Description
Dreaming, inventing, remembering: A great novel about a little woman
I knew my grandmother, but I did not know it was her. Linda, a translator from Persian, likes to be guided by her dreams, and so one day she finds herself in Lüneburg: Her barely known grandmother Ida lived there immediately after the Second World War, fled from Upper Silesia, widowed, with five children. Just under one and a half meters tall, she worked for the "Director of English Cinema". This half-sentence ignites Linda's imagination, and she is already in the middle of the period of British occupation, from 1945 to 1949: Ida loses her husband, Ida scrubs laundry for the Tommys, and Ida meets Mr. Thursday. She starts working for him at Astra Cinema and, with all her enthusiasm for the films, hardly notices that he falls in love with her ... The cinema becomes a counter-image to the harsh reality through which Ida and her little rascals fight their way as "escapees", with ingenuity, the power of dreams and the love that unites them. By becoming their narrator out of longing for the grandmother she did not have, Linda changes herself - and on top of that she tells the story of an entire era.
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Mitteldeutscher Verlag GmbH
Roman Pliske
Am Steintor 23
06112 Halle (Saale)
Tel.: (03 45) 2 33 22-0
E-Mail: info[at]mitteldeutscherverlag.de
Reviews
"Through the magnifying glass of the writer, the characters become great and unique. The splendid spectrum of human emotions is accompanied by concisely drawn statements."
Cornelia Ohst, Marbacher Zeitung, February 22, 2020
"This beautifully designed book has not only cleared up my prejudices, but also testifies to tolerance, courage and strength, and it has written itself into my heart without effort thanks to its incredibly strong - albeit small - heroine Ida! Just great!"
Tatjana Mayeres, Alliteratus, February 2020
"In the German-speaking world, Tanja Langer is one of those writers who seemingly effortlessly succeeds in reducing complexity without slipping into triviality or betraying art to commerce.
Hans Christoph Buch, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 9, 2020
"A moving novel, which fascinates as exciting search for traces and touching life story at the same time.
Beatrice le Coutre-Bick, Lower Saxony Houses of Literature, December 2019
"'My little grandmother & Mr. Thursday' is a moving and touching family story full of longing and dreams."
Janett Cernohuby, janetts-meinung.de, December 6, 2019
"A demanding work that is both thought-provoking and entertaining. Tanja Langer has thoroughly researched and draws a ruthless picture of Lüneburg in the late 1940s in an artistic and plastic language".
Ruth Heume, Landeszeitung für die Lüneburger Heide, November 30, 2019
"Tanja Langer has brought remarkably much contemporary historical coloring into her novel, very concrete, vivid, sensual.
Saxon Newspaper, November 23/24, 2019
"Tanja Langer is an extremely versatile writer."
Cornelia Geißler, Berliner Zeitung, November 14, 2019
"A great novel."
Dorothea Schmidt, Böhme newspaper, November 12, 2019
"Tanja Langer has written her masterpiece with this book."
Monika Melchert, reading, 3.2019
"'What is your song, what is mine? What is the song of a man?' Tanja Langer spreads out a carpet of storytelling in front of us. If you wish, it will rise into the air."
new germany, 15 October 2019
"Anyone interested in the post-war period and the beginnings of German cinema should take a look at Ida and Mr. Thursday!
Franziska Machalitza-Grunert, sky-blue.org, October 9, 2019
"The story of a strong woman in post-war Germany is captivatingly told and contains - certainly not unintentionally - strong contemporary references.
ekz Information Service, September 30, 2019
"An artful romantic carpet that not only spins and weaves stories, but also gives pleasure in language."
Michaela Backeberg, Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, September 28/29, 2019
"Langer's way of writing is exciting. And her narrative style also captivates the audience and makes them curious.
Kinzigtal News, publishing house Parzeller GmbH & Co. KG , September 23, 2019
"From Once upon a time ... to completely different times - simply well written, full of background information and still very interesting to read today.
Anna-Christina Lanari, reading friends24.hpage.com, September 18, 2019
"The novel of this gifted narrator is a feast for every lover of literature and all those interested in recent German history!
Beatrix Petrilowski, BuchAviso.de, September 2, 2019
"Those who like cinema and survival stories in strange times, as well as strong women, will find what they are looking for here.
Nick Hillmann, findosbuecher.com, August 29, 2019
Author Biography
Tanja Langer, born 1962 in Wiesbaden, studied comparative literature, political science, art history and philosophy in Munich, Paris and Berlin. She has staged numerous plays, published in major daily newspapers and has written stories, radio plays and novels, most recently "Der Tag ist hell, ich schreibe dir" (2012; 2019 as audio book read by Eva Mattes) and "Der Maler Munch" (2013). She writes for visual artists and new music, including the libretto for the opera "Kleist" by Rainer Rubbert (2008). She lives in Berlin.
Mitteldeutscher Verlag
In our travel segment you will find city and travel guides, cycling and hiking guides as well as regional guides with a focus on "castles". New in our program is the series "The 99 special pages of the city/region ...", which supplements the classic guide. It is just the right thing for discoverers, flaneurs, hungry, thirsty and curious people! Our illustrated books on popular travel destinations enhance the bookcase of travel enthusiasts - and desk travelers.Our passion in the area of art are photo books, whose subjects range from nude photography to - gladly also somewhat offside - special topics. We have a special weakness for "Lost Places" and for photography that reflects life in the GDR. This segment is complemented by a new series of artist portraits and exhibition catalogs.Our fiction program includes sophisticated contemporary German prose as well as sophisticated light fiction. In our "Library of Discoveries", we dress translations of world literature treasures that have not yet been discovered in the German-speaking world in a bibliophile garment, thus giving them a chance to conquer the German-speaking readership for the first time. The fiction section also includes biographies and memories of exceptional personalities.In our non-fiction/specialist book segment you will find popular non-fiction books as well as the specialist book with the latest scientific research results. Our focus in this area is on contemporary German history (GDR) and the early modern period (Enlightenment). In addition to established scholarly series on the history of the country, region and city, as well as archive publications and source editions, we publish on socially relevant topics and on issues in the humanities.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher Mitteldeutscher Verlag
- Publication Date August 2019
- Orginal LanguageGerman
- ISBN/Identifier 9783963111815
- Publication Country or regionGermany
- FormatPaperback
- Primary Price 18 EUR
- Pages416
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Original Language TitleMeine kleine Großmutter & Mr. Thursday oder Die Erfindung der Erinnerung
- Original Language AuthorsGerman
- EditionFirst
- Copyright Year2019
- Page size130x210 mm
- Illustrationnone
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