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Punishments
A young English medical student arrives in a German university town in the summer of 1948 and struggles to understand the hidden emotions of his German hosts in the aftermath of the war
198 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Francis King
78 books25 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Francis Henry King, CBE, was a British novelist, poet and short story writer.
He was born in Adelboden, Switzerland, brought up in India and educated at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford. During World War II he was a conscientious objector, and left Oxford to work on the land. After completing his degree in 1949 he worked for the British Council; he was posted around Europe, and then in Kyoto. He resigned to write full time in 1964.
He was a past winner of the W. Somerset Maugham Prize for his novel The Dividing Stream (1951) and also won the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Prize. A President Emeritus of International PEN and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 and a Commander of the Order (CBE) in 1985.
Francis Henry King, CBE, was a British novelist, poet and short story writer.
He was born in Adelboden, Switzerland, brought up in India and educated at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford. During World War II he was a conscientious objector, and left Oxford to work on the land. After completing his degree in 1949 he worked for the British Council; he was posted around Europe, and then in Kyoto. He resigned to write full time in 1964.
He was a past winner of the W. Somerset Maugham Prize for his novel The Dividing Stream (1951) and also won the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Prize. A President Emeritus of International PEN and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 and a Commander of the Order (CBE) in 1985.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 12, 2024
One of the best ways to punish people is to show them what they are.
My 9th King novel read, his 22nd one, written late in his career in 1989, but with an almost old-fashioned style, befitting its setting mainly in 1948. A subtle read, that only slowly reveals its intentions, it centers around a group of young British school girls and boys, who take a two-week summer journey to post-war Germany in an act of alleged goodwill and friendship - although many of the Germans see it rather as a form of 'punishment' for their sins committed under Hitler, by showing them how much more quickly the English have recovered than they themselves have.
Our narrator, Michael Gregg, an eager and innocent 18-year-old medical student, becomes entranced by his host, Jürgen Koesten, the beautiful manipulative epitome of an Aryan youth, with devastating results. Bookended with a prologue and epilogue set in 1981, we discover that even after three decades, Michael still longs for and grieves the life that Jürgen briefly held out the possibility of. It's a stunningly brilliant work, read in less than a day, and perhaps my favorite of King's books so far.
My 9th King novel read, his 22nd one, written late in his career in 1989, but with an almost old-fashioned style, befitting its setting mainly in 1948. A subtle read, that only slowly reveals its intentions, it centers around a group of young British school girls and boys, who take a two-week summer journey to post-war Germany in an act of alleged goodwill and friendship - although many of the Germans see it rather as a form of 'punishment' for their sins committed under Hitler, by showing them how much more quickly the English have recovered than they themselves have.
Our narrator, Michael Gregg, an eager and innocent 18-year-old medical student, becomes entranced by his host, Jürgen Koesten, the beautiful manipulative epitome of an Aryan youth, with devastating results. Bookended with a prologue and epilogue set in 1981, we discover that even after three decades, Michael still longs for and grieves the life that Jürgen briefly held out the possibility of. It's a stunningly brilliant work, read in less than a day, and perhaps my favorite of King's books so far.
October 29, 2020
Unconvincing and “wet”, a term which doesn’t tend to be used much these days but it is apt for this book. First published in 1989; it must have seemed old fashioned then. Perhaps I’m doing the author a disservice – he may have brilliantly captured atmosphere, behaviour and manners c 1948. If so, we failed to synchronise; I found myself squirming most of the time.
It is set in Germany 2 or 3 years after the end of WW2. Following an initiative on the part of Oxbridge (and the Ministry of Defence?) a group of privileged British students were invited to fraternise with their German counterparts in a gesture of ‘goodwill’. So, they find themselves in a ruined country with a population which is near starving. Most of the young Brits are obnoxious. They are treated well by their German hosts who are well mannered and welcoming on the surface but understandably see this as a further instance of ‘punishment’ and rubbing noses in it.
One of the young Germans, Juergen, rather steals the show. He is charismatic and ‘drop dead gorgeous’ and both girls and boys have the hots for him, including our young British narrator, Michael. Michael is a comely youth and he and Juergen occasionally light the fire together but Juergen strikes the matches.
I found my sympathies to be with the vanquished; presumably this was Francis King’s intention?
It is set in Germany 2 or 3 years after the end of WW2. Following an initiative on the part of Oxbridge (and the Ministry of Defence?) a group of privileged British students were invited to fraternise with their German counterparts in a gesture of ‘goodwill’. So, they find themselves in a ruined country with a population which is near starving. Most of the young Brits are obnoxious. They are treated well by their German hosts who are well mannered and welcoming on the surface but understandably see this as a further instance of ‘punishment’ and rubbing noses in it.
One of the young Germans, Juergen, rather steals the show. He is charismatic and ‘drop dead gorgeous’ and both girls and boys have the hots for him, including our young British narrator, Michael. Michael is a comely youth and he and Juergen occasionally light the fire together but Juergen strikes the matches.
I found my sympathies to be with the vanquished; presumably this was Francis King’s intention?
March 16, 2024
Summary of the story:
"Centred round Michael, one of a group of British students on an exchange trip to Germany in 1968, this novel describes his attitudes and looks into the feelings of guilt, remorse and recrimination that must have occurred at this time in history."
The strengths of this novel are the strengths of Francis King as an author, an excellent writer with a quiet voice that had ploughed a furrow of ever greater openness in his writing about his 'queerness' (I don't really think the word 'gay', particularly as it is now exemplified in popular culture, really fits men like King but I will use it in other contexts as a convenient term for MonM attraction and relationships) and the attraction a man feels for someone of his own sex. Whatever discretion he may have exercised in his private life, in his novels King explored the power of same sex attraction again and again within the context of England, Englishmen and the post WWII world in England and Europe and what that attraction meant not simply in terms of physical desire and actions but how it related in larger terms to an individual's life and times. Writers such as King have been marginalized in the tsunami of 'gay' writing that came from the USA (this is not to disparage it) very fine writing that was very important but although originating in a particular society and time it seemed to, for a long time to define, what it meant to be 'gay' the only way of looking at, responding to, or understanding it. Not just in the UK but in many places the undoubted achievements of the American Gay Liberation Movement unwittingly bulldozed many particularist and local responses, understandings and experiences of what being 'gay' meant. Often these alternate voices were 'quieter' then so could be in a sense shouted down as the stridency (which I am not criticizing) came to seem the right and most successful way of proceeding.
Having said all that King is an excellent writer who should be more widely read and I hope will be. Although I have talked mostly about King as a gay writer he was so much more and that is why he was and is worth reading. Although set in particular time his characters and stories speak beyond them - as a fine writer the particular merely reflects the universal.
One bonus of King's relative obscurity is that his books can be purchased, in hardback and in excellent condition, for very small amounts of money. In the case of this book such availability offers the chance to acquire an edition with a dust jacket cover with a beautiful illustration from the artist Michael Leonard - he has provided cover art for a number of King's later books - and he is an artist well worth discovering and whose work is well worth exploring.
In summation this is finely written, intelligent and at times sexy book (there is a wonderful description of the 'hero' being overwhelmed by a German boy exposing his magnificent cock (a wonderful bit of description) on a crowded chartered bus and his giving in to the sheer animal desire that overcomes his natural reticence and shame. If that and the sexy cover art doesn't tempt you to read the book I don't think anything else will!
"Centred round Michael, one of a group of British students on an exchange trip to Germany in 1968, this novel describes his attitudes and looks into the feelings of guilt, remorse and recrimination that must have occurred at this time in history."
The strengths of this novel are the strengths of Francis King as an author, an excellent writer with a quiet voice that had ploughed a furrow of ever greater openness in his writing about his 'queerness' (I don't really think the word 'gay', particularly as it is now exemplified in popular culture, really fits men like King but I will use it in other contexts as a convenient term for MonM attraction and relationships) and the attraction a man feels for someone of his own sex. Whatever discretion he may have exercised in his private life, in his novels King explored the power of same sex attraction again and again within the context of England, Englishmen and the post WWII world in England and Europe and what that attraction meant not simply in terms of physical desire and actions but how it related in larger terms to an individual's life and times. Writers such as King have been marginalized in the tsunami of 'gay' writing that came from the USA (this is not to disparage it) very fine writing that was very important but although originating in a particular society and time it seemed to, for a long time to define, what it meant to be 'gay' the only way of looking at, responding to, or understanding it. Not just in the UK but in many places the undoubted achievements of the American Gay Liberation Movement unwittingly bulldozed many particularist and local responses, understandings and experiences of what being 'gay' meant. Often these alternate voices were 'quieter' then so could be in a sense shouted down as the stridency (which I am not criticizing) came to seem the right and most successful way of proceeding.
Having said all that King is an excellent writer who should be more widely read and I hope will be. Although I have talked mostly about King as a gay writer he was so much more and that is why he was and is worth reading. Although set in particular time his characters and stories speak beyond them - as a fine writer the particular merely reflects the universal.
One bonus of King's relative obscurity is that his books can be purchased, in hardback and in excellent condition, for very small amounts of money. In the case of this book such availability offers the chance to acquire an edition with a dust jacket cover with a beautiful illustration from the artist Michael Leonard - he has provided cover art for a number of King's later books - and he is an artist well worth discovering and whose work is well worth exploring.
In summation this is finely written, intelligent and at times sexy book (there is a wonderful description of the 'hero' being overwhelmed by a German boy exposing his magnificent cock (a wonderful bit of description) on a crowded chartered bus and his giving in to the sheer animal desire that overcomes his natural reticence and shame. If that and the sexy cover art doesn't tempt you to read the book I don't think anything else will!
February 15, 2026
The next in my King deep dive, and standard fare from him—gorgeous prose, pent up emotions, repressed gay desire, and some very sensual scenes. There was interesting commentary to be made here about Germany and England and their relationship directly following the war, played out in the power dynamics among a group of intercultural friends.
I award four stars for the prose more than the plot, on this one.
I award four stars for the prose more than the plot, on this one.
February 1, 2020
About power relations and delusion, rather than punishments, I think. Interesting but a little pointless
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews