Discover Top Posts Tagged with #michael roes

terrible news: local F2 hater is definitely going to have to buy Zeithain

#michael roes #zeithain #studia felicitatis

silly little guy is depressed and gay (zeithain, a summary)

#my art #artists on tumblr #hans hermann von katte #zeithain #michael roes

When he goes to the Mensa, it is as if Apollo is striding through the hall. And so that is also his nickname: Apollo.

"I love the denizens of the coming centuries, who will breathe liberty at last! For this polar zone of despotism cannot do otherwise than to melt under the light of liberty!"

(Zeithain p. 162)

Yeah... the nineteenth century will be great but the eighteenth century fucking sucks. Or something.

Anyway I think they are E-coding Wietersheim.

#zeithain #michael roes #sherb is taking suggestions for a zeithain tag

I still dare to do it and I whisper:

"Goodnight, Johann. I'm happy you're my roommate."

I hear a sob coming out of the bed alongside mine, muffled by the pillow.

lil translation thingie, this book is both trying and killing me. one could say its trying to kill me.

#my art #artists on tumblr #hans hermann von katte #johann ludwig von ingersleben #zeithain #michael roes #yall have no idea the way i SCREAMED #the translation may be a little too ''free'' but it's hard okay #my german isn't that good yet

3, 11, 14!

3. Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

This is going to sound a little basic but before this year I didn't listen to any Sufjan Stevens. But in the spring I was involved in a production of King Lear where many of the actors made character playlists. The person who played Gloucester included "For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" on their character playlist, and after listening to it once I was hooked. Really I'm just playing midwestern catch-up.

11. Something you want to do again next year?

In the summer I had the opportunity to travel through Europe and see some of my friends and beloved mutuals. I'm in the process of applying to grad schools, and begging and praying that somewhere outside the US will take me. If that ends up being the case, I hope that travel will become just a little easier.

I also had a wonderful time at the Moby Dick Readathon, which I'm definitely going to do in the new year because it's in January.

14. Favorite book you read this year?

The book I loved reading the most was a novella: Pushkin's Photograph (1799-2099) by Andrei Bitov. I had read it in English a few years ago but reading it in Russian was an important milestone in my journey with learning Russian. I ended up writing a 10-page paper in Russian about its representation of narrative im/permanence and butterflies, and I feel like I could write 10 more pages about animal metaphors if pressed.

My favorite new (to me) book this year was Michael Roes' Zeithain, an anti-Bildungsroman about Hans Hermann von Katte, the companion and probable lover of the adolescent Friedrich II. The most famous thing about him is that he was executed by F2's father for allegedly aiding him in an escape attempt, but those narratives tend to center the crown prince rather than the man himself. This is a novel imagining, and wondering if it is even possible to imagine, the world in which Katte came of age.

I'm a sucker for 18th-century (particularly Enlightenment-themed) history and I really respect how much attention the narrative pays to other people, and how they rationalize and react to the realization that their society is founded on injustice. It's clear-eyed and tender without being overly sentimental and it describes an F2 who is equal parts tyrant-in-waiting and abused child. Unfortunately, the book's only been published in German. It's a shame, because if someone were to translate it, I think it would find an Anglophone readership pretty easily...

Ask Game

#ask game #pushkin's photograph #zeithain #andrei bitov #michael roes #studia felicitatis

Oh Katte...

We walk silently, and once again a certain tension grows between us, until I break the silence: "Why are you so attached to that manslayer Seiler?" "You wouldn't understand!" Kürschner counters brusquely. "Then explain it to me!" "We both grew up in the same village." "In Seelnot. Yeah, you already told me that. But I also come from a small town in Brandeburg. But that doesn't mean that I'm equally attached to all of my fellow-townsmen. Are you related to one another?" "More than that!" "What is there that's more binding than being a nephew, cousin or brother?" "Well I told you: you wouldn't understand!"

(Zeithain, somewhere around pg. 300)

#will update the page number when I have the book again #anyway I like how...aloof Katte is in the first half of the book #like he's not oblivious but. very human.#zeithain #michael roes #sherb is taking suggestions for a zeithain tag

Second choice for the book of the month - March 2021

Zeithain by Michael Roes (2017)

[unfocussed opinion on the novel, I am too tired, lost the ability to form thoughts and sentences. Summary: This was a very rewarding read.]

Because of another novel I read this year, Berlin/Potsdam travel memories and people on tumblr I was reminded of an 18th century tragedy that I cared about as a 15-year-old. Some research on Wikipedia and other websites brought the existence of this novel to my mind.

“Zeithain” follows the (fictionalized of course) life of Hans Hermann von Katte, born in 1704, later a Lieutenant in the Prussian army and closest friend (/lover) of the Prussian crown prince. If the reader is not already aware of his fate, they will gladly be informed by the cover text and the very first pages: In 1730 Katte is executed for his involvement in the crown prince’s (later ) planned escape from Prussia and especially from his despotic father (Frederick William I of Prussia, the crown prince in question is Frederick II or “the Great” of Prussia).

800 pages that I know will end in tragedy? Do I really want to read that? I thought. Yes, and it was worth it.

I love how the author portrayed the protagonist, detailling his life, thoughts and opinions from a young age until the last moment, reflecting on pre-Enlightenment Europe - and somebody else is probably a lot better at describing this than me... Anyway. Poor Katte was very relatable to me in his views, but he also broke my heart frequently, as is to be expected from time and circumstances. [My thoughts on the novel were a lot more eloquent originally, but it is late and I am tired, so words do not come the way I want them to.] I loved the reflections on the passing of time, the immensely detailled setting, the protagonist’s feelings and somewhat passive self-discovery.

I did not like the frame story set in the present (at all), but actual book reviews as well as other people on tumblr have criticized that before me, so I will not go into detail in my tired state... In short: The frame story was helpful at times because it gave some perspective and background information as well as additional historical facts, however, it was very surreal (which I usually enjoy!) and my advice would be to ignore at least half of it. Fortunately, it did not take up nearly as many pages as the main story.

Luckily for me, the books I have read this year were all very much my taste. This one also gains so many additional points from its writing style! I wish I could absorb it and live in it because it was that pleasant and refreshing.

Overall, I am glad that I have read this. An impressive portrait of the time it is set in, and a style that was both soothing and stimulating. My gf might attest that I was very reluctant to put the book down...