Novel
Spuren im Sand
Not translated into English
Hans Werner Richter · 1953
Synopsis
Born in the days when the emperor still made his cruises to the North, a boy with no particular talent grows up with six brothers and sisters in Bansin, a fishing village on the Pomeranian coast of the Baltic, where his father is a master bathing attendant. His mother passes on a practical wisdom to him, and the family distrusts all authority. From the Empire to the Weimar Republic, he experiences the adventures of everyday life, school, friendships, a first love, then his first steps in the trade.
Context
The novel appeared in 1953 with the subtitle “roman d'une jeunesse”. Dedicated to the author's mother, it follows Richter's childhood in Bansin closely. It came after two first novels, Die Geschlagenen (1949) and Sie fielen aus Gottes Hand (1951), the latter awarded the René Schickele Prize. André Maugé's translation appeared in Paris with Pierre Horay in 1954. The book has been reissued in Germany by Hinstorff in 1999, then by Steidl in 2004, with an afterword by Siegfried Lenz.
Who it is for
A novel of about three hundred and sixty pages, told in the first person, in a tone of humour and light satire.
Prizes and reception
Translated into French the year after its publication; on its reissue in 2004, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung hailed a book pleasingly free of pretension.
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