Book Review: “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated by Michael Hofmann)
There’s no better time than now
Title: Kairos. Published: 2023. Genre: Historical. Publisher: New Directions. Pages: 336.
When it comes to big literary awards, I’m a bit like a magpie: as soon as some writer or some book wins a Nobel, Booker, or Pulitzer, I snatch the book into my nest and read it right away. This year, the International Booker Prize went to the novel “Kairos” by German author Jenny Erpenbeck. The International Booker is awarded to books translated into English, with the prize split evenly between the author and translator.
The title of the book is a name of an ancient Greek god of the happy moment, luck, and serendipity. Kairos helps people to grasp that precise moment when one must act if one wants to succeed.
“Kairos, the god of fortunate moments, is supposed to have a lock of hair on his forehead, which is the only way of grasping hold of him. Because once the god has slipped past on his winged feet, the back of his head is sleek and hairless, nowhere to grab hold of.”
The year is 1986. Berlin is divided by a wall. Two people meet on a bus. Katharina is 19; she’s finishing school, and her whole life is ahead of her. Hans is a bit over 50; he’s a writer, married, and has a son. They get into relationship, which one might call romantic, but it’s more complex than that. Katharina is in love, Hans appears wise, intriguing, and enigmatic to her. For him, Katharina is not his first affair; he sporadically encounters his former lover, covertly calls Katharina, and invites her to his home only when his wife and son are away.
I like to think of myself as a detached reader who views a book as a carefully constructed entity, where every character, every dialogue, every twist are designed to move the story forward. Therefore, I rarely love or hate characters. The last character I truly disliked was the teacher from “My Dark Vanessa” by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
He is overthrown from the top spot by Hans. Erpenbeck has created such a repulsive character that he made my teeth grind. He’s not a maniac, a killer, a cannibal, or a demon. He’s simply a writer having an affair with a young girl. But the way he gaslights and abuses her throughout the entire book, hiding behind his supposedly delicate soul, breeds an incredible level of disgust. Because he does it so skillfully. Hans is a master of manipulation, but only when it comes to an inexperienced, slightly lost in life, and a very lonely girl.
The climax involves cassette tapes (after all, voice messages weren’t around in the late 80s), on which he records all his disappointment with Katharina. For a full 60 minutes, Katharina, headphones on, listens to how she disappointed him, deceived him, used him, and failed their love. Then the girl must write a reply and return the cassette to Hans.
Amidst these relationships, something is changing in Germany. Brick by brick, the metaphorical wall between East and West is dismantled, and then, a few years later, the real wall falls.
Coca-Cola has succeeded, where Marxist philosophy has failed, at uniting the proletarians of all nations under its banner.
If we step back from the plot’s focus, of course, it’s not about an old regime collapsing against the backdrop for the great love. It’s a small, private story unfolding while shifts in the tectonic plates of history bring a new order to the world. It becomes clear who, at least among the characters, will remain in the past and who will have a future. It’s only natural that the old fades away, making room for the young.
