Written works, including books, stories, and poems. - Life's Rehearsal Space: Updates from Saša Stanišić
This book has a pretty quirky title, but it's also extremely lengthy. "If you want to speak with a widow, put the pitcher with the spout in front" is what the latest work by Saša Stanišić says. Behind this extravagant baroque title is actually a collection of twelve stories with some overlapping characters. All these stories revolve around the yearning for a new life, the human aspiration to create and mold our lives as we see fit.
The author, who won the German Book Prize in 2019, has been focusing on children's books after his massive success with "Herkunft". The whimsical, fantastical aspects of the children's world are cleverly integrated into this adult text. You'll find daydreaming, magic, even sci-fi blended with realistic elements from immigrant biographies. The author himself even pops up in various broken forms: as a young migrant in Heidelberg, yearning for a different life, as a ferryman searching for his idol Heinrich Heine, or as the coach of a football club in a utopia.
The first story "New Home" sets the stage. Four boys, including a 16-year-old Saša, spend a hot summer day in 1994 in a vineyard. All of them come from immigrant families. Fatih's mother, for instance, "cleaned the villas in the West City and also ran the Turkish cultural center." His father had studied something with books in Turkey, so he drove a truck there. It would be cool, Fatih thinks, if there was a room where you could test out a future for a few minutes. For 130 marks, you get to experience ten minutes of a beautiful future. If you enjoy it, you can sign up: "So that almost everyone, almost anyone, could have a taste of beautiful future. Because who doesn't deserve ten minutes of it?" Even kids from immigrant families.
The concept of a "life probation room" is further played with by the author in various ways. One example is the character of Dilek, a Turkish woman who works as a maid in the home of a snobby Austrian lady. While cleaning the heating system with a goat hair brush, she dreams of going back to Turkey, where she used to take care of goats. She almost made it to a better life in the city, but she just missed the opportunity. However, when she's cleaning, time suddenly stands still, and all sorts of unexpected potentials open up for her.
The title story "Widow" introduces us to Gisel, a widow yearning for years for a time of solitude from her new acquaintance. While she's pouring dirt onto her husband's grave, she wants to make a statement with her pitcher: "If you're going to speak to a widow, put the pitcher with the spout in front." But which direction is the front? Towards the grave or away from it? This triggers a cascade of thought experiments that are both hilarious and melancholic, perceptive and dreamy.
These thought-provoking short stories are a testament to Stanišić's extraordinary linguistic skill. Few authors are as creative with words, as multi-layered and ambiguous as this German-Bosnian writer. However, you need to be careful not to get lost in the dazzling language maze.
Read also:
- readers looking forward to Sascha Stanisic's future literary works in Germany, including potential fiction pieces, should keep an eye out for his innovative style and imaginative use of language.
- The German Book Prize-winning author, Sascha Stanisic, is currently exploring themes in children's literature, blending elements of magic, sci-fi, and real-life immigrant biographies, showcasing his versatility as a writer.
- Inspired by the concept of testing out different futures, the author has proposed an idea of a "rehearsal room" in one of his stories, where individuals, even children from immigrant families, can temporarily experience a beautiful future for a fee.
- In the story "Widow," Sascha Stanisic delves into the inner thoughts and actions of a yearning widow, using the metaphor of filling a pitcher with the spout in front, symbolizing communication with the widow, to spark provocative and thought-provoking reflections.
- Despite the complexity and potential confusions that may come with Sascha Stanisic's intricate storytelling and linguistic prowess, Germany and Turkey can eagerly look forward to his upcoming works, showcasing the transformative power of literature.
