{"id":2029,"date":"2022-02-11T11:06:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T11:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/?p=2029"},"modified":"2022-02-11T11:06:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T11:06:07","slug":"review-its-over-dont-go-there-by-kathrin-schmidt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2022\/02\/11\/review-its-over-dont-go-there-by-kathrin-schmidt\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: IT\u2019S OVER. DON\u2019T GO THERE by Kathrin Schmidt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translated from German by Sue Vickerman<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s over. Don\u2019t go there<\/em>.<\/a> is the second title by Kathrin Schmidt published by Naked Eye, and the second in their new translated literature series. You can read my review of Schmidt\u2019s novel You\u2019re Not Dying <\/em>(translated by Christina Les) here<\/a>, but today I want to talk to you about her new collection of short stories.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been coming round to short stories as a genre ever since I fell in love with Margarita Garc\u00eda Robayo\u2019s Fish Soup<\/em> (translated by Charlotte Coombe and reviewed here<\/a>), and overall this is a cracking collection. As with all short story collections I read, It\u2019s over. Don\u2019t go there. <\/em>had some that for me were the stand-out ones and others I wasn\u2019t so crazy about, but there were enough really great ones that I didn\u2019t mind an occasional one I didn\u2019t warm to quite so much.<\/p>\n

The characters are all on the margins in some way: some are unemployed, others viewed as \u201cuseless\u201d, others still rejected or dismissed in some alternative way. The observation of the characters\u2019 (often abject) lives is amusingly pedantic: these are people trying to gain control of their lives, but always being trapped in their social, economic or personal circumstances. Some of them are distinctly unlikeable, others surprisingly endearing despite bodily peculiarities (such as farts that thunder like cannons), and they all have in common an absurdity to their lives (and deaths) that brings humour and warmth to often bleak situations. the stories are steeped in German history yet never feel overly instructive or didactic. In fact, the social comment is often innocently disguised as humour, such as in this observation about a character\u2019s parents: \u201cMeanwhile, our (only-pretending-to-be) \u2018cheerfully patriotic’ parents were chewing timidly on their tasteless sandwiches and adhering to a \u2018truth\u2019 that went only as far as the country\u2019s borders and then stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

This quotation is an example of Sue Vickerman\u2019s close attention to rhythm and cadence in the translation of frequently very long and multiple-claused sentences. Vickerman also communicates the humour in Schmidt\u2019s work, often with the kind of understatement that works particularly well in English (as in the case of poor Reenie Schnitzel, whose heroic virtue \u2013 which her father terrifies her into preserving \u2013 \u201cprecisely three men had tried, but woefully failed, to claim\u201d). Reenie is one of many women who feature in the collection, and most of them live lives of discontentment, trapped in their stereotypical social roles as dissatisfied wives, reluctant mothers or frustrated virgins. Yet just as Schmidt refrains from making overtly partisan commentaries on German social history, she also leaves these specifically gendered experiences without explicit comment, preferring to convey the abjection of her protagonists\u2019 lives subtly and with (often wicked) humour.<\/p>\n

But back to Vickerman\u2019s translation: as well as the perfectly pitched rendering of Schmidt\u2019s understated humour, the lexical variety is particularly striking: the range is supple, with admirable attention to register and context. The crowning glory for me was the ease with which Vickerman managed to slip \u201cchuntering\u201d into one particular story \u2013 this is one of my favourite words of all time (tell me I\u2019m not the only one who has favourite words?), and I love that it made an appearance here. Reading it was one of those moments when I chuckled out loud, and reminded me of finding Sophie Hughes\u2019s use of \u201cgobshite\u201d in her translation of Fernanda Melchor\u2019s Hurricane Season <\/em><\/a>\u2013 in both cases, the perfect touch to an already excellent translation.<\/p>\n

It’s over. Don\u2019t go there. <\/em>is a varied and interesting collection that nonetheless has common themes of marginalisation and abjection punctuated with flashes of human warmth. I\u2019m confident there\u2019s something in there for everyone to enjoy, and hope you have fun with these darkly funny, irreverent yet gut-punching stories.<\/p>\n

Review copy of\u00a0It’s over. Don’t go there\u00a0<\/em>provided by Naked Eye Publishing<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translated from German by Sue Vickerman It\u2019s over. Don\u2019t go there. is the second title by Kathrin Schmidt published by Naked Eye, and the second in their new translated literature series. You can read my review of Schmidt\u2019s novel You\u2019re Not Dying (translated by Christina Les) here, but today I want to talk to you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[375,463,511,639,875],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: IT\u2019S OVER. 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