We the Peoples of the United Nations Determined
* to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
* to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
* to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
* to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom
Beginning of the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations (1945)
Judith Kerr *1923
Still, 68 years after the birth of the United Nations there are too many wars raging - terrible scenes of mistreaded children, men and women from numerous countries flicker on the screens of the various media - you'd think we've learned from a single one?!
It was WWII and its cruelties and sufferings which caused various countries to unite - the birth of the UN.
The time I have read Judith Kerr's book When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit (D: Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl; NL:?) I was in my teenage years. WWII seemed a long time ago. I was very much impressed by Judith's recollection of her time fleeing Germany and adjusting to a new life in various countries, her obstacles and fears. A very personal and impressive book reaching out to the young ones as it is written from the point of view of Anna, the youngest child.
To me then, Judith as an author must have seemed an 'old woman', somewhere above the 40s and nearly dying - as one thinks when under the 20s (she was actually 50 when her book was translated into German). So growing up myself, I forgot about her. The more I was overwhelmed to learn that she was to read at the Edinburgh Book Festival this year celebrating her life and work at her 90th birthday. I wish I could have gone...
Again, Judith is not a very unknown author: English readers probably remember mainly her children's books as The Tiger Who Came to Tea and her 17 books on Mog, the cat. German readers on the other hand remember her mainly from When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and the other two books of the trilogy. Nevertheless, I still think that Judith is an important literary figure to be mentioned on this blog. Obviously, she isn't widely known to Dutch readers as there are only four books translated and non of her trilogy on her childhood experiences.
Judith Kerr was born in Berlin, Germany. Her father, Alfred Kerr (née Kempner), was an influential essayist and theatre critic, widely known in Germany as the 'culture pope' (His influence on actors is also mentioned in Charles Lewinsky's book on Kurt Gerron (D: Gerron; NL: Terugkeer ongewenst; UK:?) who had once been a famous actor and film director in Berlin). Judith spent her early childhood years in Berlin, growing up in a safe and comfortable surrounding. In 1933, when the NSDAP won the election and Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, Alfred Kerr who had been publicly scathing the party and its leader was warned by a friend to leave Germany. The family followed and met the father in Switzerland, moving on to France where they lived for two years. They finally settled in the UK in 1936 where Judith worked as a Red Cross Nurse during WWII. After the war Judith visited the Central School of Arts and Crafts (Now: Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) where she studied the art of illustration which became her profession. Later on she worked at the BBC where she met her husband Nigel Kneale, both working as screenwriters. They have two children, Matthew a successful writer, and Tacy who works in the special effects industry.
Numerous readings with Judith at various book festivals in the UK (Brighton, Hay, Edinburgh) as well as numerous articles in newspapers in the UK and abroad featuring her life and work mark her 90th birthday this year. At the Bilderbuchmuseum ('Museum of the Illustrated Book'; sorry, no English language site) at Troisdorf close to Bonn (D) a special exhibition showed her book illustrations. An initiative by the journalist Ute Wegmann who interviewed Judith in 2011 in which Judith confesses that she is first an illustrator and only second an author: 'It is about seeing the world and wanting to rearrange it the way you would like it'. Part of the interview with Judith can be listened to while Ute herself is being interviewed for the opening of the exhibition (WDR3, mainly German, parts in English). http://www.wdr3.de/literatur/kolumba134.html
But all of you (myself included) who couldn't make it to the Edinburgh Book Festival this year: the EdBookFest has put her reading online - feel free to klick on the link to listen to Judith's reading at the festival herself. https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/media-gallery/item/kerr-judith
P.S.: For those who agree with the remark that her experience sounds too 'nice' - there is a book by Myron Levoy called Alan and Naomi (D: Der Gelbe Vogel) which is showing the hideous effects of the harassements on children, even after the war had ended...
It was WWII and its cruelties and sufferings which caused various countries to unite - the birth of the UN.
The time I have read Judith Kerr's book When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit (D: Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl; NL:?) I was in my teenage years. WWII seemed a long time ago. I was very much impressed by Judith's recollection of her time fleeing Germany and adjusting to a new life in various countries, her obstacles and fears. A very personal and impressive book reaching out to the young ones as it is written from the point of view of Anna, the youngest child.
To me then, Judith as an author must have seemed an 'old woman', somewhere above the 40s and nearly dying - as one thinks when under the 20s (she was actually 50 when her book was translated into German). So growing up myself, I forgot about her. The more I was overwhelmed to learn that she was to read at the Edinburgh Book Festival this year celebrating her life and work at her 90th birthday. I wish I could have gone...
Again, Judith is not a very unknown author: English readers probably remember mainly her children's books as The Tiger Who Came to Tea and her 17 books on Mog, the cat. German readers on the other hand remember her mainly from When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and the other two books of the trilogy. Nevertheless, I still think that Judith is an important literary figure to be mentioned on this blog. Obviously, she isn't widely known to Dutch readers as there are only four books translated and non of her trilogy on her childhood experiences.
Judith Kerr was born in Berlin, Germany. Her father, Alfred Kerr (née Kempner), was an influential essayist and theatre critic, widely known in Germany as the 'culture pope' (His influence on actors is also mentioned in Charles Lewinsky's book on Kurt Gerron (D: Gerron; NL: Terugkeer ongewenst; UK:?) who had once been a famous actor and film director in Berlin). Judith spent her early childhood years in Berlin, growing up in a safe and comfortable surrounding. In 1933, when the NSDAP won the election and Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, Alfred Kerr who had been publicly scathing the party and its leader was warned by a friend to leave Germany. The family followed and met the father in Switzerland, moving on to France where they lived for two years. They finally settled in the UK in 1936 where Judith worked as a Red Cross Nurse during WWII. After the war Judith visited the Central School of Arts and Crafts (Now: Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) where she studied the art of illustration which became her profession. Later on she worked at the BBC where she met her husband Nigel Kneale, both working as screenwriters. They have two children, Matthew a successful writer, and Tacy who works in the special effects industry.
Numerous readings with Judith at various book festivals in the UK (Brighton, Hay, Edinburgh) as well as numerous articles in newspapers in the UK and abroad featuring her life and work mark her 90th birthday this year. At the Bilderbuchmuseum ('Museum of the Illustrated Book'; sorry, no English language site) at Troisdorf close to Bonn (D) a special exhibition showed her book illustrations. An initiative by the journalist Ute Wegmann who interviewed Judith in 2011 in which Judith confesses that she is first an illustrator and only second an author: 'It is about seeing the world and wanting to rearrange it the way you would like it'. Part of the interview with Judith can be listened to while Ute herself is being interviewed for the opening of the exhibition (WDR3, mainly German, parts in English). http://www.wdr3.de/literatur/kolumba134.html
But all of you (myself included) who couldn't make it to the Edinburgh Book Festival this year: the EdBookFest has put her reading online - feel free to klick on the link to listen to Judith's reading at the festival herself. https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/media-gallery/item/kerr-judith
P.S.: For those who agree with the remark that her experience sounds too 'nice' - there is a book by Myron Levoy called Alan and Naomi (D: Der Gelbe Vogel) which is showing the hideous effects of the harassements on children, even after the war had ended...
Quote of the Month(s) - July & August 2013
"...
One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky
..."
From Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin (1935)
One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky
..."
From Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin (1935)
Summertime!
Time to relax,
time to read,
time to gather new inspiration -
see you again in September!
time to read,
time to gather new inspiration -
see you again in September!
Quote of the Month - June 2013
"Now the light of the sun had shifted; it seemed winter light again, flattened and diffuse, and the flames of the votives burned higher. Moira's hands were at Kate's hips, lifting her from behind, tilting heat into her abdomen. She moved up along Kate's spine with her fists, a hard and soft pressure, repetitive, patterned with heat that Kate felt in her forearms, in her thighs. She felt herself knit together, handled like something wounded; she realized how far she was from herself, and how she might begin to live here again, in her body. Slowly, it would happen. She might call and call now for her own return, but she only floated, inhabitating so many former selves with more conviction."
From MotherKind by Jayne Anne Phillips (2000)
From MotherKind by Jayne Anne Phillips (2000)
Jayne Anne Phillips *1952
Remember last month's Quote of the Month by Zadie Smith? Her character Samad feeling unfit to 'return'? The question of, when we return where do we return to?
I myself have returned - first 'returned' to my childhood's 'Heimat' and now back to my present 'thuis' and come across this month's quote in my notes. I like the idea of extending our focus: "She might call and call now for her own return." No need to search outside: Home is Where Your Heart Is! Eventually, it all lies inside oneself. Question solved - clear answer.
But then again: inside oneself?! Why then: "...inhabiting so many former selves with more conviction" which reminds me of: "These selves which we are built up of, one on top of the other, as plates are piled on a waiter's hand, [...]"!!! Sounds familiar? No, it is not from the philosophical book Who am I? And If So, How Many? by the German author Richard David Prichet - though the title sprang up immediately before my imaginative eye while reading the above sentence. Actually, it is a quote from the fantastic biography of Orlando written by Virginia Woolf transcending through four hundred years of history and from man to woman. Coincidently, this book is one which will be discussed in our last meeting of The English Book Club in June. I wonder how the participants will react to the idea of various 'selves'.So, 'to return' can mean a lot of things: to return to a place, to return to oneself, to return to this world after death...but I will leave it up to you to start a discussion with your friends and family. I won't bore you anymore with these contemplations instead, and will now give you some background information of this month's Quote of the Month's author:
Jayne Anne Phillips was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia, USA. Another (frequent) contributor to Granta's Magazine and winner of various prestigious literary prizes; additionally translated in various languages around the world. She is currently Professor of English and Founder / Director of the Rutgers-Newark Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program. The Atlantic magazine listed her program in 2007 as one of "Five Up-and-Coming" creative writing programs in the United States. Interesting detail: after graduation from University, Jayne went on a cross-country trip from West Virginia to California, taking on various jobs on her way. This trip shaped her writing with the focus on survivors of various struggles like in her novel, Machine Dreams, published in 1984: A chronicle of the Hampson family from the turn of the century to the Vietnam War. The Los Angeles Times praised her "stories that hover on the edge of poetry". Slow-motion literature, I would call it, with an eye to details that are usually dropped in fiction. She was also praised by Nadine Gordimer as "the best short story writer since Eudora Welty". MotherKind, Jayne's third novel, was one of the books we discussed at The English Book Club in 2010 while focusing on the theme: "Common Ground? The American Family Novel". To some readers complete boredom to others a revelation. It was a very lively discussion!
Quote of the Month - May 2013
"These days, it feels to me like you make a devil's pact when you walk into this country. You hand over your passport at the check-in, you get stamped, you want to make a little money, get yourself started...but you mean to go back! Who would want to stay? Cold, wet, miserable; terrible food, dreadful newspapers - who would want to stay? In a place where you are never welcomed, only tolerated. Just tolerated. Like you are an animal finally house-trained. Who would want to stay? But you have made a devil's pact...it drags you in and suddenly you are unsuitable to return, your children are unrecognizable, you belong nowhere."
From White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
From White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
Zadie Smith *1975
Zadie Smith isn't really an obscure 'lesser known' author who would still need an introduction, even to non-English readers. I had taken part in several literary discussions here in the Netherlands on the various titles by Zadie Smith. And it's been only last month that she was listed a second time as 'Granta's Best of Young British Novelists'.
Yet, I've been prompted by this particular quote as I will 'return home' for some weeks to attend my father's 80th birthday celebrations.
Is it actually possible to 'return home', I wonder? Where do I 'return to'? Childhood places? Childhood friends? Everyone's moved on in life each going in their own chosen direction, just as I have. If I were to 'return home' for good, I wonder if we would still be friends?
What about those whose country changed completely such as the former DDR? After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the whole system altered and former conventions/convictions were radically overthrown. Where would they 'return home' to?
What about the millions forced to flee their homes for any number of reasons and never being able to 'return home'?
Do you remember Anjali Joseph? I first introduced her in November 2011 on this blog? She has since published her second novel, Another Country (2012) in which she describes a typical modern nomad life. The protagonist is trying to settle in three different countries. A second novel with its weaknesses but still strong in imagery:
"For each girl, the other's home was non-concrete, but superstitiously to be believed, in the way of a story heard in infancy; it held a reality that had nothing to do with experience. Both knew it, and it made them feel tender, as though for their own lives, which might have been continuing elsewhere."
I am curious what 'returning home' means to you - feel free to comment!
To those of you unfamiliar with Zadie Smith and her books: she was born Sadie Smith in the northwest London Borough of Brent, UK. Her latest book NW (2012) refers to it as 'NW' is part of the postcode of that particular borough. She grew up with two elder half-siblings from her father's first marriage and two younger borthers from his second marriage to her mother, who had immigrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1969. They were a very musical family: while Zadie loved tap dancing, singing and performing, working as a Jazz singer during her studies, her two younger brothers became rappers. But in the end, it was literature that captured and won Zadie's heart.
Zadie's first novel White Teeth was published in 2000 and was received with fantastic reviews. It immediately became a bestseller and was praised internationally. She won various awards and it raised expectations for her second novel: The Autograph Man. Published in 2002, the novel was less favourably received - but then again, this is quite a familiar occurence for highly acclaimed first book authors. It is said that she even experienced a short spell of a writer's block while writing her second novel. Zadie visited the US in 2002-2003 as Radcliff Institute for Advanced Study Fellow at Harvard University. On Beauty, published in 2005, was written in that period and is set mainly around the area of Boston and won back her standing as an acclaimed author. She was subsequently shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006 and in 2012 her latest novel NW was chosen as one of the Ten Best Books of 2012 by the NYT. Zadie taught fiction at Columbia University School of the Arts and joined the New York University as a tenured Professor of fiction in 2010. She currently commutes with her family between New York City and London, UK.
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