Living In Between E-Book

Maria Reinecke

• Herausgeber: PalmArtPress
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 131

Beschreibung

"The value of actions doesn't lie in theiroutcomes, but rather in what happens betweenthem." This quote from Maria Reinecke is wellsuited to her novel Living In Between, which isnow available in a new, revised edition in Germanand American English. The focus of this literarywork is less on the culmination of its plot as muchas what takes place within the story's spacetimeinterstices. The finest perceptions and feelingsof the two protagonists Marie and Anne - oris one of them only a reflection of the other? -form condensed interludes within and alongsidethe dramatic sequence of events. Memories,reflections, dreams, and traumas provide gentleaccompaniment to the plot and give readers directinsight into the characters' tumultuous inner lives.

Leseprobe

Maria Reinecke- Living In Between

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen NationalbibliothekDie Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikationin der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografischeDaten sind im Internet über http//www.d-nb.de abrufbar.

ISBN: 978-3-941524-22-4ISBN: 978-3-941524-24-8 (eBook)

1. Edition EnglishPalmArtPress, 2013

German Edition:Leben in den ZwischenräumenPalmArtPress, 2013ISBN 978-3-941524-21-7ISBN: 978-3-941524-23-1 (eBook)Editor: Catharine J. NicelyCover Photo: Bernd Reinecke (Market Square in Pollensa, Mallorca)Translation: Mollie Hosmer-DillardPrinted in Germany

All rights reserved© 2013 Maria ReineckePalmArtPressPfalzburgerstr. 69, 10719 Berlinwww.palmartpress.com

Maria Reinecke

LivingInBetween

Translated from the Germanby Mollie Hosmer-Dillard

Prologue

Where is the beginning? Where I begin. It has always begun before me: regardless of where I begin. Putting splinters together, shreds of life, of what has been lived, trusting in pent-up pictures, thoughts, memories. How to arrange it all, follow the thread, weave a story? There is no seam for this thread. Everything is like this, and at the same time has always been completely different.

Angles of truth.

Angles of lies.

To reach the angle of eternity.

Once upon a time, there was a man who had seven sons, and the seven sons said, Father, tell us a story. So the father began, once upon a time there was a man who had seven sons, and the seven sons said, Father, tell us a story. So the father began, once upon a time there was a man…

The grown-ups are laughing; the child does not understand, he is laughing along but he sounds unsure of himself, almost sad; he would have liked to remain in the moment when they said that someone should tell a story, any story; that had been exciting, the moment when everything suddenly seemed possible, a hole appeared in the mechanical structure of things, a gap opened for the unexpected, space for freedom, vastness, adventure, and his attention was freed for the miraculous.

Once upon a time there was a man, a woman, a child. And then? A story has to be told some time. Maybe. If it is still needed then. After all, I am of Jewish descent, so there would be the story of my mother, but I don´t feel compelled to dedicate yet another monument to that perverse time. I know my luck. The story would fall into the hands of some keen director, inspiring him to construct historically accurate scenes with abhorrent swastikas; just imagine someone happening upon those images during the evening program – if only for a few seconds – fascinated by the screaming, vacant grimaces and the immaculate cut of uniforms. No. No matter how I look at it, I have no story, don’t want one.

The best thing would be simply to ponder everything like the philosopher once did, next to the fireplace, during a frosty winter in the middle of the war.

- I assume nothing, said the wise man, slippers on his feet, sitting in the armchair.

- Do I even exist? he asked himself, while others stirred the fire for him, brought food, did the laundry, and took the garbage out. What would he have done without them, thought without them?

- I am cold! I am hungry! Therefore I am?! he may have called out eventually, desperate and a bit confused. But no, he was warm and cozy, so he could think and think incessantly, until he thought so much that he thought he might just well exist.

I don’t even want to think right now, can’t think right now. I sit and look. At nothing in particular. At what is there. It’s good that there are things to meet one’s gaze, to be thought about! I look out through the high rectangle of the window. The darkness of the roofs sits on illuminated walls across from me. It advances toward me. Sensing the darkness calms me. I perceive the darkness and feel calm. Time stands still. Let it be. Sit. Look. Penetrate the moment. Be like that house over there, like that tree. No shame, no shyness, no guilt. Be, just be; without any doubt, without any sense of trepidation. My consciousness sinks, melts into my body, stretches out through my skin into the room.

Shreds of clouds, illuminated by the city, are flying along under the black sky. It’s no use. Time falls upon me again. The sense of trepidation will not cease as long as I am breathing. Me. Always me. To listen within will not do, there is nobody there. To return to yourself. As if there were someone waiting who you could meet. Me, my mood unfathomable, perceptions wound into a ball, more or less chaotic.

Marie I

Marie Sitting in the Kitchen 1.

I´m sitting in the dark kitchen on the wicker couch. The little one is sleeping. Called in sick for another week. Borrowed time. It takes time for the blood vessels to rebuild. They did both legs, taking out the brittle veins, thirty-four incisions. There were complications. The left leg was bound too tightly after the operation, the tip of the foot had already swollen up and was beginning to turn a bluish red; the professor said it was a mess, he personally was the one who freed me from the bandage and left instructions for me to be bandaged up again. Several new blue spots are starting to appear on the left foot.