Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
An intellectually stimulating yet accessible collection of short vignettes on Russia and Germany by Alexander Kluge. Not just in light of a contested pipeline during the war in Ukraine but also after centuries of both exchange and rejection, Russia and Germany were and are as far away from each other as they are intrinsically linked. The geopolitical present seems critical, the signs pointing towards conflict and polarity.
In this hot climate, German author Alexander Kluge makes Russia the exclusive subject of his latest book. In a decidedly poetic manner, not with a didactic desire for analysis, he approaches the immense terrain of the earth's largest country and the grandeur of its soul. He concerns himself with the "unenslaved" matter that gives the reader and his narrative materials "the freedom to breathe." This freedom is felt in multiple perspectives the volume offers: from that of the historical German patriots of the Napoleonic Wars of Liberation to the narrative point of view of Franz Kafka and Heiner M ller; from messianic yearning and utopian expectations of the twentieth century to the full-blown or near-miss catastrophes in the atomic age.
Composed in Kluge's characteristic short-prose vignette style and including a preface that reflects on Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Russia Container is yet another brilliant and thought-provoking work from one of Europe's most prolific and deeply intellectual literary genius.