A bitterly cold walk by the river this afternoon with my dog, just as a wintery sun was going down. It was very atmospheric and started me thinking about how weather and surroundings become characters in their own right in fiction, and how they interact on the page with their human counterparts.
This was very evident in the book I have just finished reading, "Nightmare in Berlin" written by Hans Fallada. If you haven't come across it, it's well worth having a look at. It was published in German in 1947 but has only recently been translated for the English-speaking market. Based on the author's own experience at the end of the Second World War, it recounts the hellish situation in which a writer, Doctor Doll, and his wife find themselves on returning to Berlin from a small town in the country. The devastated social and physical environment and the freezing winter weather with which they must contend assume the role of aggressors, effectively thwarting any attempt at getting life back on the rails there. The couple sink into total despondency and apathy, living only for the morphine addiction they have both developed. That there is a ray of hope at the end of it all speaks volumes for the ability of humans to overcome even the most adverse of circumstances. A fascinating read.
No comments:
Post a Comment