I am relatively late in exploring Sibylle Berg, one of Germany´s most popular women writers, first revealed to me via a movie, a paraphrasing of Who´s Afraid of Virginia Woolf called Wer hat Angst von Sibylle Berg?. Weimar-born Swiss citizen, Berg is the type of intellectual who is over-observing the world and re-translating the details into her own writings. Actually, every writer is doing it, only that her, she is over invested in the human nature. That kind of human nature which is influenced by and follows the ways of politics and social changes and challenges.
Wunderbare Jahre. Als wir noch die Welt bereisten - Wonderful Years. When we were still travelling the world, in my approximate translation - is a collection of intertwined stories (not through the characters, but the common context and topics). It is a world before and after 9/11, although terrorism in its various forms, existed since forever, and hijacking was a common occurrence in the 1970s especially.
The world ´explored´ through contemporary travel unifies under the pressure of conforming to certain society models and expectations. We go on cruises or we are looking to fill our bucket list, we take pictures where everyone does it because it is the trend to do so. Everyone is doing this and there is nothing to criticize here.
Berg is observing and re-creates the game of circumstances which presented as a sequence of facts, magnified, are looking and sounding grotesque, hilarious but relatable. Inspired by the author´s self travel memories and experience between 1994 and 2015, it includes a ´before´ and ´after´ although cynically speaking, the tendency was always there. Towards travelling the world while actually ignoring the world, but especially the human drama behind the glossy guided tours. A human comedy unfolding and a fine lesson of active observation.
Rating: 4 stars
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