From Then to Now
I recently finished ‘The Best of Everything’ by Rona Jaffe; and I am currently reading ‘Alone in Berlin’ by Hans Fallada. Jaffe completed her novel in the late 50s and it is set in the early 60s; Fallada’s novel was published in 1947 and is set in 1940. No prizes for guessing where it’s set! Both these books having been published yonks before I read them got me thinking about the effects of time on the impact of a book. It is safe to say that, out of these two novels, time has been less kind to ‘The Best of Everything’. Now that we’ve all watched ‘Mad Men’ and we know all the dirty secrets of Stepford, the “secret life of the perfect people” thing is a bit old hat. Britain and America are more than aware that in the 1950s and 60s there were certain social expectations that were prevalent in society – mostly about one’s marital status and “reputation” – particularly for women. In terms on social history and particularly that of feminism this is no doubt important and interesting; but the impact has changed. When the novel was published it was scandalous and shocked people because it was so honest about the more unpleasant sides of being a young woman in New York. Now, these things (single motherhood, betrayal, extramarital sex, abortion, desperation, despair) are still shocking in that they are difficult and not necessarily desirable, but we have heard all about them already, many times. The scandal and shock factors are greatly depleted, now that we live in a social climate of celebrities and WAGs.
‘Alone in Berlin’ works in a very different way. We have all heard and read stories from the war, of the atrocities that took place and the unutterable suffering that so many people endured at the hands of the Nazis; but we have not heard so much of the plight of German citizens that did not support the aggressive Party ruling their country. This is the story of a small corner of that resistance, written by a German about Germans. Of course we must never forget the war and we must be respectful of those that suffered; but we have heard many stories that, although all individually important and different, do have something in common. It is a fact that most of the stories published about wartime experience are those of the Allies and the persecuted European Jews. We have not heard so much from ordinary Germans. Though this is a fictional novel it is based on real events and it is not like the many other stories we have heard. There always seems to be something new to hear or learn about the Second World War and this is a brilliant example. Time has lessened the wound, but we still remember and we still need to hear about what happened.
I haven’t yet finished ‘Alone in Berlin’ but I am sure it will live up to its reputation.
