2023-10-16 11:56:08
A construction of femininity from the end of the 20th century could go something like this: A woman who has too much of everything for some men, is voluptuous like Marilyn Monroe and self-deprecatingly says that she is “the ideal image of a German girl, painted by a moderately talented one Nazi”, clever at the same time and hardworking and diligent.
Because she is extremely capable of self-reflection, she even goes through the steel bath of post-feminist gender theory. She is familiar with humiliation, not only because she senses early on how it triggers desire (not to be confused with love) in boys and men, but because she grew up among bohemians in the repressive system called the GDR, which is on the verge of collapse. when she comes of age, in the summer of 1989.
What happens to someone like that when she – just turned 18, winner of a writing competition – falls into an editorial conference and, but she doesn’t know it yet, it happens in a fraction of a sentence: “That’s how I saw him for the first time, himself turning around irritatedly at me, the most beautiful man I would ever see in my life.”
also read
The man’s name is Magnus. He is a photographer, he also writes. They lose touch with each other for seven years because he flees to the West via Hungary after their first night. He researches the “constructions of masculinity in the work of Hanns Henny Jahnn”.
The construction of femininity that loves him goes by the almost Astrid Lindgrenian name Muna Appelius. Theresia Morawho shares with her the year of birth and origins from a repressive system (Hungary in her case), sends the title heroine from the opening volume of her new novel trilogy on the way of the cross through the presumably average life of a woman who knows very well how she is The world around her reacts to her, how she should, should, could behave, what distinguishes desire and love.
“Toxic” finally fits here
A woman who still allows herself to be used and abused, who becomes virtually defenseless against the most beautiful man on the continent, whom she stalks and who beats her. Defenseless against an almost post-romantic love relationship, for which the term “toxic” was probably invented at some point.
That this construction of femininity does not appear to be constructed in any of its highly constructed lines, that you approach the life in which Muna narrates you over more than 400 pages, with reluctance, affection and the constant attempt to shake her by the heart and shoulders, that you feel not being able to escape this life from the first page is a great but to be expected miracle.
Mora’s previous trilogy about the IT specialist Darius Kopp, which began in 2009 with “The Only Man on the Continent,” surrounded its protagonist with this quicksilver, highly transparent language that could change direction and perspective from one half-sentence to the next.
also read
In her poetry lectures “Stain Course”, the Büchner Prize winner announced the Trilogy of Femininity that she has now begun, with the opening volume of which she is on the shortlist for the German Book Prize, which she received in 2013 for “The Ungeheuer” (from the Darius Kopp trilogy). “Muna or Half of Life” examines life with even greater linguistic intensity.
It’s easy to read. And despite the extreme depth, it doesn’t lack the irony and satire of the intellectual activity through which Mora chases her Muna (who researches constructions of femininity in the 19th century) on the way to her true destiny: writing Tell them, find language for the inner reality of their dreams and their lives.
also read
It is an asymmetrical gender and emotional war in which Muna, the unique woman on the continent, becomes entangled. She can’t get rid of Magnus, the big one. He beats her, insults her, attacks her in the throat, which sounds poetic but is fatal.
A story of the impossible rules and control of love. About the end of romanticism in times of lost self-evidence between the sexes. And about how you can capture a flowing being with fluid language.
Terézia Mora: “Muna or The Half of Life”. Luchterhand. 448 pages, 25 euros.
Here you will find content from third parties
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.
#Terézia #Mora #German #Book #Prize #women #toxic #relationships