Zerstreuung

Lauri Kubuitsile
Extract

Zerstreuung

Lauri Kubuitsile

Translated into German by Ivana Maurovic, Maria Meinel

Description:

There is war in southern Africa around the turn of the century. Tjipuka, the daughter of a Herero leader, and Riette, whose father is a Dutch settler, meet in the British Bechuanaland, both badly marked by the wars they had to endure. The Herero are fed up with the German occupation of their country. Tjipuka's husband Ruhapo joined the resistance against the colonial power overnight. Its brutal suppression by the so-called Schutzstaffel forms the cruel prelude to the displacement and annihilation of a people, ordered by a German general: Kill every Herero, including women and children. Tjipuka survived the Ohamakari massacre and flees to the desert with her child. Your husband is likely dead. At the same time, the ambitious 25-year-old Riette is forcibly married to her rude neighbor in the Transvaal. When he was captured in the second Boer War, Riette was also taken to a camp. Their farm is set on fire as part of the UK's scorched earth policy. DESTRUCTION tells the brutal story of two women united in the struggle for survival. Lauri Kubuitsile manages to empathize and poetically report incredible suffering, including in the Lüderitz concentration camp, and the simultaneous inflexibility of the human spirit. A moving novel, inspired by parts of German history that are told here from a female point of view.

Read more
  • Original title: The Scattering
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • Pages: 344 Pages
  • Publishing date: 25.08.2022
  • ISBN: 978-3-9823281-3-3
Portrait of Lauri Kubuitsile in black and white

Lauri Kubuitsile

Lauri Kubuitsile is a novelist and author of more than 30 books. She has been awarded several awards such as The Golden Baobab Prize for African children’s writing, the winner of the Botswana Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture’s Botswerere Prize for Creative Writing, and was a finalist for the 2011 Caine Prize. Her books are prescribed reading in schools in Botswana and South Africa. Her historical novel, The Scattering (Penguin 2016), won Best International Fiction Book 2017 at the...

Learn more

Ivana Maurovic

Ivana Maurović studied English and German language and literature in Rijeka and comparative literature in Berlin. She translates from English and Croatian and has been living in Berlin since 2010.

Maria Meinel

Maria Meinel, born in Meissen in 1972, translates from English, Spanish and Catalan. In addition to nonfiction, children's books, and screenplays, she has translated short stories by José Ortega, lyrical prose by Yanara Friedland, and poetry by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton and Ángeles Mora, a.o. Maria Meinel also works as a freelance editor, lecturer and moderator. She lives in Halle (Saale), gardens, and writes, mostly on art and photography.

Dates

No events found

There are no upcoming events for the book "Zerstreuung".

Press

Download

  • Wie Gewalt, erlittene und ausgeübte, die Seelen zerklüftet und die Liebe zweier Liebender auf immer versehrt: Lauri Kubuitsile zeigt den Genozid an den Herero auf eine erschütternd intime Weise.


    –– Charlotte Wiedemann

  • Der Roman berührt in seiner Darstellung der grausamen historischen Details wie der fiktiven starken und warmherzigen Protagonistinnen, ist spannend geschrieben und äußerst lesenswert.


    –– Heike Frank , Virginia, 2023

  • Lauri Kubuitsile zeigt in Zerstreuung, wie untrennbar Patriarchat, Kolonialismus und Faschismus ineinander verwoben sind. Sie zeigt es mit großer, erzählerischer Kraft.


    –– Ulrike Anna Bleier , LIVRES (Luxemburger Tagblatt)

  • “Through exquisite, evocative writing, Kubuitsile weaves the story of these two resilient women who must overcome shocking odds in order to survive.”


    –– Cape Times

  • "The Scattering is a beautiful story of unbreakable bonds, love and new friendships. I truly enjoyed it and will recall the characters with fondness for some time to come."


    –– Writers Write

  • Der Genozid an den Herero und der anglo-burische Krieg: zwei siedlerkoloniale Dramen von politisch unterschiedlicher Natur, begegnen sich im geteilten Schmerz zweier Frauengestalten. Solidarität ist möglich, über die color line hinweg. Ein ermutigendes Buch.


    –– Charlotte Wiedemann

  • In sprachlicher Hinsicht überzeugt Zerstreuung vor allem durch das Durchmischen der Sprachen, wie es in der damaligen Zeit üblich war. [...] Die häufigen Perspektivwechsel in der Erzählung dienen vor allen Dingen der Stimmenverleihung an diejenigen, welchen bisher kein Gehör geschenkt wurden: den Schwarzen, den Frauen, den Besiegten.


    –– Thomas Stöck , literatur und feuilleton

  • “The Scattering impresses on several fronts. Through the life stories of two seemingly insignificant women Kubuitsile links two seminal events of the early twentieth century history in Southern Africa. Two fates out of millions, but they personify the remarkable resilience of women throughout history... The Scattering is one of those superb historical novels which live on in the reader, simultaneously sounding a warning and shining the light of hope.”


    –– Cape Times

  • "Kubuitsile verwebt durch eindrucksvolles Schreiben die Geschichte zweier widerstandsfähiger Frauen, die schockierende Widrigkeiten überwinden müssen, um zu überleben."


    –– Jan's Book Buzz

  • „Heldenerzählungen“ über Männer im Krieg gibt es genug und ich bin es ebenfalls leid Erzählungen über oder von deutschen Kolonialisten (ich gendere hier bewusst nicht) zu lesen. Lauri Kubuitsile bietet eine Perspektive, die längst überfällig war und äußerst willkommen ist.


    –– Lynn Benda , lieschenradieschen-reist