review
Artistic license
A compelling fictionalised account of the famously eccentric avant-garde artist and poet, Kurt Schwitters, which considers questions of art, love, and survival.
The English-speaking worldâs interest in Kurt Schwitters is demonstrated by recent exhibitions of his work in the USA. Ulrike Draesnerâs compelling interpretation of Schwittersâ experience of exile from Nazi Germany is strongly grounded in the artistâs biography. Draesner focuses primarily on his personal relationships and disappointments during and after the Second World War â first in Germany, then in Norway, and finally in England â with flashbacks to his years of greatest artistic productivity. The alienation and challenges faced by Schwitters during this period are strongly rendered.
The novel is divided into three main parts: âThe German Life,â âThe English Life,â and âThe Afterlife.â âThe German Lifeâ begins with Schwitters still in Hanover, fearing for his future after the Nazis declared him a âdecadentâ artist. These chapters show Schwitters as both eccentric and bourgeois, a homebody who transforms part of his family home into a work of art, his famous Merzbau. Schwittersâ relationships to his wife Helma and their families stand in the foreground, along with the contrast between Schwittersâ unconventional art and official âvölkischâ kitsch. The remainder of âThe German Lifeâ traces Kurtâs path in exile, first in Norway, then in England, where he falls in love with a British woman, Edith Thomas, and tries to lay the groundwork for a new, English life.
âThe English Lifeâ finds Schwitters in Englandâs Lake District, where he and Edith have moved after the end of the war. Here Schwitters rents a barn to begin the construction of a new Merzbau, but struggles to reconcile his present life in England with the life he left behind in Germany. The practical and personal challenges faced by artists in exile are set against Schwittersâ original and uncompromising artistic sensibility. The novel focuses on the experience of exile and its impact on the relationships between the characters â particularly Schwittersâ relationship with his son Ernst; the dissolution of his marriage to Helma, who remains behind in Hanover; and his new relationship with Edith. âThe Afterlifeâ depicts the aftermath of Schwittersâ death, particularly the tension between Ernst and Edith over Schwittersâ estate.
Schwitters will appeal to readers familiar with Schwittersâ works, as well as to those with little or no prior familiarity with his literary and artistic production, due to its sensitive depiction of the experience of exile and relatable account of Schwittersâ personal relationships.
All recommendations from Autumn 2020