The Weekend
by Bernhard Schlink
Translated by Shaun Whiteside
Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
With his latest novel to appear in English translation, the renowned author of The Reader Bernhard Schlink once again tackles a delicate topic of German history in a personal and reflective style, producing a novel that is both energetic and thought-provoking.
Like his friends at university in the 1960s, Jörg became involved in anti-capitalist activities. However, unlike most of his peers, he didn’t stop at letting rats loose in the lecture hall, nor at blocking tram lines in protest at fare increases. Rather, Jörg graduated into full-scale terrorism, and had four murders to his name before he was finally arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
These events of the 1970s remain shadows in the background of the story, as Schlink introduces us to Jörg on his release from prison after twenty-three years, following an unexpected pardon from the President. With a device that functions beautifully as a way of exploring the after-lives of the so-called 68ers (the student radicals of the late 1960s), Jörg's sister brings all of his old pals together in a secluded country house to 'celebrate' his release and to help him prepare for his freedom. Christiane's plan for an idyllic weekend, where old ties may be renewed and – perhaps above all – where Jörg may be kept well away from a media desperate for a story, is clearly a futile endeavour, one bound to stir up more regrets and resentments; and sure enough Christiane does not keep Jörg away from scandal and censure, but places him at the centre of it. The focus becomes the relationships in the house; 'the weekend' becomes the story. The compact setting of the dilapidated house is almost theatrical in that all the action takes place in a handful of rooms and with a tiny cast of characters. And it sets the stage for an intense exploration of the issues that Schlink deals with so supremely and so provocatively: guilt and shame, the impact of past acts on present relationships, generational conflict in the shadow of past horrors and present fears.
The Weekend, in a brilliant translation by Shaun Whiteside, is a quiet but commanding book that evokes the inevitable interlocking of the personal and the political, the impossibility of working with absolutes and of using terms such as 'truth' and 'freedom', the ongoing struggle between generations and the ever-changing landscape of terrorism.
Schlink’s novel Das Wochenende was reviewed in New Books in German in 2008. For this and other reviews of the best new German-language novels, see www.new-books-in-german.com
‘Schlink has won his huge popular following by bringing to bear a penetrating intelligence about the psyche of his characters and an empathy for their dilemmas.’ - Newsweek
Author
Bernhard Schlink was born in 1944 in Bielefeld, Germany. A lawyer, he now lives in both Berlin and New York. He published his first crime novel, Self’s Punishment, with co-author Walter Popp in 1987. After the publication of his of its prizewinning successors Die gordische Schleife (The Gordian Knot, out in English early next year) and Self’s Deception, he moved on from the crime field. His prize-winning novel The Reader, published in 1995, is a phenomenal bestseller and was made into a successful film starring Kate Winslet in 2008.
The Weekend in the classroom
Schlink’s novel could be used very effectively with The Reader as the basis for discussion about the relationship between literature and history, and between literature and trauma. It can also be compared to the film The Edukators (Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei), to Stefan Aust’s account of the RAF (The Baader-Meinhof Complex, translated by Anthea Bell) and to the film of Aust’s book, in topic work on German terrorism. In the novel, Schlink makes interesting comparisons between German terrorism, the Nazi era, and Islamist terrorism, which would also make this novel useful in History courses.