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Readers of Europe 2022 – Austrian recommendation
- 29 July 2022
- Reading suggestion
- gsclibrary
Recommendation by the Permanent Representation of the Austria to the EU
Book selected: Engel des Vergessens by Maja Haderlap
Historical trauma is not just concerned with events in the past. The emotional and psychological wounds it inflicts scar for generations to come.
Maja Haderlap carefully addresses this complex issue in her debut novel, Engel des Vergessens. Told in a manner that feels more like a memoire, she strives to make some sense of her family and herself. Stories in separate timelines connect people striving to find ways to survive their environments. Some coping with it better than others.
It feels like several different books in one. It is a personal memoir, a coming of age story of a young girl, a sensitive portrait of the agonising after-effects of war.
The narrator, a Carinthian Slovene in Austria, grows up within sight of the Yugoslav border. The author as a young girl wants to understand the local people in Lepena suffering from their past.
As a small child, she is more attached to her remarkable grandmother than she is to her parents. Her grandmother tells her stories about the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Her father who was brutally tortured by Nazis appears to be suffering from PTSD.
This is a book about trauma. Etched into the local psyche is the trauma of concentration camp survivors, PTSD suffering former partisans and torture victims. The lingering effect that it has on a community. Seeping down for generations to come. The grandmother, the father, the young girl, the adolescent and poet. The persistent cycle of trauma effects them all.
This story does not flow in a linear fashion, nor does it follow a traditional path. Fragments of memory are formed from a distinct linguistic rhythm.
The fact that Haderlap is a poet is evident to the reader. She composes soft, elegant text. Some of the images she conjures are strikingly beautiful. She does this with sensitivity, respectful of the brutality of war. Never maudlin.
The tale is told in a refined and balanced manner. It is all the more effective for being understated. Haderlap guides the reader with a careful hand.
Beautiful and devastating to read.
Maja Haderlap, born 1961 in Eisenkappel/Zelezna Kapla (Austria), studied theatre studies and German at the University of Vienna. She was head dramaturge at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt from 1992 to 2007 and regularly teaches at the Institute for Applied Cultural Studies at the Alpen-Adria University in Klagenfurt. She has lived in Klagenfurt as a freelance writer since 2008. She has published volumes of poetry in Slovenian and German as well as translations from Slovenian. "Engel des Vergessens" is her novel debut. Numerous translations of the book have been published
For those wishing to unearth other Austrian literary gems, discover more via Eureka, the online catalogue of the Council libraries.
About the Readers of Europe campaign
The year 2022 has been designated the European Year of Youth. The Council Library has therefore chosen to devote its annual Readers of Europe initiative to young people, putting the focus squarely on new and emerging European literary talent.
The permanent representations to the EU have once again been invited to recommend books from their countries to read over the summer, with the third edition of our Readers of Europe campaign. The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Discover something new’, the idea being that every permanent representation selects a book from their country by an author who has published their first work within the last five years. We will then promote these selections over the summer on the Council Library blog.
Europe is awash with exciting young authors. Dive into this selection and discover stories that hum with fresh ideas and luminous prose. Novels that ask piercing questions about humanity. Stories that are edgy and beautiful, gripping and unsettling. Stories worthy of a place in any library.
So find a comfy place to sit back and relax as we showcase some of Europe’s promising literary talent.
This post does not necessarily represent the positions, policies, or opinions of the Council of the European Union or the European Council.
The Council library remains open on-line over August, and will reply to queries by email from Monday to Friday, 12.30 to 15.30. You can reach the Info Desk by email (library@consilium.europa.eu).
