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Angel of oblivion

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Average Rating
Publisher:
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Pub. Date:
2016
Language:
English
Description
"Haderlap is an accomplished poet, and that lyricism leaves clear traces on this ravishing debut, which won the prestigious Bachmann Prize in 2011. The descriptions are sensual, and the unusual similes and metaphors occasionally change perspective unexpectedly. Angel of Oblivion deals with harrowing subjects - murder, torture, persecution and discrimination of an ethnic minority - in intricate and lyrical prose. The novel tells the story of a family from the Slovenian minority in Austria. The first-person narrator starts off with her childhood memories of rural life, in a community anchored in the past. Yet behind this rural idyll, an unresolved conflict is smouldering. At first, the child wonders about the border to Yugoslavia, which runs not far away from her home. Then gradually the stories that the adults tell at every opportunity start to make sense. All the locals are scarred by the war. Her grandfather, we find out, was a partisan fighting the Nazis from forest hideouts. Her grandmother was arrested and survived Ravensbruck. As the narrator grows older, she finds out more. Through conversations at family gatherings and long nights talking to her grandmother, she learns that her father was arrested by the Austrian police and tortured - at the age of ten - to extract information on the whereabouts of his father. Her grandmother lost her foster-daughter and many friends and relatives in Ravensbruck and only escaped the gas chamber by hiding inside the camp itself. The narrator begins to notice the frequent suicides and violent deaths in her home region, and she develops an eye for how the Slovenians are treated by the majority of German-speaking Austrians. As an adult, the narrator becomes politicised and openly criticises the way in which Austria deals with the war and its own Nazi past. In the closing section, she visits Ravensbruck and finds it strangely lifeless - realising that her personal memories of her grandmother are stronger. Illuminating an almost forgotten chapter of European history and the European present, the book deals with family dynamics scarred by war and torture - a dominant grandmother, a long-suffering mother, a violent father who loves his children but is impossible to live with. And interwoven with this is compelling reflection on storytelling: the narrator hoping to rid herself of the emotional burden of her past and to tell stories on behalf of those who cannot"--
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ISBN:
9780914671466
9780914671473
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID6f4b0ea4-d261-a1a4-444e-032c6b641768
Grouping Titleangel of oblivion
Grouping Authormaja haderlap
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-28 02:11:39AM
Last Indexed2024-03-28 02:24:37AM

Solr Fields

accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
auth_author2
Lewis, Tess
author
Haderlap, Maja, 1961-
author2-role
Lewis, Tess,translator
author_display
Haderlap, Maja
available_at_catalog
Arden-Dimick
Central
detailed_location_catalog
Arden-Dimick
Central
display_description
"Haderlap is an accomplished poet, and that lyricism leaves clear traces on this ravishing debut, which won the prestigious Bachmann Prize in 2011. The descriptions are sensual, and the unusual similes and metaphors occasionally change perspective unexpectedly. Angel of Oblivion deals with harrowing subjects - murder, torture, persecution and discrimination of an ethnic minority - in intricate and lyrical prose. The novel tells the story of a family from the Slovenian minority in Austria. The first-person narrator starts off with her childhood memories of rural life, in a community anchored in the past. Yet behind this rural idyll, an unresolved conflict is smouldering. At first, the child wonders about the border to Yugoslavia, which runs not far away from her home. Then gradually the stories that the adults tell at every opportunity start to make sense. All the locals are scarred by the war. Her grandfather, we find out, was a partisan fighting the Nazis from forest hideouts. Her grandmother was arrested and survived Ravensbruck. As the narrator grows older, she finds out more. Through conversations at family gatherings and long nights talking to her grandmother, she learns that her father was arrested by the Austrian police and tortured - at the age of ten - to extract information on the whereabouts of his father. Her grandmother lost her foster-daughter and many friends and relatives in Ravensbruck and only escaped the gas chamber by hiding inside the camp itself. The narrator begins to notice the frequent suicides and violent deaths in her home region, and she develops an eye for how the Slovenians are treated by the majority of German-speaking Austrians. As an adult, the narrator becomes politicised and openly criticises the way in which Austria deals with the war and its own Nazi past. In the closing section, she visits Ravensbruck and finds it strangely lifeless - realising that her personal memories of her grandmother are stronger. Illuminating an almost forgotten chapter of European history and the European present, the book deals with family dynamics scarred by war and torture - a dominant grandmother, a long-suffering mother, a violent father who loves his children but is impossible to live with. And interwoven with this is compelling reflection on storytelling: the narrator hoping to rid herself of the emotional burden of her past and to tell stories on behalf of those who cannot"--
format_catalog
Book
eBook
format_category_catalog
Books
eBook
id
6f4b0ea4-d261-a1a4-444e-032c6b641768
isbn
9780914671466
9780914671473
itype_catalog
Adult Fiction
last_indexed
2024-03-28T09:24:37.294Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
FICTION Haderlap, M.
owning_library_catalog
Sacramento Public Library
owning_location_catalog
Arden-Dimick
Central
primary_isbn
9780914671466
publishDate
2016
publisher
Archipelago Books
Steerforth Press
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Historical fiction
Minorities -- Fiction
Psychological fiction
Slovenes -- Austria -- Fiction
War stories
Women -- Austria -- Fiction
World War, 1939-1945 -- Austria -- Fiction
title_display
Angel of oblivion
title_full
Angel of Oblivion
Angel of oblivion / Maja Haderlap ; translated from the German by Tess Lewis
title_short
Angel of oblivion
topic_facet
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Literature
Minorities
Slovenes
Women
World War, 1939-1945

Solr Details Tables

item_details

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overdrive:62f6cb35-62de-4ce9-ba5c-8cae28c8d3d5-2Online OverDrive CollectionOnline OverDriveeBookeBook1falsetrueOverDriveAvailable Online
ils:.b24341976.i74575727CentralFICTION Haderlap, M.1falsefalseOn Shelfcenag
ils:.b24341976.i74575740Arden-DimickFICTION Haderlap, M.1falsefalseOn Shelfardag

record_details

Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
overdrive:62f6cb35-62de-4ce9-ba5c-8cae28c8d3d5eBookeBookEnglishSteerforth Press2016
ils:.b24341976BookBooksFirst Archipelago Books editionEnglishArchipelago Books2016289 pages ; 17 cm

scoping_details_catalog

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overdrive:62f6cb35-62de-4ce9-ba5c-8cae28c8d3d5-2Available OnlineAvailable Onlinefalsetruetruefalsefalsefalse
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