Man in the Shadows

Irgendwo in diesem Dunkel

◎The second of the "Mariupol Trilogy", a sister work to the award-winning "She is from Mariupol".
A national allegory of Ukraine's century of displacement and turmoil, a panoramic slice of the tragedy of human civilization. Born in Russia, married in Ukraine, and settled in Germany after the war, his father, with the advent of the Cold War, became the casualties of countless civilians like him, caught between the two camps.
Filling the gaps, the film focuses on the countless displaced people of postwar Europe, describing the daily lives of those who lived in postwar Eastern Europe. In the past, they were squeezed dry to the last drop of sweat, and now, they are still being manipulated at will, without a nationality, without the right to vote, and not allowed to find their own place to settle down...
The story of a dysfunctional father-daughter relationship filled with silence, violence, and rebellion is one in which everyone can see their own story. The daughter, raised in double silence, and the reclusive, reticent father – they are just one of the countless misunderstood, nameless byproducts of war, social outcasts.
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★Content Introduction “People can tell where you’re from at a glance.”
"A father is like a lone tree, living alone. He is also like an open fist that may clench and fall on his daughter at any time."
Following the huge success of She Was From Mariupol, Natasha Wardin embarks on a journey to track down her father and tells the story of her mother's suicide in 1956.
The author yearns for a normal life, desperately trying to escape her displaced origins, assimilate into German society, and escape her Russian heritage. However, her father imprisoned her, forbade her to wear red shoes, beat her, and did everything in his power to isolate her from the German world. Her father, a constant source of fear, was born in the Tsarist era and lived through much of the 20th century. His life remained a mystery to his daughter: Why did he resolutely refuse to learn German, speaking only two words: "yes" and "no"? Why did he remain silent about his first forty years in Russia? Through all the silence, somewhere in the shadows, lies a history of displacement and appalling horror. In her quest for understanding, Natasha, through her experience of homelessness and nowhere to go, writes about her father's silence and the contradictions and struggles of their dysfunctional father-daughter relationship.
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★Editor's recommendation: This is a story that combines the magical heartbreak of "She is from Mariupol" with the female growth story of "Neapolitan Quartet".
The father's rejection of dirt, noise, and the German language, and my desire for love and my inability to get it, became the keynote of this book.
"Every individual and family is a model for national politics." With impassive forbearance and restraint, Natasha, as always, quietly uncovers the scars of marginalized groups, focusing on the side of that era and the individuals caught in its cracks. This time, she herself is among them. Beneath the calm lake, a shocking undercurrent still surges. After erecting a moving literary monument to her mother, the author turns her pen to her father.
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★Media Commentary: Natasha Wardin has only shown us the tip of the iceberg of what happened in the past. However, her description is so touching that everyone can see their own story in it.
—Andreas Kilb, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Natasha Warding's account of a postwar childhood filled with silence, violence and rebellion is heartbreaking.
—Natascha Freundel, NDR Culture Channel "This is a highly expressive art, and the author's calm, documentary style is particularly commendable."
— German Cultural Radio Natasha Wardin has established a writing paradigm that is both classical and extraordinary.
—Hans-Peter Kunisch, Süddeutsche Zeitung

2022-04-01

新星出版社

193

9787513347877