British composer who lives in Germany. He has translated several works from German, including many by Theodor W. Adorno.


Wieland Hoban is a British composer who has translated several works from German, including Night Music, a collection of essays by Theodor W. Adorno.

Reviews

More slice of life than novel, this tale, translated from the German, tells the story of a small coal-mining community in 1968 Germany from the viewpoint of 12-year-old Julian. The plot encompasses his sexual awakening as his glamorous teenage neighbor comes on to him, and he eavesdrops on her with men; his parents’ raging quarrels (“When I come out of that hole where I work myself half to death for you all every day, I expect to have something to eat, you understand?”); the beatings Julian gets from his chain-smoking mom (“We had never hugged each other”); his bond with his innocent little sister. Framing Julian’s narrative is the close-up detail of his father’s exhausting, dangerous work underground; the moment of contrast with the “rich uneventfulness” when the frantic activity is over; and then, at the end, almost casually, the family getting supper ready, the miner caught in a butterfly blast, hit by a stone he does not even see coming. Always true to the young boy’s coming-of-age, the stirring drama is in the anger, the universality of small things. --Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Seagull Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1906497540
• ISBN 13: 9781906497545
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 298