What do you think?
Rate this book
Swastika Night
Published in 1937, twelve years before Orwell's 1984, Swastika Night projects a totally male-controlled fascist world that has eliminated women as we know them. Women are breeders, kept as cattle, while men in this post-Hitlerian world are embittered automatons, fearful of all feelings, having abolished all history, education, creativity, books, and art. The plot centers on a “misfit” who asks, “How could this have happened?”
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1937
171 people are currently reading
6104 people want to read
About the author
Katharine Burdekin
10 books33 followersBritish novelist who wrote speculative fiction dealing with political, social, and spiritual issues.
She was the sister of Rowena Cade, creator of the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. Many of her novels could be categorized as feminist utopian/dystopian fiction.
She also wrote under the name Kay Burdekin and under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. Daphne Patai unraveled "Murray Constantine's" true identity while doing research on utopian and dystopian fiction in the mid-1980s.
She was the sister of Rowena Cade, creator of the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. Many of her novels could be categorized as feminist utopian/dystopian fiction.
She also wrote under the name Kay Burdekin and under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. Daphne Patai unraveled "Murray Constantine's" true identity while doing research on utopian and dystopian fiction in the mid-1980s.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 417 reviews
June 1, 2010
Swastika Night envisions a world thousands of years in the future in which the Nazis have joint world dominance with the Japanese and the past before Hitler has been obliterated from collective memory. It is a static world in which Hitler is worshiped as a blond, blue-eyed Viking-god that was not born of woman but exploded, where Knights rule small feudal societies, where the cult of manliness dominates to such an extent that boys are taken as lovers and women are hairless cattle kept in cages, to be distastefully raped when male heirs are necessary. Christians are the new Jews, and they roam the countryside like hippies, shunned by society but more or less left alone.
There are things to like about this book, such as the author's ability to imagine a reality where social indoctrination is so extreme it is difficult for even the most likable characters to imagine women ever being beautiful, or having a soul or free will of their own, or that another form of life could have existed before Hitler's descendants changed the history book to a vague and worthless bible. And the writer is fine at expressing how every seemingly likable character- the freethinking Englishman Alfred, the sympathetic Knight who knows the most of the past because of a hereditary curse of knowledge, the Christians with their incomplete hand-me-down version of Jesus- is flawed because they can only see "Reality" through their own very strict slant of reality, which has been doubly thwarted by thousands of years of lies and cultural programming. Also, the author wisely sees reprogramming, not violence, as the only way of ever affecting any sort of inner change. This must have been a very unpopular message indeed, considering this book came out before WW II even began.
Nonetheless, the book was too boring, the writing too sloppy, the strawmen too strawy, the expositions too exposing, the Socratic dialogues too dull, the plot too slow. And it suffers from all the shortcomings of dystopian fiction that I despise: uninteresting flat characters, a God Narrator entering too many heads, unrealistic moments of awakening. Dystopian novels are often better essays than novels, and I wish they would present themselves as such instead of trying to come across as persuading and entertaining narratives, which they all hopelessly never turn out to be.
I do like one of the messages of the book (or at least find it interesting) which is to see your kind and you yourself as superior to
others, that the only crime is to not value oneself. "Women's submission is not due to their nature, but rather to the fact that women have never had two things that are available to men. One is sexual invulnerability; the other is pride in their sex." (viii) Writing back then was, in many ways, ahead of our time.
There are things to like about this book, such as the author's ability to imagine a reality where social indoctrination is so extreme it is difficult for even the most likable characters to imagine women ever being beautiful, or having a soul or free will of their own, or that another form of life could have existed before Hitler's descendants changed the history book to a vague and worthless bible. And the writer is fine at expressing how every seemingly likable character- the freethinking Englishman Alfred, the sympathetic Knight who knows the most of the past because of a hereditary curse of knowledge, the Christians with their incomplete hand-me-down version of Jesus- is flawed because they can only see "Reality" through their own very strict slant of reality, which has been doubly thwarted by thousands of years of lies and cultural programming. Also, the author wisely sees reprogramming, not violence, as the only way of ever affecting any sort of inner change. This must have been a very unpopular message indeed, considering this book came out before WW II even began.
Nonetheless, the book was too boring, the writing too sloppy, the strawmen too strawy, the expositions too exposing, the Socratic dialogues too dull, the plot too slow. And it suffers from all the shortcomings of dystopian fiction that I despise: uninteresting flat characters, a God Narrator entering too many heads, unrealistic moments of awakening. Dystopian novels are often better essays than novels, and I wish they would present themselves as such instead of trying to come across as persuading and entertaining narratives, which they all hopelessly never turn out to be.
I do like one of the messages of the book (or at least find it interesting) which is to see your kind and you yourself as superior to
others, that the only crime is to not value oneself. "Women's submission is not due to their nature, but rather to the fact that women have never had two things that are available to men. One is sexual invulnerability; the other is pride in their sex." (viii) Writing back then was, in many ways, ahead of our time.
October 22, 2023
“Unshakable, impregnable Empire has always been the dream of virile nations, and now at last it's turned into a nightmare reality. A monster that is killing us.”
This is an unusual one. It is a dystopia concerning Germany winning the war. Nothing unusual there. However it was written in 1937 before the war began. Over ten years before 1984. There are also shades of The Handmaids Tale. The author, Katharine Burdekin was a pacifist, lesbian, communist and feminist. She wrote this under the pseudonym of Murray Constantine. It was not until the 1980s that she was reconnected with her work (she died in 1963). It was Daphne Patai who rediscovered her identity:
"Though Burdekin’s feminist critique appears in her realistic fiction and even in her children’s book, she excelled above all in the creation of utopian fiction, and the special vantage point afforded by the imaginative leap into other ‘societies’ resulted in her two most important books: Swastika Night (1937) and Proud Man (1934). When these novels first appeared, contemporary reviewers tended to miss Burdekin’s important critique of what we today call gender ideology and sexual politics, though on occasion they noted her feminist sympathies, which, indeed, led some to guess that ‘Murray Constantine’ was a woman. With this reprint of Swastika Night, Burdekin’s works may finally begin to find their audience.”
The setting is seven hundred years in the future. Germany rules all of Europe and Africa. The Japanese rule Asia, Australia and the Americas. The Jews have been completely eliminated and all other races are subject. There is a sort of feudal system in place, all books have been destroyed, Hitler is now Divine and portrayed as a blonde blue-eyed Aryan with superhuman powers. All pictures and records are destroyed: Nazism is a form of state religion. Christianity survives as the religion of an outcast class. Women are totally subjugated, rape is legal and all hair is shaved off. Homosexuality is the norm between men. Women live together apart from men, except for breeding purposes. They do everything separately and the subjugation is total.
“The human values of this world are masculine. There are no feminine values because there are no women.”
The two main characters are Hermann and Alfred. Hermann is a German Nazi. Alfred is an Englishman and so a subject. He is on a pilgrimage to the German holy places. The other principal character is Von Hess a local Knight, who are the effective rulers of Germany. The only books available are manuals and oddly technology has not advanced. There are problems in the Empire because too many boys are being born. There is a hierarchy:
God the Thunderer, equal with Hitler, who is the son of God and whose birth was miraculous.
The current Führer
An inner ring of ten Knights, descendants of the Knights created by Hitler.
Other Knights
German men
Nazi men of other nationalities
Other foreigners
Women
Christians
It is a bleak novel, a complete dystopia. The characters are insubstantial and are used to provide exposition and philosophising. It is misogynist in the extreme and the hope at the end is very small.
There are many holes in this but it is interesting as a dystopia and almost certainly the first “what if Germany won the war?” novel. It is an exploration of the cult of masculinity. Incidentally Burdekin also wrote as a companion piece in 1940, “Venus in Scorpio” which portrays a society where the women are entirely in control and men totally subjugated.
Despite its faults and some interminable philosophising this is an interesting period piece.
This is an unusual one. It is a dystopia concerning Germany winning the war. Nothing unusual there. However it was written in 1937 before the war began. Over ten years before 1984. There are also shades of The Handmaids Tale. The author, Katharine Burdekin was a pacifist, lesbian, communist and feminist. She wrote this under the pseudonym of Murray Constantine. It was not until the 1980s that she was reconnected with her work (she died in 1963). It was Daphne Patai who rediscovered her identity:
"Though Burdekin’s feminist critique appears in her realistic fiction and even in her children’s book, she excelled above all in the creation of utopian fiction, and the special vantage point afforded by the imaginative leap into other ‘societies’ resulted in her two most important books: Swastika Night (1937) and Proud Man (1934). When these novels first appeared, contemporary reviewers tended to miss Burdekin’s important critique of what we today call gender ideology and sexual politics, though on occasion they noted her feminist sympathies, which, indeed, led some to guess that ‘Murray Constantine’ was a woman. With this reprint of Swastika Night, Burdekin’s works may finally begin to find their audience.”
The setting is seven hundred years in the future. Germany rules all of Europe and Africa. The Japanese rule Asia, Australia and the Americas. The Jews have been completely eliminated and all other races are subject. There is a sort of feudal system in place, all books have been destroyed, Hitler is now Divine and portrayed as a blonde blue-eyed Aryan with superhuman powers. All pictures and records are destroyed: Nazism is a form of state religion. Christianity survives as the religion of an outcast class. Women are totally subjugated, rape is legal and all hair is shaved off. Homosexuality is the norm between men. Women live together apart from men, except for breeding purposes. They do everything separately and the subjugation is total.
“The human values of this world are masculine. There are no feminine values because there are no women.”
The two main characters are Hermann and Alfred. Hermann is a German Nazi. Alfred is an Englishman and so a subject. He is on a pilgrimage to the German holy places. The other principal character is Von Hess a local Knight, who are the effective rulers of Germany. The only books available are manuals and oddly technology has not advanced. There are problems in the Empire because too many boys are being born. There is a hierarchy:
God the Thunderer, equal with Hitler, who is the son of God and whose birth was miraculous.
The current Führer
An inner ring of ten Knights, descendants of the Knights created by Hitler.
Other Knights
German men
Nazi men of other nationalities
Other foreigners
Women
Christians
It is a bleak novel, a complete dystopia. The characters are insubstantial and are used to provide exposition and philosophising. It is misogynist in the extreme and the hope at the end is very small.
There are many holes in this but it is interesting as a dystopia and almost certainly the first “what if Germany won the war?” novel. It is an exploration of the cult of masculinity. Incidentally Burdekin also wrote as a companion piece in 1940, “Venus in Scorpio” which portrays a society where the women are entirely in control and men totally subjugated.
Despite its faults and some interminable philosophising this is an interesting period piece.
May 1, 2019
Kısa bir distopik roman. Benzerlerine göre oldukça zayıf. Daphne Patain tarafından yazılmış 20 sayfalık önsöz romanın kendisinden çok daha iyi. Dili akıcı değil hatta sıkıcı. Kurgusu iyi olsa da bitişinden mi uzun diyalogların varlığından mı bilmem bir eksiklik hissediliyor.
Feminist düşünceyi veya öğretiyi anlatmak doğası gereği estetik unsurlar içermeli. Halbuki burada oldukça kaba, kadını olabildiğince aşağılayıcı, erkeği ise inandırıcı olmayan derecede yüceltici tanımlarla feminizmin temel felsefesine ters düşmüş yazar. Ursula Le Guin’in zarif feminist yaklaşımından sonra çok itici geldi bana Burdekin.
Belki ben anlamamış olabilirim ama sanki dini, özellikle Hristiyanlığı önemsiyor, kurtarıcı olarak görüyor yazar.
Kitabı olumlayacağım tek husus, yazıldığı yıl itibariyle (1937) yani Hitler ve çetesinin iktidara gelişinden iki yıl sonra yazılmış olması, dolayısıyla daha tam olarak çirkin ve insanlık dışı yüzlerini göstermeden bu çetenin yapabileceklerini yazarın öngörmüş olmasıdır. Sev(e)medim.
Feminist düşünceyi veya öğretiyi anlatmak doğası gereği estetik unsurlar içermeli. Halbuki burada oldukça kaba, kadını olabildiğince aşağılayıcı, erkeği ise inandırıcı olmayan derecede yüceltici tanımlarla feminizmin temel felsefesine ters düşmüş yazar. Ursula Le Guin’in zarif feminist yaklaşımından sonra çok itici geldi bana Burdekin.
Belki ben anlamamış olabilirim ama sanki dini, özellikle Hristiyanlığı önemsiyor, kurtarıcı olarak görüyor yazar.
Kitabı olumlayacağım tek husus, yazıldığı yıl itibariyle (1937) yani Hitler ve çetesinin iktidara gelişinden iki yıl sonra yazılmış olması, dolayısıyla daha tam olarak çirkin ve insanlık dışı yüzlerini göstermeden bu çetenin yapabileceklerini yazarın öngörmüş olmasıdır. Sev(e)medim.
April 1, 2022
3.2⭐ posted 03/29/22; updated 03/30/22 to correct grammar and spelling
An interesting, curious book. Published in 1937, under the pen- name Murray Constantine, the book predicts the Second World War, two years before its outbreak. In Burdekin's version, the Allies lose to Nazi Germany and Japan and the "Thousand Year Reich" has become a reality. The Germans have established a sort of hideous feudalism within their domains, systematically erasing all pre-existing history and culture and creating a state religion with Hitler as its God. The central character is Alfred, an Englishman who, while on a pilgrimage to Germany, meets an elderly German knight, von Hesse, who gives him a true history of the world, passed down within his family for centuries. It includes a photograph of Hitler who, instead of being a 7 foot tall, long haired, blonde god, is shown to be a " small, brown haired man with a paunch."
Alfred resolves to return to England with the book and to start teaching others the truth, with a view to eventually undermine and destroy the German Empire. He also resolves to improve the status of women, who have been turned into breeding animals. This is a key element in the book, which is a feminist and pacifist epistle, as much as it is an attack on facism in the vein of "1984" (some suggest that Orwell was influenced by "Swastika Night").
Burdekin's vision of women as devolved, powerless creatures is the most horrifying part of the story, if only because she considered this as the role society had already assigned to her gender. She clearly sees past the Nazi propaganda about the sanctity of motherhood, etc. to the relegation of women as breeding stock. She incisively portrays and parodies Hitler's view of Aryan masculinity. Interestingly, it's not just the Nazis who view women as cattle in this world, but also the enslaved Englishmen. Christians, who are left to themselves as a sort of untouchable class, consider females like "beloved dogs" and will at least deign to talk and interact with them.
While this is a serious book, it's also a clunky one. The style is both dated and leaden. It reminds me a bit of Sarban's 'The Sound of His Horn' (they both feature oppressive Nazi aristocrats), although that book is more purely entertainment and is the better written of the two.
The book took me a while to finish, as it's not easy to get into. I would reccomend it though, an example of how at least one progressive thinker viewed facism and sexism in the late 1930's. -30-
An interesting, curious book. Published in 1937, under the pen- name Murray Constantine, the book predicts the Second World War, two years before its outbreak. In Burdekin's version, the Allies lose to Nazi Germany and Japan and the "Thousand Year Reich" has become a reality. The Germans have established a sort of hideous feudalism within their domains, systematically erasing all pre-existing history and culture and creating a state religion with Hitler as its God. The central character is Alfred, an Englishman who, while on a pilgrimage to Germany, meets an elderly German knight, von Hesse, who gives him a true history of the world, passed down within his family for centuries. It includes a photograph of Hitler who, instead of being a 7 foot tall, long haired, blonde god, is shown to be a " small, brown haired man with a paunch."
Alfred resolves to return to England with the book and to start teaching others the truth, with a view to eventually undermine and destroy the German Empire. He also resolves to improve the status of women, who have been turned into breeding animals. This is a key element in the book, which is a feminist and pacifist epistle, as much as it is an attack on facism in the vein of "1984" (some suggest that Orwell was influenced by "Swastika Night").
Burdekin's vision of women as devolved, powerless creatures is the most horrifying part of the story, if only because she considered this as the role society had already assigned to her gender. She clearly sees past the Nazi propaganda about the sanctity of motherhood, etc. to the relegation of women as breeding stock. She incisively portrays and parodies Hitler's view of Aryan masculinity. Interestingly, it's not just the Nazis who view women as cattle in this world, but also the enslaved Englishmen. Christians, who are left to themselves as a sort of untouchable class, consider females like "beloved dogs" and will at least deign to talk and interact with them.
While this is a serious book, it's also a clunky one. The style is both dated and leaden. It reminds me a bit of Sarban's 'The Sound of His Horn' (they both feature oppressive Nazi aristocrats), although that book is more purely entertainment and is the better written of the two.
The book took me a while to finish, as it's not easy to get into. I would reccomend it though, an example of how at least one progressive thinker viewed facism and sexism in the late 1930's. -30-
October 21, 2020
3,5🌟
"Düşünce özgürlüğünün olmadığı yerde onur da yoktur."
Konu itibarıyla çok güzel aslında, severim böyle kitapları. Hitler'in tanrı olarak kabul edildiği, kadınların damızlık olarak yetiştirildiği bir distopya.
Erkek karakterler ön planda ama; ben bu dünyada kadınların nasıl yaşadığını, hayatlarını görmek isterdim. Kadınların da açısından görebilirdik erilliğin eziciliğini...
"Kadınların hayvandan ve erkeklerin isteklerinin yansımasından öte varlıklar oldukları Swastika kadar açık."
💫
"Düşünce özgürlüğünün olmadığı yerde onur da yoktur."
Konu itibarıyla çok güzel aslında, severim böyle kitapları. Hitler'in tanrı olarak kabul edildiği, kadınların damızlık olarak yetiştirildiği bir distopya.
Erkek karakterler ön planda ama; ben bu dünyada kadınların nasıl yaşadığını, hayatlarını görmek isterdim. Kadınların da açısından görebilirdik erilliğin eziciliğini...
"Kadınların hayvandan ve erkeklerin isteklerinin yansımasından öte varlıklar oldukları Swastika kadar açık."
💫
November 6, 2013
Swastika Night – A book review…
I originally picked this book up because a friend of mine said that it was always what she thought of when I described my relationship with my parents. And after reading it I can see *exactly* where she was coming from.
However, putting my personal psychoanalysis aside, what I can say is that I am deeply and profoundly disappointed that the main body of the book isn't... well... better. Because the author had a truly amazing idea - to present institutional patriarchy is such absurd hyperbole so that what the characters in the story see as just their normal world but the absurdity of it screams at us from the page. For me, it hit on a core of truth that had been too subtle for me to name before, but in the outrageous exaggeration of the book it was an utterly clear fact of the world in the book: Women are nothing.
Ok, let's get this out of the way right now. I am here to review a book. To review a book, I have to be able to talk about it. If for some reason my ringing endorsement above has made you desire to go out and read this mediocre book with a good idea behind it, heed my warning before reading more - "Spoilers" will abound in this review.
You have been warned.
Anyway, the premise of the book is 700 years after the Nazis won World War II. The Nazis control all of Europe and Africa, and the rest of the world is controlled by Japan. The inner-most circle of power in the Nazi regime are men called Knights, and about 100 years after the death of Hitler a Knight named von Weid decided to destroy all books, destroy all history and teach the kingdom that everyone existed in prehistorical darkness until Hitler and the Nazis came and brought light and understanding to the world. In this book, Hitler is portrayed as a giant blond demi-god who becomes that religion's ("Hitlerism") savoir. Germans are seen as the master race, of course, and all other races of men - British, French, African - are taught that they are inherently inferior.
And speaking of inferior, while he was at it, von Weid decided that women needed to be Reduced. I capitalize it because that's what's done in the book - it's called the Reduction of women. Women are no longer to be treated as people. Not only are they denied education, which, let's face it, is pretty standard in many parts of our world, but in the full Reduction they are denied a place in the family, a place in society and their very personhood. Women are nothing. After 700 years of Reduction women have become ubiquitously ugly, are forced to live in a giant cage and rape has become universal. No woman is allowed to deny any man anything - unless she wears an armband that shows that she is the property of one man. Armbanded women don't live with their men; they will simply not get raped by any man but their master.
If you're wondering how people in the world get born, it is in the cage of women. Men come in, rape and leave. If a woman has a baby that's a girl, people, including the women, are unhappy and ashamed. If she has a boy, after the baby is 18 months old, the rapist comes in to remove his offspring. Women do not leave the cage at all, except once a month to be driven like cattle to the Hitler chapel so the local Knight can make them cry about how awful, stupid and low they are.
In a wonderful Classic Greek twist, love, or, rather, lust is reserved for men toward boys. And boys make a special effort to appear feminine in this world. And since all women have shaved head and wear only jackets and trousers, boys dressing in robes and having long hair doesn't look like women to them. They look like boys. And can I just say having the world of grown male lust directed at boys so young their voices haven't changed yet?? YUCK!!
So what does the destruction of history have to do with the Reduction of women? Well, a lot as it turns out!! Both happen for the exact same reason - to preserve male vanity, and German male vanity most of all. History is destroyed to protect the kingdom. If the "inferior" races know that at one time they themselves had empires, what would stop them from trying to have empires again?? No, no, no... Better to let them think they are not capable of building empires and it will be less work for the Germans to keep everybody in line.
For what they have built here is a strict authoritarian regime. 100% top-down rule, and everyone shits on the people below them. Their moral code enshrines lust, anger, cruelty and above all it venerates strength. Anyone expressing feelings far outside this is considered weak. To have too much fondness for your son is weak. To love a boy (YUCK) instead of just lust after him (Double YUCK) is weak. Inferior races are institutionally weak, for to be physically violent to a German would get a non-German beaten to death. So keeping the inferior races thinking of themselves as inferior is important simply as a labor saving device. All these races trying to rise up against you would cost you literally hours of ass-kicking a day.
So the reduction of women also had to do with protecting male vanity. It was seen, before women had been fully Reduced, as an intolerable source of insult that women had the "right of refusal" and the ability to choose their own sexual partner. And it was extremely intolerable that some women, the beautiful ones, had lots of power over lots of men. For the cult of masculinity to be fully expressed, women had to completely submit to men. They had to have no rights to their own bodies, own children or own selves.
And in this environment of selfless submission to male rule all women became ugly. Part of it was being required to shave their heads, dress in ill-fitting clothes and denied physical exercise outside of what they need to keep their wombs functioning, but the author stresses that women had become truly ugly. At one point Alfred sees a picture of the real Hitler talking to a woman and he is shocked to see that women were once beautiful. Alfred asks the Knight that showed him the picture why the women couldn’t have been Reduced but left beautiful. (Of course that’s what he would ask. Grrrrr…) And the Knight said no. For women to be beautiful, they would also need to have the right of refusal. Being fully Reduced has physically changed the women and they the misery of their existence on their faces and in their bodies.
And all men despised them. The main character, Alfred, talked about how it is the nature of each living being in creation to think that they are the greatest expression of creation. A rabbit will think that rabbits are the highest form of creation. And that rabbit will think that she or he is the highest form of rabbit that there is. Alfred says that is not egotism, but a natural feeling that every being should poses. And the Original Sin of women was to accept that men are a higher form of being that there is.
Now think about that for a minute. Really think about it. The Original Sin of women is their sin against themselves. Their sin of accepting the idea that men are better.
Who doesn't know someone like this? I'd hazard to say most of us, not all, but most, of us have a little of this running around in our heads. I remember one of the first female bosses I had, and how she spent endless hours mentoring the two guys on our Education team, totally ignoring the rest of the team. Eventually, she promoted one of them, who had no management experience and no college degree, over the rest of us. Because he was better at having a penis then we were. And me? I grew up believing that my interests were less serious and more burdensome to my parents than the endless gaming nights and sports practices of my brothers, simply because they were mine. And I'm just a girl. Why should they spend precious time and energy driving me to my silly choir practices and rehearsals when that wasn't going to make a difference.
The only thing my mom encouraged was my interest in volleyball. She thought that I was too fat to find a husband so the physical activity might help me lose weight.
Wait, I said I wasn't going to go into my own psychotherapy...
So back to the book.
Because women show how miserable AND how obedient they are to the men who caused this misery AND show their Original Sin of accepting that men are better than them men despise them. Male vanity in this strict authoritarian regime could no longer allow women the right of refusal because the basis of authoritarian rule is that although you get shit on a lot, you also have the right to shit on those below you. Think about it, if you’re on the top few rungs of the authoritarian regime your life is pretty damn good, but most people in the regime aren’t on the top few rungs. And the regime NEEDS those people there to do their work, produce their goods and fight their wars. So how can you incentivize people to stick around to do their work and get shit on?? But assuring them that they get to shit on those below them, of course!! Although men are organized in power structures themselves, they at least have the cold comfort of know that every single last one of them is higher than women. They have complete power over women.
So women were told that their highest calling was to be Reduced and “freed” to focus on their true role: submitting to men and making babies. And men despised them for falling for that line of shit, and continuing to stand still and just take it. Eventually Alfred admits that what lies behind the contempt they all feel for the women is guilt. Their very misery, the one thing that men cannot take away from them, is a screaming condemnation of the lives that men have made them lead so that they could bear to continue in their authoritarian world. The basis of the authoritarian system is power and control, and the basis of that power and control is the Reduction of women.
And really that's the reason why I say this book has this excellent idea behind it. Because you're going along in this ridiculous topsy-turvy world where Hitler is Jesus and NAMBLA is an international institution, and suddenly you're hit in the face with an elegantly stated universal truth. The enduring problem with the book is that all of these ideas are hidden in page after page of the main characters having utterly meaningless conversations about the quality of their musical instruments (which, the author could note, we CAN'T HEAR because it’s a godforsaken book!!) and critiquing one another on their accents (see complaint above). The dramatic twists and turns in the narrative just aren't. I'm not a surprise junkie, I don't need intricate plot structure. In fact I thought it was one of the least interesting things about the Da Vinci Code. But when the way the author reveals the action actually takes away from the excitement it just reduces the quality of the book.
In the coup de grace of the book, Alfred visits a Christian and visits his baby daughter.
The bottom rung of this society are the Christians. In this world Christians have become similar to the Untouchables of India. The lowest race. So low they live outside of the law. And they also live with the women who produce the children.
Christians of this world seem to be free in the same way the Proles of 1984 are free. And the Knights are like the black-clad Party members. While the Knights are above the harsh scrutiny of the authoritarian regime, the Christians are below it. Only Christians and Knights are exempt from the home searches designed to make sure that no one has illegal contraband like books or women stashed around their homes.
Interestingly enough, the Christian women are “below” rape. To be caught attempting to rape a Christian woman would bring shame on you and your entire family. One of the only things a Nazi can get punished for is falsely accusing another Nazi of raping a Christian woman just to shame him.
The Christian Alfred visits, Joseph, considers Hitlerians heathens, and spends a great deal of time telling Alfred how he will burn in hell for all eternity while he is raised with all the Christians into glory on Judgment Day. Then he tells Alfred that on this glorious Judgment Day the Christian women will simply cease to exist. Because they are nothing, just like all the other women. That's a surprise, isn't it? Didn't you think that if Christian women lived with their families and were, somehow, exempt from rape, they might have a better shot at being people??? I know I did. I thought that this was some tiresome religious work, like Left Behind, were the big reveal at the end was that Christians are better people than everyone else. Nope! Joseph is just as into the violence of the cult of masculinity as the rest, and the women are just as nothing as everywhere else. The same power dynamic exists everywhere.
Then Alfred visits his woman in her cage and he asks to hold their three week old infant girl. The woman hands her over with great trepidation. The only reason a man would ask to be handed a baby girl would be to kill her. But Alfred assures her he only means to hold her, and he takes the warm bundle into his arms.
Looking at her face, he thinks the words, "My daughter," which is something men don't think. They only have sons. Girl babies are ignored. He knows that women once had it better. He knows what will happen to his daughter if he does nothing. He thinks wildly to himself that he could raise her. He could steal her away and raise her to think of herself as the highest form of creation, higher, even, than him. He could help her become strong and beautiful...
And...
Nothing.
There would be no place for her. Not in the entire world. When, or even if, she came out into the world, she would be instantly killed. It is illegal for women to have self-respect. It is illegal for women to have a self to respect.
And, again, we have the elegantly stated truth. In all of his travels in the book Alfred is looking for a way out. A way to end violence and the extreme power dynamic of his world. He wants to spread the gospel of not-Hitlerism, and get everyone to believe that Germans are not the master race and all MEN are equal. But he realizes that he cannot make all men equal without also making all women equal. And the women have been ground under for so long, and all men are so invested in keeping them that way, that he realizes he can’t even save this one baby girl. So he hands her back and leaves.
I realize that, and am glad that, this is not everyone’s experience. But it was mine, and, unfortunately, many others as well. The idea behind this book is something that I’ve experienced. Everywhere I turned in my life, from school to church to work to relationships I got one consistent message – I am less than because I am female. And for me, and lots of other people like me, it started in my home. My parents had a very strict top-down rule and someone in our family had to be the worst. And that was me. They hated me and constantly complained about everything that I did or didn’t do. And the more I tried to please them, the more they despised me.
And of course the focus on misogyny in this book resonates with me and my history. But many other people have found themselves in the same situation based on race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, gender identity and, most of all, economic background. And I’m not trying to diminish any of that by focusing only on misogyny in this review. So please know that I don’t see misogyny as the only form of discrimination in THIS world, but it is what this book focused on.
I am so very lucky to have found a way out. I found new people, new community, new churches and a wonderful new love. I live in a world that is ridiculously full of blessings. But there is this part of me that is always waiting for the world to be taken over by the Hitlerians again. And when I express this fear to the wonderful people in my life, they always laugh. Oh silly Adaya! Don’t you know we’d never leave you?? And I have to wonder, for those of us that have been through this, and found a way out, do you ever fear that you might, somehow, end up back in it? It seems to me that the exaggeration in the book is one of its strongest elements. But what it is exaggerating is something that is always and has always been there. The rule of the elite few over the many. And this world, our world, has found many ways to accomplish that, some better than others. But it seems to me that the bad, cancerous form has a way of popping up when we least expect it. And this book, in its imperfect way, seems to me to be a fair warning to all.
I originally picked this book up because a friend of mine said that it was always what she thought of when I described my relationship with my parents. And after reading it I can see *exactly* where she was coming from.
However, putting my personal psychoanalysis aside, what I can say is that I am deeply and profoundly disappointed that the main body of the book isn't... well... better. Because the author had a truly amazing idea - to present institutional patriarchy is such absurd hyperbole so that what the characters in the story see as just their normal world but the absurdity of it screams at us from the page. For me, it hit on a core of truth that had been too subtle for me to name before, but in the outrageous exaggeration of the book it was an utterly clear fact of the world in the book: Women are nothing.
Ok, let's get this out of the way right now. I am here to review a book. To review a book, I have to be able to talk about it. If for some reason my ringing endorsement above has made you desire to go out and read this mediocre book with a good idea behind it, heed my warning before reading more - "Spoilers" will abound in this review.
You have been warned.
Anyway, the premise of the book is 700 years after the Nazis won World War II. The Nazis control all of Europe and Africa, and the rest of the world is controlled by Japan. The inner-most circle of power in the Nazi regime are men called Knights, and about 100 years after the death of Hitler a Knight named von Weid decided to destroy all books, destroy all history and teach the kingdom that everyone existed in prehistorical darkness until Hitler and the Nazis came and brought light and understanding to the world. In this book, Hitler is portrayed as a giant blond demi-god who becomes that religion's ("Hitlerism") savoir. Germans are seen as the master race, of course, and all other races of men - British, French, African - are taught that they are inherently inferior.
And speaking of inferior, while he was at it, von Weid decided that women needed to be Reduced. I capitalize it because that's what's done in the book - it's called the Reduction of women. Women are no longer to be treated as people. Not only are they denied education, which, let's face it, is pretty standard in many parts of our world, but in the full Reduction they are denied a place in the family, a place in society and their very personhood. Women are nothing. After 700 years of Reduction women have become ubiquitously ugly, are forced to live in a giant cage and rape has become universal. No woman is allowed to deny any man anything - unless she wears an armband that shows that she is the property of one man. Armbanded women don't live with their men; they will simply not get raped by any man but their master.
If you're wondering how people in the world get born, it is in the cage of women. Men come in, rape and leave. If a woman has a baby that's a girl, people, including the women, are unhappy and ashamed. If she has a boy, after the baby is 18 months old, the rapist comes in to remove his offspring. Women do not leave the cage at all, except once a month to be driven like cattle to the Hitler chapel so the local Knight can make them cry about how awful, stupid and low they are.
In a wonderful Classic Greek twist, love, or, rather, lust is reserved for men toward boys. And boys make a special effort to appear feminine in this world. And since all women have shaved head and wear only jackets and trousers, boys dressing in robes and having long hair doesn't look like women to them. They look like boys. And can I just say having the world of grown male lust directed at boys so young their voices haven't changed yet?? YUCK!!
So what does the destruction of history have to do with the Reduction of women? Well, a lot as it turns out!! Both happen for the exact same reason - to preserve male vanity, and German male vanity most of all. History is destroyed to protect the kingdom. If the "inferior" races know that at one time they themselves had empires, what would stop them from trying to have empires again?? No, no, no... Better to let them think they are not capable of building empires and it will be less work for the Germans to keep everybody in line.
For what they have built here is a strict authoritarian regime. 100% top-down rule, and everyone shits on the people below them. Their moral code enshrines lust, anger, cruelty and above all it venerates strength. Anyone expressing feelings far outside this is considered weak. To have too much fondness for your son is weak. To love a boy (YUCK) instead of just lust after him (Double YUCK) is weak. Inferior races are institutionally weak, for to be physically violent to a German would get a non-German beaten to death. So keeping the inferior races thinking of themselves as inferior is important simply as a labor saving device. All these races trying to rise up against you would cost you literally hours of ass-kicking a day.
So the reduction of women also had to do with protecting male vanity. It was seen, before women had been fully Reduced, as an intolerable source of insult that women had the "right of refusal" and the ability to choose their own sexual partner. And it was extremely intolerable that some women, the beautiful ones, had lots of power over lots of men. For the cult of masculinity to be fully expressed, women had to completely submit to men. They had to have no rights to their own bodies, own children or own selves.
And in this environment of selfless submission to male rule all women became ugly. Part of it was being required to shave their heads, dress in ill-fitting clothes and denied physical exercise outside of what they need to keep their wombs functioning, but the author stresses that women had become truly ugly. At one point Alfred sees a picture of the real Hitler talking to a woman and he is shocked to see that women were once beautiful. Alfred asks the Knight that showed him the picture why the women couldn’t have been Reduced but left beautiful. (Of course that’s what he would ask. Grrrrr…) And the Knight said no. For women to be beautiful, they would also need to have the right of refusal. Being fully Reduced has physically changed the women and they the misery of their existence on their faces and in their bodies.
And all men despised them. The main character, Alfred, talked about how it is the nature of each living being in creation to think that they are the greatest expression of creation. A rabbit will think that rabbits are the highest form of creation. And that rabbit will think that she or he is the highest form of rabbit that there is. Alfred says that is not egotism, but a natural feeling that every being should poses. And the Original Sin of women was to accept that men are a higher form of being that there is.
Now think about that for a minute. Really think about it. The Original Sin of women is their sin against themselves. Their sin of accepting the idea that men are better.
Who doesn't know someone like this? I'd hazard to say most of us, not all, but most, of us have a little of this running around in our heads. I remember one of the first female bosses I had, and how she spent endless hours mentoring the two guys on our Education team, totally ignoring the rest of the team. Eventually, she promoted one of them, who had no management experience and no college degree, over the rest of us. Because he was better at having a penis then we were. And me? I grew up believing that my interests were less serious and more burdensome to my parents than the endless gaming nights and sports practices of my brothers, simply because they were mine. And I'm just a girl. Why should they spend precious time and energy driving me to my silly choir practices and rehearsals when that wasn't going to make a difference.
The only thing my mom encouraged was my interest in volleyball. She thought that I was too fat to find a husband so the physical activity might help me lose weight.
Wait, I said I wasn't going to go into my own psychotherapy...
So back to the book.
Because women show how miserable AND how obedient they are to the men who caused this misery AND show their Original Sin of accepting that men are better than them men despise them. Male vanity in this strict authoritarian regime could no longer allow women the right of refusal because the basis of authoritarian rule is that although you get shit on a lot, you also have the right to shit on those below you. Think about it, if you’re on the top few rungs of the authoritarian regime your life is pretty damn good, but most people in the regime aren’t on the top few rungs. And the regime NEEDS those people there to do their work, produce their goods and fight their wars. So how can you incentivize people to stick around to do their work and get shit on?? But assuring them that they get to shit on those below them, of course!! Although men are organized in power structures themselves, they at least have the cold comfort of know that every single last one of them is higher than women. They have complete power over women.
So women were told that their highest calling was to be Reduced and “freed” to focus on their true role: submitting to men and making babies. And men despised them for falling for that line of shit, and continuing to stand still and just take it. Eventually Alfred admits that what lies behind the contempt they all feel for the women is guilt. Their very misery, the one thing that men cannot take away from them, is a screaming condemnation of the lives that men have made them lead so that they could bear to continue in their authoritarian world. The basis of the authoritarian system is power and control, and the basis of that power and control is the Reduction of women.
And really that's the reason why I say this book has this excellent idea behind it. Because you're going along in this ridiculous topsy-turvy world where Hitler is Jesus and NAMBLA is an international institution, and suddenly you're hit in the face with an elegantly stated universal truth. The enduring problem with the book is that all of these ideas are hidden in page after page of the main characters having utterly meaningless conversations about the quality of their musical instruments (which, the author could note, we CAN'T HEAR because it’s a godforsaken book!!) and critiquing one another on their accents (see complaint above). The dramatic twists and turns in the narrative just aren't. I'm not a surprise junkie, I don't need intricate plot structure. In fact I thought it was one of the least interesting things about the Da Vinci Code. But when the way the author reveals the action actually takes away from the excitement it just reduces the quality of the book.
In the coup de grace of the book, Alfred visits a Christian and visits his baby daughter.
The bottom rung of this society are the Christians. In this world Christians have become similar to the Untouchables of India. The lowest race. So low they live outside of the law. And they also live with the women who produce the children.
Christians of this world seem to be free in the same way the Proles of 1984 are free. And the Knights are like the black-clad Party members. While the Knights are above the harsh scrutiny of the authoritarian regime, the Christians are below it. Only Christians and Knights are exempt from the home searches designed to make sure that no one has illegal contraband like books or women stashed around their homes.
Interestingly enough, the Christian women are “below” rape. To be caught attempting to rape a Christian woman would bring shame on you and your entire family. One of the only things a Nazi can get punished for is falsely accusing another Nazi of raping a Christian woman just to shame him.
The Christian Alfred visits, Joseph, considers Hitlerians heathens, and spends a great deal of time telling Alfred how he will burn in hell for all eternity while he is raised with all the Christians into glory on Judgment Day. Then he tells Alfred that on this glorious Judgment Day the Christian women will simply cease to exist. Because they are nothing, just like all the other women. That's a surprise, isn't it? Didn't you think that if Christian women lived with their families and were, somehow, exempt from rape, they might have a better shot at being people??? I know I did. I thought that this was some tiresome religious work, like Left Behind, were the big reveal at the end was that Christians are better people than everyone else. Nope! Joseph is just as into the violence of the cult of masculinity as the rest, and the women are just as nothing as everywhere else. The same power dynamic exists everywhere.
Then Alfred visits his woman in her cage and he asks to hold their three week old infant girl. The woman hands her over with great trepidation. The only reason a man would ask to be handed a baby girl would be to kill her. But Alfred assures her he only means to hold her, and he takes the warm bundle into his arms.
Looking at her face, he thinks the words, "My daughter," which is something men don't think. They only have sons. Girl babies are ignored. He knows that women once had it better. He knows what will happen to his daughter if he does nothing. He thinks wildly to himself that he could raise her. He could steal her away and raise her to think of herself as the highest form of creation, higher, even, than him. He could help her become strong and beautiful...
And...
Nothing.
There would be no place for her. Not in the entire world. When, or even if, she came out into the world, she would be instantly killed. It is illegal for women to have self-respect. It is illegal for women to have a self to respect.
And, again, we have the elegantly stated truth. In all of his travels in the book Alfred is looking for a way out. A way to end violence and the extreme power dynamic of his world. He wants to spread the gospel of not-Hitlerism, and get everyone to believe that Germans are not the master race and all MEN are equal. But he realizes that he cannot make all men equal without also making all women equal. And the women have been ground under for so long, and all men are so invested in keeping them that way, that he realizes he can’t even save this one baby girl. So he hands her back and leaves.
I realize that, and am glad that, this is not everyone’s experience. But it was mine, and, unfortunately, many others as well. The idea behind this book is something that I’ve experienced. Everywhere I turned in my life, from school to church to work to relationships I got one consistent message – I am less than because I am female. And for me, and lots of other people like me, it started in my home. My parents had a very strict top-down rule and someone in our family had to be the worst. And that was me. They hated me and constantly complained about everything that I did or didn’t do. And the more I tried to please them, the more they despised me.
And of course the focus on misogyny in this book resonates with me and my history. But many other people have found themselves in the same situation based on race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, gender identity and, most of all, economic background. And I’m not trying to diminish any of that by focusing only on misogyny in this review. So please know that I don’t see misogyny as the only form of discrimination in THIS world, but it is what this book focused on.
I am so very lucky to have found a way out. I found new people, new community, new churches and a wonderful new love. I live in a world that is ridiculously full of blessings. But there is this part of me that is always waiting for the world to be taken over by the Hitlerians again. And when I express this fear to the wonderful people in my life, they always laugh. Oh silly Adaya! Don’t you know we’d never leave you?? And I have to wonder, for those of us that have been through this, and found a way out, do you ever fear that you might, somehow, end up back in it? It seems to me that the exaggeration in the book is one of its strongest elements. But what it is exaggerating is something that is always and has always been there. The rule of the elite few over the many. And this world, our world, has found many ways to accomplish that, some better than others. But it seems to me that the bad, cancerous form has a way of popping up when we least expect it. And this book, in its imperfect way, seems to me to be a fair warning to all.
March 29, 2017
Possibly the most troubling of the four dystopian books I have read this year, at least from a woman's point of view. Women are all but completely absent from the story, and from the society. It is set 720 years after the second world war. Germany won and Nazi's now rule all of Europe and Africa. The Japanese rule Asia and America (although they are only mentioned in passing in the story).
The action happens in Germany and England (a subject nation). While Alfred (an English engineer) is visiting the Holy Land (Germany) he meets a German knight, Von Hess. Von Hess's family are in possession of a secret book that reveals some of the pre Hitler history the Nazi's have eradicated everywhere else. Von Hess is old and his sons are dead. In Alfred he sees someone who may be able to protect the book and save the history contained within it from destruction.
The society is organised thus – Hitler (long dead) is worshipped as God. Der Feuhrer is the dictator of half the world. German Knights serve as government, the heads of churches and military leaders. German Nazis (all male) are the next most important and powerful group. The members of subject nations (like our Englishman) are below them and do much of the work in exchange for rations. Romantic relationships are always homosexual. Masculinity is worshipped especially in its most violent forms.
German and subject nations' women are caged and kept as breeding stock. Their heads are shaven and they wear ugly robes and learn to stoop rather than stand straight. The idea of women is repulsive and therefore men are legally obliged to mate with them to breed, but recreational sex is between men only. We learn that women were complicit in their own degradation, believing that complete submission would make the men love them more. Now they are despised, but have no strength, education or pride to try and reverse their situation. The birth of sons is celebrated and sons are removed from their mothers by eighteen months to live with their fathers. Giving birth to a girl is a shameful matter, but these stay with their mothers in the caged communities. The trouble, of which only the knights and Feuhrer are aware, is that very few girls are now born and society is fast approaching a crisis point.
Jews have been eradicated completely and now Christians are treated as the underclass, the untouchables. While they shun aggressive they are left alone and while their women are also viewed as soulless animals they do remain in family groups and are not caged.
Alfred returns to England with the precious and forbidden book to find he has fathered a daughter. Having read about historical women, his idea of the soulless animal is challenged, and against all protocol he holds his daughter in his arms. He wants to save her from the cage and the degradation of her mother and other women, but he is powerless to do so.
It's a terrifying book because we can see where the baby steps of removing birth control and restricting women's rights can lead. It's a timely wakeup call considering the action in nations like the US of destroying planned parenthood in the name of religion. It's brilliantly written in that you cannot feel complete sympathy for anyone, which of course is how this dystopian society is organised. If you enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, I urge you to read this book as well.
The action happens in Germany and England (a subject nation). While Alfred (an English engineer) is visiting the Holy Land (Germany) he meets a German knight, Von Hess. Von Hess's family are in possession of a secret book that reveals some of the pre Hitler history the Nazi's have eradicated everywhere else. Von Hess is old and his sons are dead. In Alfred he sees someone who may be able to protect the book and save the history contained within it from destruction.
The society is organised thus – Hitler (long dead) is worshipped as God. Der Feuhrer is the dictator of half the world. German Knights serve as government, the heads of churches and military leaders. German Nazis (all male) are the next most important and powerful group. The members of subject nations (like our Englishman) are below them and do much of the work in exchange for rations. Romantic relationships are always homosexual. Masculinity is worshipped especially in its most violent forms.
German and subject nations' women are caged and kept as breeding stock. Their heads are shaven and they wear ugly robes and learn to stoop rather than stand straight. The idea of women is repulsive and therefore men are legally obliged to mate with them to breed, but recreational sex is between men only. We learn that women were complicit in their own degradation, believing that complete submission would make the men love them more. Now they are despised, but have no strength, education or pride to try and reverse their situation. The birth of sons is celebrated and sons are removed from their mothers by eighteen months to live with their fathers. Giving birth to a girl is a shameful matter, but these stay with their mothers in the caged communities. The trouble, of which only the knights and Feuhrer are aware, is that very few girls are now born and society is fast approaching a crisis point.
Jews have been eradicated completely and now Christians are treated as the underclass, the untouchables. While they shun aggressive they are left alone and while their women are also viewed as soulless animals they do remain in family groups and are not caged.
Alfred returns to England with the precious and forbidden book to find he has fathered a daughter. Having read about historical women, his idea of the soulless animal is challenged, and against all protocol he holds his daughter in his arms. He wants to save her from the cage and the degradation of her mother and other women, but he is powerless to do so.
It's a terrifying book because we can see where the baby steps of removing birth control and restricting women's rights can lead. It's a timely wakeup call considering the action in nations like the US of destroying planned parenthood in the name of religion. It's brilliantly written in that you cannot feel complete sympathy for anyone, which of course is how this dystopian society is organised. If you enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, I urge you to read this book as well.
March 21, 2021
4.5 * Κερδίζει μισό πάνω από τα τέσσερα για το μη κλισέ τέλος του.Το μισό από το πέντε το χάνει μόνο και μόνο γιατί αν και εκδόθηκε το 1936 χρονικά αλλά και στην καρδιά μου πάντα θα προπορεύεται του εμείς του Ζαμιάτιν :)
ΥΓ Σίγουρα με έκανε να έχω second thoughts για το πεντάρι που έβαλα στο handmaid”s tale
ΥΓ Σίγουρα με έκανε να έχω second thoughts για το πεντάρι που έβαλα στο handmaid”s tale
April 19, 2020
Ben bu kitabı sevmedim.
Kuvvetli, iyi tasarlanmış bir distopya değil. Kendisinden 5 yıl evvel basılmış Cesur Yeni Dünya’nın kurgusunun gücünden eser yok kitapta. Neden bunu söyledim: Distopyaya dair kuvvetli örnekler olmasa bir nebze anlayışla karşılanabilir bu zayıflık. Hatta velev ki daha evvel hiçbir distopya örneği okumamış olsun Burdekin, iyi bir eser de mi okumamış? Olay sadece fikirleri aktarmaksa pekala makale de yazabilirdi. Düşüncelerini büyük kitlelere aktarmak için roman yazmış diyelim, o zaman da okuyucuya zevk vermeyen bu zayıf kurguyu tercih etmesini baştansavmalığına veriyorum. Bu bozuk düzenin geçmişine ve şimdisine dair her bilgi uzun ve bezdirici diyaloglarla aktarılınca iyi bir roman mı yazılmış oluyor?
Dahası bu roman feminist bir roman da değil. Romanda kadın yok. Kadınların ne hissettiklerini ve düşündüklerini okuyamıyoruz? Böylesi bir roman için en gerekli bakış buydu. Kadınlar örgütlensin ve ayaklansın demiyorum (bunu da diyebilirim tabi, iyi bir kurgu içinde bu dediğim gerçekçi bir şekilde aktarılabilir), en azından erkekler onları aşağılarken, ellerinden evlatları alınırken, saçları kesilirken ne hissettiklerini bilmeyi çok isterdim. O kadınlar varlıkları, erkeklerin karşısında neden bu denli değersiz oldukları hakkında hiç mi düşünmüyorlar? Bir insan, ne kadar hayvan yerine konulursa konulsun, tecrit edilmediği sürece konuşur, düşünür ve fikir üretir. Nerede kadınların fikirleri?
Bu kadınların kaderleri neden hiçbir güçlü yanı olmayan üç beş erkeğe teslim ediliyor? Hem de bu kaderin değişmesinde başat önemi olan kitabı doğru dürüst okuyamayan ve anlamayan üç-beş adama? Gerçi o kitabın da hiçbir halta yaramayacağı açık. Onu erkekler okusa ne olur okumasa ne olur. Çağdaş dediğimiz dünyada bile erkeklerin çoğu, ne okurlarsa okusunlar ne kadar kültürlü olurlarsa olsunlar kadınları zayıf ve kendilerine bağımlı görmekten hoşnutlar. Bu böyleyken kitapta kadınların efendisi rolündeki erkekler bir kitap okudu, bir fotoğrafa baktı diye mucizeler mi olacak?
Bana kalırsa bu kitabın tek mevzuu İncil. Romanda bahsedilen kitap bir Hristiyan’ın eline geçiyor ve böylece dünya kurtuluyor. Bu kadar sığ bir bakışla yazılmış kitap.
“Dinin değeri düşürüldü, saflığı kirletildi, ama kaçınılmaz olan da buydu. Eski Hıristiyanlık dininde kadının çok büyük bir yeri vardı. Teorik olarak ruh değerleri erkeğe eşitti, ama uygulamada böyle olmuyordu elbette. Kadınların rahip olmasına izin verilmezdi. Ama erkekler onların İsa’nın sevdiği ruhlar olduklarını söylemişti, bu yüzden ruhları ve vicdanları varmış gibi davranabiliyorlardı.”
Bozulmuş Hristiyanlık, gerçekleri anlatan bir kitapla birlikte yeniden düzelecek ve tüm insanlığa hak ettiği barışı ve hakkaniyeti getirecek. Kitabın söylemeye çalıştığı bu bana kalırsa.
Belki biraz aşırı bir okuma yapıyorum, belki bir kere olaya Hristiyanlık övgüsü olarak baktığım için zihnim bu bakışla anlam arıyor. Yine de kitabın teslim edildiği kişiye bakınca Joseph ismi özellikle mi seçildi diyorum kendi kendime, Fred’in babası Alfred ölünce onun için babalık yapacak kişi Joseph değil mi? Fred kitabı okuyarak dünyayı değiştirecekse, yani İsa olacaksa onun vasisi olacak kişi de Joseph (İsa’nın dünyevi babası sayılan Aziz Joseph’a ithafen) olmalı.
Joseph şöyle diyor:
“Tanrı o kadar iyiyken neden günah ortaya çıktı? Son Gün geldiğinde bu muamma da anlaşılacak, ama siz anlayamayacaksınız elbette. İşte günah böyle başladı, öldürmekle. İki insan arasındaki şiddetle. Sonra binlerce yıl günah içinde yaşadılar ve onları günahlarından kurtarmak ve dünyayı Habil ile Kabil’den önceki haline döndürmek için İsa doğdu.”
Yani Tanrı harikaydı, Hristiyanlık müthişti ama insanlar bunun değerini bilemediler ve her şey mahvoldu. Ve şimdi de her şeyi eski haline getirecek bir kitap ve bir erkek var. Yaşasın!
Dahası da var:
“Babam Friedrich von Hess, Onlu’nun İç Halkası’ndan Alman Şövalyesi, bu kitabı bana 19 Haziran 2130’da verdi. Yetmiş yaşına gelmiş, neredeyse kör olmuş ve uğruna yaşayacak bir şeyi kalmamıştı; ama onun da dediği gibi, tanrılığa ve Tanrı’nın evrenselliğine inançla dolu olan babam, kitabı verdiğinin ertesi günü, 20 Haziran 2130’da yaşamına son verdi.”
Nasıl olur da tanrının evrenselliğini halel getirilir. Nasıl olur da Tanrı bir millete ait olabilir? Hitler’i tanrı sayan Naziler cezalarını çekecekler bir gün. Friedrich von Hess’in yazdığı İncil’le Tanrı’ya şirk koşan bu millet harap olacak.
Bir distopyanın bu kadar dinin yapıcılığına odaklanması beni deli etti. Benim okuduğum bildiğim tüm distopyalarda din, uyuşturucu bir öğedir. Halk dinin korkusu ve sözde merhameti içinde itaat ederler ve isyanı düşünmezler. Ama bu kitap dini bir kurtuluş olarak sunuyor. Tüm distopyalar aynı olmamalı belki ama özgür düşünceyi kısıtlayan din, nasıl kurtuluş olabilir?
Bu konuyu bir kenara bırakıyorum. Kitapta yığınla gereksiz sahne var: Alfred ile Şovalye’nin arasında geçen olay ve diyalogların çoğu kitabın ana çatısına hizmet etmiyor. Sürekli milletlerin sanata katkılarından bahsediyorlar. Vay efendim şu millet mimaride iyi, şu millet resimde iyi, müzikte Almanların eline su dökemezsin falan filan. Sonra ikisinin uçağa binmesi. Neden bindikleri bile belli değil. Yalnız kalmak için mi? Bir ara Hermann ile Alfred çapa yapıyor. Neden yapıyorlar anlamış değilim. Saçma sapan bir sahne. Aslında Hermann karakteri de saçma sapan bir yerde. Kitaptaki en sevdiğim kişi olmasına rağmen varlığı gereksiz.
Zaten roman kişilerin çoğunun içi boş. Belki bir nebze Şovalye etkileyici. Bilmek ama bildiğini dile getirememek, onca gücüne rağmen bir şeyleri değiştirememek ona acı veriyor ve bu acı onu gerçek kılıyor.
Herrman kişisi sadece Şovalye ile Alfred'in tanışması için yaratılmış. Sonra zaten yazar onu ne yapacağını bilemediği için İngiltere’ye yolluyor ama oradaki görevi o kadar saçma ki. Bahsedilen kitabın Şovalye’den çıkıp Hristiyan Joseph’e varması sürecinin işlemesi için çabucak harcanan roman kişileri yaratmış yazar. Bu açıkça roman sanatına saygısızlık bana göre.
Tabi kitabı tümden yabana atmayalım. Arada bir parıldayan ifadeler mevcut:
“Her şey bir efsaneden ibaret. İngiltere efsanelerle doludur. Tabi ülkelerin hepsinde durum aynıdır herhalde. İnsanların işleri ve maaşları ya da Şövalyelerinin kötülüklerinden başka konuşacak bir şeyleri olmuş oluyor böylece.”
…
“ ‘Kimse bilmeseydi,’ diye düşündü, ‘o ölmüş olsaydı, ben de ölseydim, gerçekler yine de var olacaktı. Dünya yüzünde hiç insan kalmamış olsa da insan davranışı ile ilgili belli bazı şeyler doğru olmaya devam edecektir. ‘Düşünce özgürlüğünün olmadığı yerde onur da yoktur.’
…
“ ‘Neden ölmek istedi?’
‘Ölme olasılığına sahip olmak için.’ “
…
“ ‘Peki neden kendilerini bu kadar alçalttılar?’ dedi Alfred.
‘Kadının İndirgenmesi’ni kabul ettiler. Alman erkekleri tarafından düşünülerek planlanmış, kasıtlı bir şeydi bu. Kadınlar daima erkeklerin istedikleri gibi olacaklardı: iradesi olmayan, karakteri ve ruhu olmayan, sadece erkeklerin yansıması olan canlılar. Bu yüzden, oldukları ya da olabilecekleri şey onların suçu ya da erdemi değildi. Erkekler onların güzel olmalarını isterlerse güzel olacaklardı. Erkekler onların irade ve karakter sahibi gibi görünmelerini isterlerse, böyle bir görünüm sergileyeceklerdi ama bu sadece rol icabı olacaktı. Erkekler onların özgür ve bağımsız, hatta erkeksi görünmelerini isterlerse bunların taklidini yapacaklardı. Ama erkeklerin yapamadıkları, asla başaramadıkları şey ise, bu körü körüne itaate son vermek ve kadınların erkekleri yadsıyarak itaatsizlik etmelerine sebep olmaktı. Bu insan ırkının bir trajedisidir.’ “
…
“ ‘Erkekler dişi hayvanları sevemezler, ama insanlaştırdıkları ve erkeksi şablonlara oturttukları kadınları sevebilirler ve sevmişlerdir de.’ “
…
“ ‘O zavallı dişi ahmaklar, erkeklerin onlara dayattığı şeyleri neşeyle ve canı gönülden yaparlarsa, erkeklerin bir şekilde mantıklı davranmaya başlayıp onları sevmeye devam edeceklerini sandılar.’ ”
---
Kitabın çevirisi muazzam.
Mehtap Gün Ayral çok iyi bir çevirmen. Kendisi China Mieville'in Kraken kitabının da çevirmeni. Tabi onlarca kitap çevirmiş ama gözüme çarpan en ayrıksı çevirisi Kraken oldu.
Swastika Geceleri'nde bazı sözcük tercihleri hoşuma gitti:
“The Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Greek, the Roman, the Spanish and the British. In colonial possessions——”
“Süryaniler, Babiller, Acemler, Mısırlılar, Yunanlar, Romalılar, İspanyollar ve İngilizler. Koloni müstemlekeleri…”
“Judging by Wagner’s music, in which you can trace all the songs once you have the clue, the women had voices of enormous range and power. I never can imagine what it sounded like, however hard I try. No boy could sing more than little bits of the songs, even in the soprano parts. I do not particularly care for Wagner’s music, but I often wished I could slip back in time and hear one of those operas performed. They must have been in their way magnificent.”
“İpucunu ele geçirince bütün şarkıları takip edebileceğin Wagner bestelerine bakarsak, kadınların muazzam bir erimde ve çok güçlü sesleri varmış. Ne kadar uğraşsam da, seslerini hayal bile edemiyorum. O şarkıların soprano kısımlarının bile birazını söyleyebilecek bir oğlan yoktur. Wagner’in bestelerine karşı özel bir ilgim yok, ama sık sık zamanda geriye gidip o operalardan birini dinlemeyi çok istemişimdir. Kendi içlerinde büyüleyici olmalılar.”
“Damn you,” said Alfred. “There, go to sleep again.” He kissed Jim and went back to his own bed.
“Canını almasın senin!” dedi Alfred. “Haydi, uyu artık.” Jim’i öptü, yatağına geri döndü.
Alfred was returning from this seditious conspiracy across the downs with two other men when at least three miles from Amesbury they heard something crying, and found a very small Christian boy of not more than five years old, quite alone and half-frozen.
Alfred iki arkadaşıyla, Amesbury’den en az üç mil uzaktaki bu müfsit kumpastan dönerlerken bir çığlık duydular ve beş yaşlarında donmak üzere olan bir Hıristiyan oğlan çocuğu buldular.
Kuvvetli, iyi tasarlanmış bir distopya değil. Kendisinden 5 yıl evvel basılmış Cesur Yeni Dünya’nın kurgusunun gücünden eser yok kitapta. Neden bunu söyledim: Distopyaya dair kuvvetli örnekler olmasa bir nebze anlayışla karşılanabilir bu zayıflık. Hatta velev ki daha evvel hiçbir distopya örneği okumamış olsun Burdekin, iyi bir eser de mi okumamış? Olay sadece fikirleri aktarmaksa pekala makale de yazabilirdi. Düşüncelerini büyük kitlelere aktarmak için roman yazmış diyelim, o zaman da okuyucuya zevk vermeyen bu zayıf kurguyu tercih etmesini baştansavmalığına veriyorum. Bu bozuk düzenin geçmişine ve şimdisine dair her bilgi uzun ve bezdirici diyaloglarla aktarılınca iyi bir roman mı yazılmış oluyor?
Dahası bu roman feminist bir roman da değil. Romanda kadın yok. Kadınların ne hissettiklerini ve düşündüklerini okuyamıyoruz? Böylesi bir roman için en gerekli bakış buydu. Kadınlar örgütlensin ve ayaklansın demiyorum (bunu da diyebilirim tabi, iyi bir kurgu içinde bu dediğim gerçekçi bir şekilde aktarılabilir), en azından erkekler onları aşağılarken, ellerinden evlatları alınırken, saçları kesilirken ne hissettiklerini bilmeyi çok isterdim. O kadınlar varlıkları, erkeklerin karşısında neden bu denli değersiz oldukları hakkında hiç mi düşünmüyorlar? Bir insan, ne kadar hayvan yerine konulursa konulsun, tecrit edilmediği sürece konuşur, düşünür ve fikir üretir. Nerede kadınların fikirleri?
Bu kadınların kaderleri neden hiçbir güçlü yanı olmayan üç beş erkeğe teslim ediliyor? Hem de bu kaderin değişmesinde başat önemi olan kitabı doğru dürüst okuyamayan ve anlamayan üç-beş adama? Gerçi o kitabın da hiçbir halta yaramayacağı açık. Onu erkekler okusa ne olur okumasa ne olur. Çağdaş dediğimiz dünyada bile erkeklerin çoğu, ne okurlarsa okusunlar ne kadar kültürlü olurlarsa olsunlar kadınları zayıf ve kendilerine bağımlı görmekten hoşnutlar. Bu böyleyken kitapta kadınların efendisi rolündeki erkekler bir kitap okudu, bir fotoğrafa baktı diye mucizeler mi olacak?
Bana kalırsa bu kitabın tek mevzuu İncil. Romanda bahsedilen kitap bir Hristiyan’ın eline geçiyor ve böylece dünya kurtuluyor. Bu kadar sığ bir bakışla yazılmış kitap.
“Dinin değeri düşürüldü, saflığı kirletildi, ama kaçınılmaz olan da buydu. Eski Hıristiyanlık dininde kadının çok büyük bir yeri vardı. Teorik olarak ruh değerleri erkeğe eşitti, ama uygulamada böyle olmuyordu elbette. Kadınların rahip olmasına izin verilmezdi. Ama erkekler onların İsa’nın sevdiği ruhlar olduklarını söylemişti, bu yüzden ruhları ve vicdanları varmış gibi davranabiliyorlardı.”
Bozulmuş Hristiyanlık, gerçekleri anlatan bir kitapla birlikte yeniden düzelecek ve tüm insanlığa hak ettiği barışı ve hakkaniyeti getirecek. Kitabın söylemeye çalıştığı bu bana kalırsa.
Belki biraz aşırı bir okuma yapıyorum, belki bir kere olaya Hristiyanlık övgüsü olarak baktığım için zihnim bu bakışla anlam arıyor. Yine de kitabın teslim edildiği kişiye bakınca Joseph ismi özellikle mi seçildi diyorum kendi kendime, Fred’in babası Alfred ölünce onun için babalık yapacak kişi Joseph değil mi? Fred kitabı okuyarak dünyayı değiştirecekse, yani İsa olacaksa onun vasisi olacak kişi de Joseph (İsa’nın dünyevi babası sayılan Aziz Joseph’a ithafen) olmalı.
Joseph şöyle diyor:
“Tanrı o kadar iyiyken neden günah ortaya çıktı? Son Gün geldiğinde bu muamma da anlaşılacak, ama siz anlayamayacaksınız elbette. İşte günah böyle başladı, öldürmekle. İki insan arasındaki şiddetle. Sonra binlerce yıl günah içinde yaşadılar ve onları günahlarından kurtarmak ve dünyayı Habil ile Kabil’den önceki haline döndürmek için İsa doğdu.”
Yani Tanrı harikaydı, Hristiyanlık müthişti ama insanlar bunun değerini bilemediler ve her şey mahvoldu. Ve şimdi de her şeyi eski haline getirecek bir kitap ve bir erkek var. Yaşasın!
Dahası da var:
“Babam Friedrich von Hess, Onlu’nun İç Halkası’ndan Alman Şövalyesi, bu kitabı bana 19 Haziran 2130’da verdi. Yetmiş yaşına gelmiş, neredeyse kör olmuş ve uğruna yaşayacak bir şeyi kalmamıştı; ama onun da dediği gibi, tanrılığa ve Tanrı’nın evrenselliğine inançla dolu olan babam, kitabı verdiğinin ertesi günü, 20 Haziran 2130’da yaşamına son verdi.”
Nasıl olur da tanrının evrenselliğini halel getirilir. Nasıl olur da Tanrı bir millete ait olabilir? Hitler’i tanrı sayan Naziler cezalarını çekecekler bir gün. Friedrich von Hess’in yazdığı İncil’le Tanrı’ya şirk koşan bu millet harap olacak.
Bir distopyanın bu kadar dinin yapıcılığına odaklanması beni deli etti. Benim okuduğum bildiğim tüm distopyalarda din, uyuşturucu bir öğedir. Halk dinin korkusu ve sözde merhameti içinde itaat ederler ve isyanı düşünmezler. Ama bu kitap dini bir kurtuluş olarak sunuyor. Tüm distopyalar aynı olmamalı belki ama özgür düşünceyi kısıtlayan din, nasıl kurtuluş olabilir?
Bu konuyu bir kenara bırakıyorum. Kitapta yığınla gereksiz sahne var: Alfred ile Şovalye’nin arasında geçen olay ve diyalogların çoğu kitabın ana çatısına hizmet etmiyor. Sürekli milletlerin sanata katkılarından bahsediyorlar. Vay efendim şu millet mimaride iyi, şu millet resimde iyi, müzikte Almanların eline su dökemezsin falan filan. Sonra ikisinin uçağa binmesi. Neden bindikleri bile belli değil. Yalnız kalmak için mi? Bir ara Hermann ile Alfred çapa yapıyor. Neden yapıyorlar anlamış değilim. Saçma sapan bir sahne. Aslında Hermann karakteri de saçma sapan bir yerde. Kitaptaki en sevdiğim kişi olmasına rağmen varlığı gereksiz.
Zaten roman kişilerin çoğunun içi boş. Belki bir nebze Şovalye etkileyici. Bilmek ama bildiğini dile getirememek, onca gücüne rağmen bir şeyleri değiştirememek ona acı veriyor ve bu acı onu gerçek kılıyor.
Herrman kişisi sadece Şovalye ile Alfred'in tanışması için yaratılmış. Sonra zaten yazar onu ne yapacağını bilemediği için İngiltere’ye yolluyor ama oradaki görevi o kadar saçma ki. Bahsedilen kitabın Şovalye’den çıkıp Hristiyan Joseph’e varması sürecinin işlemesi için çabucak harcanan roman kişileri yaratmış yazar. Bu açıkça roman sanatına saygısızlık bana göre.
Tabi kitabı tümden yabana atmayalım. Arada bir parıldayan ifadeler mevcut:
“Her şey bir efsaneden ibaret. İngiltere efsanelerle doludur. Tabi ülkelerin hepsinde durum aynıdır herhalde. İnsanların işleri ve maaşları ya da Şövalyelerinin kötülüklerinden başka konuşacak bir şeyleri olmuş oluyor böylece.”
…
“ ‘Kimse bilmeseydi,’ diye düşündü, ‘o ölmüş olsaydı, ben de ölseydim, gerçekler yine de var olacaktı. Dünya yüzünde hiç insan kalmamış olsa da insan davranışı ile ilgili belli bazı şeyler doğru olmaya devam edecektir. ‘Düşünce özgürlüğünün olmadığı yerde onur da yoktur.’
…
“ ‘Neden ölmek istedi?’
‘Ölme olasılığına sahip olmak için.’ “
…
“ ‘Peki neden kendilerini bu kadar alçalttılar?’ dedi Alfred.
‘Kadının İndirgenmesi’ni kabul ettiler. Alman erkekleri tarafından düşünülerek planlanmış, kasıtlı bir şeydi bu. Kadınlar daima erkeklerin istedikleri gibi olacaklardı: iradesi olmayan, karakteri ve ruhu olmayan, sadece erkeklerin yansıması olan canlılar. Bu yüzden, oldukları ya da olabilecekleri şey onların suçu ya da erdemi değildi. Erkekler onların güzel olmalarını isterlerse güzel olacaklardı. Erkekler onların irade ve karakter sahibi gibi görünmelerini isterlerse, böyle bir görünüm sergileyeceklerdi ama bu sadece rol icabı olacaktı. Erkekler onların özgür ve bağımsız, hatta erkeksi görünmelerini isterlerse bunların taklidini yapacaklardı. Ama erkeklerin yapamadıkları, asla başaramadıkları şey ise, bu körü körüne itaate son vermek ve kadınların erkekleri yadsıyarak itaatsizlik etmelerine sebep olmaktı. Bu insan ırkının bir trajedisidir.’ “
…
“ ‘Erkekler dişi hayvanları sevemezler, ama insanlaştırdıkları ve erkeksi şablonlara oturttukları kadınları sevebilirler ve sevmişlerdir de.’ “
…
“ ‘O zavallı dişi ahmaklar, erkeklerin onlara dayattığı şeyleri neşeyle ve canı gönülden yaparlarsa, erkeklerin bir şekilde mantıklı davranmaya başlayıp onları sevmeye devam edeceklerini sandılar.’ ”
---
Kitabın çevirisi muazzam.
Mehtap Gün Ayral çok iyi bir çevirmen. Kendisi China Mieville'in Kraken kitabının da çevirmeni. Tabi onlarca kitap çevirmiş ama gözüme çarpan en ayrıksı çevirisi Kraken oldu.
Swastika Geceleri'nde bazı sözcük tercihleri hoşuma gitti:
“The Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Greek, the Roman, the Spanish and the British. In colonial possessions——”
“Süryaniler, Babiller, Acemler, Mısırlılar, Yunanlar, Romalılar, İspanyollar ve İngilizler. Koloni müstemlekeleri…”
“Judging by Wagner’s music, in which you can trace all the songs once you have the clue, the women had voices of enormous range and power. I never can imagine what it sounded like, however hard I try. No boy could sing more than little bits of the songs, even in the soprano parts. I do not particularly care for Wagner’s music, but I often wished I could slip back in time and hear one of those operas performed. They must have been in their way magnificent.”
“İpucunu ele geçirince bütün şarkıları takip edebileceğin Wagner bestelerine bakarsak, kadınların muazzam bir erimde ve çok güçlü sesleri varmış. Ne kadar uğraşsam da, seslerini hayal bile edemiyorum. O şarkıların soprano kısımlarının bile birazını söyleyebilecek bir oğlan yoktur. Wagner’in bestelerine karşı özel bir ilgim yok, ama sık sık zamanda geriye gidip o operalardan birini dinlemeyi çok istemişimdir. Kendi içlerinde büyüleyici olmalılar.”
“Damn you,” said Alfred. “There, go to sleep again.” He kissed Jim and went back to his own bed.
“Canını almasın senin!” dedi Alfred. “Haydi, uyu artık.” Jim’i öptü, yatağına geri döndü.
Alfred was returning from this seditious conspiracy across the downs with two other men when at least three miles from Amesbury they heard something crying, and found a very small Christian boy of not more than five years old, quite alone and half-frozen.
Alfred iki arkadaşıyla, Amesbury’den en az üç mil uzaktaki bu müfsit kumpastan dönerlerken bir çığlık duydular ve beş yaşlarında donmak üzere olan bir Hıristiyan oğlan çocuğu buldular.
March 11, 2025
Before Philip K. Dick wrote the overrated Man in the High Castle, before WWII had even begun, feminist author Katharine Burdekin (who published her SF under a male pseudonym) wrote this horrifying dystopian vision set 700 years into a Nazi-ruled Europe, which captures the medieval sadism of Hitler’s “vision” with an unflinching eye. The novel has much in common with H.G. Wells’s discursive fiction of the period, i.e. light in plot and heavy on characters discoursing, and Burdekin’s world is one of knights and serfs, where history has long been erased, and the discovery of an old picture of the fat, frothing form of Hitler threatens to destroy the myth of his perfect Ayranness. Burdekin’s vision on the treatment of women is revelatory—women are kept shaven-headed and illiterate in cages for forced breeding purposes, male children are removed from their keep—showing how the subjugation of women is always top on the agenda of fascists and tyrants, something we are predictably seeing play out again in the “free” world at the moment.
July 2, 2020
Η Katharine Burdekin έγραψε τη Νύχτα της Σβάστικας το 1936 και μιλάει για μια -μελλοντική- Χιτλερική Αυτοκρατορία. Ναι, εδώ οι Ναζί έχουν τον πόλεμο και επέβαλαν ένα απολυταρχικό καθεστώς στο οποίο η γυναίκα αντιμετωπιζόταν ως ένα κατώτερο είδος - αναπαραγωγική μηχανή.
Η συγγραφέας, 3 χρόνια πριν το ξέσπασμα του Β' ΠΠ, καταθέτει το μεγαλύτερο -ίσως- ερώτημα που προκύπτει από ένα "αν". Πώς θα ήταν ο κόσμος ΑΝ είχε επικρατήσει ο Χίτλερ και οι Ναζί; Και μέσα σε 200 και κάτι σελίδες, καταθέτει έναν κόσμο βίαιο, ένα σύστημα απολυταρχικό και ένα μέλλον ζοφερό (ειδικά για τις γυναίκες).
Με λίγα λόγια, μια μίξη The Handmaid's Tale και 1984 (με μια εσάνς εναλλακτικής ιστορίας) before it was cool. Οκ, δεν ήταν ποτέ κουλ αλλά κατάλαβες.
Η συγγραφέας, 3 χρόνια πριν το ξέσπασμα του Β' ΠΠ, καταθέτει το μεγαλύτερο -ίσως- ερώτημα που προκύπτει από ένα "αν". Πώς θα ήταν ο κόσμος ΑΝ είχε επικρατήσει ο Χίτλερ και οι Ναζί; Και μέσα σε 200 και κάτι σελίδες, καταθέτει έναν κόσμο βίαιο, ένα σύστημα απολυταρχικό και ένα μέλλον ζοφερό (ειδικά για τις γυναίκες).
Με λίγα λόγια, μια μίξη The Handmaid's Tale και 1984 (με μια εσάνς εναλλακτικής ιστορίας) before it was cool. Οκ, δεν ήταν ποτέ κουλ αλλά κατάλαβες.
August 25, 2020
If I had to sum this up in one line, I'd say this book is a caricature of a parody of the Nazis.
And an extremely poorly thought out and plotted one, infodumpy to intolerable levels--the author shows nothing of the world, and uses dialogue between two characters and a third to "explain" the world and the history--and with characterisation that could be at best be described as bipolar, because everyone does what the plot needs when it needs it, and changes of heart are sudden and unrealistic.
But the worst flaw is the subpar worldbuilding. This alternate history scenario simply lacks logic; no, it throws logic out the window and runs with a feverish plot that doesn't make sense at all. These are in no way, shape, or form how the ideology of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterspartei--the Nazi Party--was or would've developed into. In fact, many of the ideas Katharine Burdekin presents here run in frank opposition to what the NSDAP stood for and murdered people for. Let me pur forth just three examples: homosexuality here is preferred and glorified even, as is paedophilia so long as it's with boys. Do you know how many gays the Nazis sent to concentration camps? For goodness' sake, they even got rid of Ernst Röhm, their one gay party bigwig, and created this special pink triangle identifier for gay prisoners so everyone would know you were in for liking men . . . and I'm supposed to believe that the Nazis in this world are all in for not just gay sex but actual paedophilia?! What's more, the women here are hairless animals who are kept in cages to be raped at will just for reproduction purposes, and are never allowed outside, a scenario that makes "The Handmaid's Tale" look decidedly progressive in comparison. And that coming from the party who considered the traditional family structure, with a woman's duty being having a strong family unit and home for the Reich, who employed women and girls as Helferinnen and in auxiliary work for the party and war effort. How am I supposed to believe this mockery of the lebensborn that ignores the very purpose of that programme?
Then there's the most ridiculous plot point of all: the Christians here are the "new Jews." Seriously? People here are made into abject pariahs merely for their religion, no matter if ethnically they're as "pure Aryan" as anyone. There's no indication of a racial component in here, as was the case for the Jews, in which the Nazis argued racial motives and not merely religious motives for their exclusion and ultimately extermination of the Jews. Then how is it even possible that Burdekin uses a version of Reich racial laws, which forbade sexual relations with Jews, as the reason behind why raping a Christian is a crime in this world? Am I supposed to believe that merely having contact with someone of a different religion is "defiling"? Doesn't make any sense. The Christians here are allowed to roam free, like gypsies, and not rounded up and killed, but that's probably because this book was written before the death camps and before the Kristallnacht had happened. Still, its depiction of Christians in the place of Jews is absurd to a point you wonder how the author understood tthe Nazi doctrine, if at all.
Honestly, this book has no value beyond historical curiosity, because it was written in 1937, before WWII and its horrors, and for that it educates you about how someone from that period and with the knowledge from that period would see a future in which the Nazis won. However, it's a scenario that begs for suspension of disbelief and critical thinking in ways I'm not willing to concede, and the fact that the excuse is that this world happens 700 years after Hitler, so time enough for corruption of the doctrine, isn't satisfying; not to mention there's no explanation given as to how exactly this would be able to last and people endure seven centuries of this without a revolt. Not recommended!
And an extremely poorly thought out and plotted one, infodumpy to intolerable levels--the author shows nothing of the world, and uses dialogue between two characters and a third to "explain" the world and the history--and with characterisation that could be at best be described as bipolar, because everyone does what the plot needs when it needs it, and changes of heart are sudden and unrealistic.
But the worst flaw is the subpar worldbuilding. This alternate history scenario simply lacks logic; no, it throws logic out the window and runs with a feverish plot that doesn't make sense at all. These are in no way, shape, or form how the ideology of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterspartei--the Nazi Party--was or would've developed into. In fact, many of the ideas Katharine Burdekin presents here run in frank opposition to what the NSDAP stood for and murdered people for. Let me pur forth just three examples: homosexuality here is preferred and glorified even, as is paedophilia so long as it's with boys. Do you know how many gays the Nazis sent to concentration camps? For goodness' sake, they even got rid of Ernst Röhm, their one gay party bigwig, and created this special pink triangle identifier for gay prisoners so everyone would know you were in for liking men . . . and I'm supposed to believe that the Nazis in this world are all in for not just gay sex but actual paedophilia?! What's more, the women here are hairless animals who are kept in cages to be raped at will just for reproduction purposes, and are never allowed outside, a scenario that makes "The Handmaid's Tale" look decidedly progressive in comparison. And that coming from the party who considered the traditional family structure, with a woman's duty being having a strong family unit and home for the Reich, who employed women and girls as Helferinnen and in auxiliary work for the party and war effort. How am I supposed to believe this mockery of the lebensborn that ignores the very purpose of that programme?
Then there's the most ridiculous plot point of all: the Christians here are the "new Jews." Seriously? People here are made into abject pariahs merely for their religion, no matter if ethnically they're as "pure Aryan" as anyone. There's no indication of a racial component in here, as was the case for the Jews, in which the Nazis argued racial motives and not merely religious motives for their exclusion and ultimately extermination of the Jews. Then how is it even possible that Burdekin uses a version of Reich racial laws, which forbade sexual relations with Jews, as the reason behind why raping a Christian is a crime in this world? Am I supposed to believe that merely having contact with someone of a different religion is "defiling"? Doesn't make any sense. The Christians here are allowed to roam free, like gypsies, and not rounded up and killed, but that's probably because this book was written before the death camps and before the Kristallnacht had happened. Still, its depiction of Christians in the place of Jews is absurd to a point you wonder how the author understood tthe Nazi doctrine, if at all.
Honestly, this book has no value beyond historical curiosity, because it was written in 1937, before WWII and its horrors, and for that it educates you about how someone from that period and with the knowledge from that period would see a future in which the Nazis won. However, it's a scenario that begs for suspension of disbelief and critical thinking in ways I'm not willing to concede, and the fact that the excuse is that this world happens 700 years after Hitler, so time enough for corruption of the doctrine, isn't satisfying; not to mention there's no explanation given as to how exactly this would be able to last and people endure seven centuries of this without a revolt. Not recommended!
January 20, 2021
عمل ديستوبي مزلزل ❤️❤️
كاترين بوردكن في تجلٍّ أهم وأعمق بألف مرّة من تجلّي جورج أورويل في ١٩٨٤ روايتها "ليل الصليب المعقوف" بنسختها الأصلية عن دار ألكا
⭐️ من الرواية:
- "أنا رجل يعرف أنه حين يفشل أي تمرد مسلح ضد ألمانيا، فهناك تمرد آخر يجب أن ينجح."
- "ماذا؟" سأل هيرمن بتلهف
- "تمرد الكفر. تصمد إمبراطوريتك تماماً على الجانب العقلي بواسطة العقيدة الهتلرية. وإذا ذهبت، إذا لم يعد الناس يؤمنون بأن هتلر هو الرب، فلن تبقى لك إلا القوة المسلحة، والتي لا يمكنها أن تفعل شيئاً سوى قتل الناس. لا يمكنك جعلها تعيد الناس إلى الإيمان بهتلر، إذا لم يفعلوا ذلك لوحدهم. وفي النهاية، مهما كان عدد الناس الذين يقتلون، وطالما بقي البعض، فإن الشك سيواصل النمو. ولا يمكنك أبداً قتل جميع الكافرين، لأنه، رغم قدرتك على تفتيش بيت المرء وجيوبه أيضاً، فلن يمكنك البحث في قلبه. ولا يمكنك أبدا معرفة تحديد جميع الكافرين. سوف تنمو الشكوك لأنها شأن حي، مليء بالقدرة على النمو، مثل جوزة البلوط. وسوف تُهاجم ألمانيا في نهاية المطاف، سيصبح الألمان أنفسهم يشككون بهتلر، ثم تتعفن إمبراطوريتك من الداخل."
الرواية التي كتبت سنة 1937 تحت اسم مذكر مستعار هو موراي قسطنطين. وتعتبر من أكثر الأعمال المناهضة للفاشية أصالة وهي تتخيل في ديستوبيا كابوسية مصير المرأة بعد انتصار النازية وبالأحرى الدين أو المعتقد كوسيلة اضطهاد وقهر للمرأة وكل الجنسيات والعروق الأخرى.
كتاب أتمنى أن ينال نصيبه من الإهتمام.
كاترين بوردكن في تجلٍّ أهم وأعمق بألف مرّة من تجلّي جورج أورويل في ١٩٨٤ روايتها "ليل الصليب المعقوف" بنسختها الأصلية عن دار ألكا
⭐️ من الرواية:
- "أنا رجل يعرف أنه حين يفشل أي تمرد مسلح ضد ألمانيا، فهناك تمرد آخر يجب أن ينجح."
- "ماذا؟" سأل هيرمن بتلهف
- "تمرد الكفر. تصمد إمبراطوريتك تماماً على الجانب العقلي بواسطة العقيدة الهتلرية. وإذا ذهبت، إذا لم يعد الناس يؤمنون بأن هتلر هو الرب، فلن تبقى لك إلا القوة المسلحة، والتي لا يمكنها أن تفعل شيئاً سوى قتل الناس. لا يمكنك جعلها تعيد الناس إلى الإيمان بهتلر، إذا لم يفعلوا ذلك لوحدهم. وفي النهاية، مهما كان عدد الناس الذين يقتلون، وطالما بقي البعض، فإن الشك سيواصل النمو. ولا يمكنك أبداً قتل جميع الكافرين، لأنه، رغم قدرتك على تفتيش بيت المرء وجيوبه أيضاً، فلن يمكنك البحث في قلبه. ولا يمكنك أبدا معرفة تحديد جميع الكافرين. سوف تنمو الشكوك لأنها شأن حي، مليء بالقدرة على النمو، مثل جوزة البلوط. وسوف تُهاجم ألمانيا في نهاية المطاف، سيصبح الألمان أنفسهم يشككون بهتلر، ثم تتعفن إمبراطوريتك من الداخل."
الرواية التي كتبت سنة 1937 تحت اسم مذكر مستعار هو موراي قسطنطين. وتعتبر من أكثر الأعمال المناهضة للفاشية أصالة وهي تتخيل في ديستوبيا كابوسية مصير المرأة بعد انتصار النازية وبالأحرى الدين أو المعتقد كوسيلة اضطهاد وقهر للمرأة وكل الجنسيات والعروق الأخرى.
كتاب أتمنى أن ينال نصيبه من الإهتمام.
November 15, 2009
Katherine Budekin wrote her frightening vision of a Nazi future in 1937, at the height of Hitler's power in Germany, as a scathing attack on the powerful patriarchies engaged in fascism.
Her argument , however, goes far beyond the confines of Nazism and her imaginary Nazi future. She is concerned with the history of all of Western Civilization: a history driven by gender politics, wherein women's voices have been erased from the collective memory almost as completely as her Nazis wiped out the history of previous Empires.
Budekin (who tellingly wrote under the name Murray Constantine) achieves much in her story: her argument is compelling, occasionally prophetic and often disturbing. Sadly, despite the profundity of Budekin's message, Swastika Night doesn't hold up aesthetically.
It is a book packed full of explication. Budekin rarely shows us what is happening; she tells us through an interminable series of discussions between her major characters. Because of this, Swastika Night lacks immediacy. And immediacy would have catapulted Swastika Night into the status of other dystopian classics, like Orwell's 1984.
As it stands, however, Swastika Night is an excellent, though artistically flawed, vision of our male driven world. It is absolutely worth a read, but don't expect to be entertained by the experience.
Her argument , however, goes far beyond the confines of Nazism and her imaginary Nazi future. She is concerned with the history of all of Western Civilization: a history driven by gender politics, wherein women's voices have been erased from the collective memory almost as completely as her Nazis wiped out the history of previous Empires.
Budekin (who tellingly wrote under the name Murray Constantine) achieves much in her story: her argument is compelling, occasionally prophetic and often disturbing. Sadly, despite the profundity of Budekin's message, Swastika Night doesn't hold up aesthetically.
It is a book packed full of explication. Budekin rarely shows us what is happening; she tells us through an interminable series of discussions between her major characters. Because of this, Swastika Night lacks immediacy. And immediacy would have catapulted Swastika Night into the status of other dystopian classics, like Orwell's 1984.
As it stands, however, Swastika Night is an excellent, though artistically flawed, vision of our male driven world. It is absolutely worth a read, but don't expect to be entertained by the experience.
October 15, 2015
Genel olarak kötü diyemem. Ama bir disütopyadan sanırım benim beklentim biraz fazla oluyor; türü seven biri olarak.
Kitap genelde karşılıklı dialoglar halinde devam ediyor, pek olay yok. Son bölümde biraz hareketleniyor o da 5-10 sayfa. Açıkçası teorik diologların bu kadar yoğun olması biraz yazarın düşüncelerini dayatması gibi geldi. Yine de yazıldığı döneme hürmet, emeğe saygı ve türü sevenler için okunulası diyebilirim.
Bir de feminist disütopya olarak değerlendirilmesi var kitabın; bu konuda çok tatmin edici olduğunu söyleyemiycem; tabi kendi adıma.
Kitap genelde karşılıklı dialoglar halinde devam ediyor, pek olay yok. Son bölümde biraz hareketleniyor o da 5-10 sayfa. Açıkçası teorik diologların bu kadar yoğun olması biraz yazarın düşüncelerini dayatması gibi geldi. Yine de yazıldığı döneme hürmet, emeğe saygı ve türü sevenler için okunulası diyebilirim.
Bir de feminist disütopya olarak değerlendirilmesi var kitabın; bu konuda çok tatmin edici olduğunu söyleyemiycem; tabi kendi adıma.
August 27, 2014
Kitabın yarattığı Dünya, çizdiği insan portreleri, kadın ve erkeğin toplum içindeki statüsü çok iyi işlenmiş. Daphne Patai'nin önsözü ise müthiş! Yalnız, mükemmel seçilmiş konunun, yaratılan karakterlerle ve gelişen olaylarla örgüsü iyi yapılamamış.
Demek istediğim şey, yazarın, yarattığı Dünya'yı gözlerinden anlatmak için seçtiği karakterler (yani, o Dünya'ya biz okuyucular için açtığı pencere), maalesef özenli seçilememiş. Ve ayrıca, kitap 230 sayfada hemen bitiyor :)!
Ona rağmen, betimlenen Dünya çok ürkütücü ve bu yüzden belki de mutlaka okunması gereken kitaplar arasına giriyor. Burdekin'in bu kitabının ilk baskısının 1937'de yapılmış olması ise ayrı bir tat katıyor. Herkese iyi okumalar!
------------
The world that the book creates, the statue of woman&man among the society have been issued very well by the writer. The foreword written by Daphne Patai is also awesome! However; they are not woven together very well with the main fictional characters and events.
I mean; the eyes of the characters through which we have a chance to look through the disutopic world of Burdekin, are not selected properly; also the book has ended within 230 pages and it was not enough :) !
Due to the terrifying world portrayed, the book is really worth reading! It is also important to mention that the first edition of this book was published in 1937.
Demek istediğim şey, yazarın, yarattığı Dünya'yı gözlerinden anlatmak için seçtiği karakterler (yani, o Dünya'ya biz okuyucular için açtığı pencere), maalesef özenli seçilememiş. Ve ayrıca, kitap 230 sayfada hemen bitiyor :)!
Ona rağmen, betimlenen Dünya çok ürkütücü ve bu yüzden belki de mutlaka okunması gereken kitaplar arasına giriyor. Burdekin'in bu kitabının ilk baskısının 1937'de yapılmış olması ise ayrı bir tat katıyor. Herkese iyi okumalar!
------------
The world that the book creates, the statue of woman&man among the society have been issued very well by the writer. The foreword written by Daphne Patai is also awesome! However; they are not woven together very well with the main fictional characters and events.
I mean; the eyes of the characters through which we have a chance to look through the disutopic world of Burdekin, are not selected properly; also the book has ended within 230 pages and it was not enough :) !
Due to the terrifying world portrayed, the book is really worth reading! It is also important to mention that the first edition of this book was published in 1937.
December 23, 2024
Increíble que un libro publicado en 1937 acertara tanto en describir el nazismo y lo que iban a hacer. No solo lo obvio, el autoritarismo y la violencia, sino el expansionismo (esta novela ya se olía la guerra), la misoginia o el antisemitismo hasta sus últimas consecuencias. Es aterrador cómo predijo algunas cosas, cómo supo radiografiar una ideología basada en la hipermasculinidad que necesita mentir sobre el pasado para justificar su propia existencia. Puntos extra por considerar a un von Hess "excéntrico" 5 años antes de que Rudolph Hess hiciera lo que hizo, volando a Inglaterra. Cómo pudo adivinar esto me fascina. Lo único que no pudo prever es que un imperio nazi no podría sobrevivir 700 años, porque los nazis son especialmente inútiles. Por eso necesitan ejercer la violencia constantemente. Son unos mediocres que nunca conseguirán construir nada digno.
Pero en serio que lo de Katharine Burdekin viendo venir cosas está a la altura de Octavia Butler y da un miedo tremendo.
Pero en serio que lo de Katharine Burdekin viendo venir cosas está a la altura de Octavia Butler y da un miedo tremendo.
March 19, 2025
Burdekin’s Swastika Night, published in 1937 under the pseudonym Murray Constantine, envisions a future after Hitler’s triumph, where fascism has entrenched itself as a global, eternal order. The book’s exploration of a society founded on the total subjugation of women is as disturbing as it is innovative, with lines like, "A woman is a domestic animal, and if she’s not domestic, she’s a wild animal," exposing the brutal logic of patriarchal control.
Burdekin, a British writer deeply engaged with questions of gender and power, constructs a world where history has been obliterated and rewritten to sustain male supremacy, as in the depiction of a public flogging of a woman for the crime of literacy.
The plot centers on Alfred, an Englishman journeying through Nazi-dominated Europe, and von Hess, a German aristocrat who secretly preserves a manuscript revealing the truth about Hitler’s ascent. Their exchanges peel back the layers of fascist mythology, as von Hess admits, "The past is a lie, but the future is a prison."
When von Hess unveils a hidden portrait of Hitler, depicting him as short and dark-haired, a direct contradiction to the Aryan idol propagated by the regime things spin out of 'logic.'
The stakes escalate as von Hess entrusts Alfred with the Hitler manuscript, a perilous act that could spell doom for both men. Burdekin’s dialogue laced with biting irony, as when von Hess remarks, "Truth is the only thing no man can invent."
The ritual degradation of women, forced to kneel and plead for the "honor" of bearing children reminded me of Atwood. The similarities to Orwell’s 1984 are undeniable, particularly in their shared focus on the distortion of history and the psychological devastation wrought by totalitarianism. Yet Swastika Night stands apart with its feminist critique, presenting misogyny as the bedrock of fascist ideology.
Burdekin’s foresight about Hitler’s rise and the global spread of fascism is unnervingly accurate, making the novel’s relative obscurity all the more perplexing. Its early publication, female authorship, or unflinching focus on gender may have contributed to its marginalization within the dystopian canon.
This is a book for readers who value speculative fiction that defies conventions, who seek to understand the roots of oppression, and who are unafraid to grapple with uncomfortable truths. Burdekin’s work serves as a stark warning about the perils of complacency, a message that remains as urgent today as it was in 1937.
Burdekin, a British writer deeply engaged with questions of gender and power, constructs a world where history has been obliterated and rewritten to sustain male supremacy, as in the depiction of a public flogging of a woman for the crime of literacy.
The plot centers on Alfred, an Englishman journeying through Nazi-dominated Europe, and von Hess, a German aristocrat who secretly preserves a manuscript revealing the truth about Hitler’s ascent. Their exchanges peel back the layers of fascist mythology, as von Hess admits, "The past is a lie, but the future is a prison."
When von Hess unveils a hidden portrait of Hitler, depicting him as short and dark-haired, a direct contradiction to the Aryan idol propagated by the regime things spin out of 'logic.'
The stakes escalate as von Hess entrusts Alfred with the Hitler manuscript, a perilous act that could spell doom for both men. Burdekin’s dialogue laced with biting irony, as when von Hess remarks, "Truth is the only thing no man can invent."
The ritual degradation of women, forced to kneel and plead for the "honor" of bearing children reminded me of Atwood. The similarities to Orwell’s 1984 are undeniable, particularly in their shared focus on the distortion of history and the psychological devastation wrought by totalitarianism. Yet Swastika Night stands apart with its feminist critique, presenting misogyny as the bedrock of fascist ideology.
Burdekin’s foresight about Hitler’s rise and the global spread of fascism is unnervingly accurate, making the novel’s relative obscurity all the more perplexing. Its early publication, female authorship, or unflinching focus on gender may have contributed to its marginalization within the dystopian canon.
This is a book for readers who value speculative fiction that defies conventions, who seek to understand the roots of oppression, and who are unafraid to grapple with uncomfortable truths. Burdekin’s work serves as a stark warning about the perils of complacency, a message that remains as urgent today as it was in 1937.
September 3, 2024
1984's feminist younger sister. A decent, if slightly flawed dystopian nightmare, using an interesting and fierce 'what if the Nazis win?' set of social, political, and religious ideas in a masculine world where women are basically treated like cattle. It won't live long in the memory like Orwell's classic, but as an early work of alternative history, where, centuries from now, Hitler is a god, it's certainly original, and most likely the world's first misogyny themed sci-fi.
April 26, 2023
Απίστευτο ότι ένα τέτοιο μυθιστόρημα γράφτηκε το 1936 και μάλιστα ήταν ξεχασμένο για 50 χρόνια! Τρέξτε να το διαβάσετε!
4,5 αστέρια!!!
4,5 αστέρια!!!
October 30, 2020
3.5'ten 4.
Kitabin derdini nihayet anlatip cozum sunmaya en cok yaklastigi kisim Edith'in dogusu ve Alfred'in onunla ne yapacagina karar verme aniydi. Alfred insanlarin kurtulusunun kadina tekrar deger vermekle gelecegine ikna olur gibiydi, neredeyse kizini sevmeye karar verecekti. Ama bu kisimdan sonra Edith bir anda sahneden cikti; diyaloglar yoluyla bir miktar daha kuramsal fikir ortaya atildi ve 'insanoglunun bu fasizmden kurtulusu su anda ezilen Hristiyan kesimi sayesinde olacak' gibi bir dusunceyle kitaba sozde umutlu bir final yapildi. Kitaptaki feminizm odagi bir anda kaydi. 'Kadin ozgurlesmeli' mesaji siliklesip 'toplum ozgurlesmeli' mesajina evrildi. Ataerkil duzenin en uc noktaya ulastigi bu 700 yillik Nazi imparatorlugunda kadinin indirgendigi halden cikarilmasi umudu, bir bakima, yine kadini ikinci plana atan Hristiyan toplulugun ellerine birakilmis oldu. Kitap feminist bakis acisiyla okundugunda, pesimist bir finali oldugu, umut olmadigi soylenebilir.
Final haricinde; yazarin kadina layik gorulen ikinci sinif muamele hakkinda soyleyecek bir cift sozu olmasi, bunu bir distopya araciligiyla aktarmasi degerli. Annenin Edith'i emzirme sahnesini hatirlayalim; yazar bu ornekle kadina yonelik siddetin kokeninde kadina karsi hissedilen acizlik ve zayiflik oldugunu iddia etmis. Erkegin bunu ortbas etmek icin gidebilecegi son noktayi da fasist bir imparatorluk olarak tasvir etmis. 'Erkeklik dusuncesi' oncelikle kadin erkek esitsizligi olarak ele alinmis, sonra bu dusunce daha da ileri goturulerek dunya tarihine uyarlanmis ve dunyadaki diger daha zayif toplumlarin da bu dusunceyle sindirilmesi tasvir edilmis. Iktidar fikri kapsamli sekilde hayal edilmis. Kitabin kapsamini, ulastigi noktalari, anlatmaya calistigi seyleri genel olarak sevdim. Odak ile ilgili mesele olmasaydi daha cok icime sinerdi.
Kitabin derdini nihayet anlatip cozum sunmaya en cok yaklastigi kisim Edith'in dogusu ve Alfred'in onunla ne yapacagina karar verme aniydi. Alfred insanlarin kurtulusunun kadina tekrar deger vermekle gelecegine ikna olur gibiydi, neredeyse kizini sevmeye karar verecekti. Ama bu kisimdan sonra Edith bir anda sahneden cikti; diyaloglar yoluyla bir miktar daha kuramsal fikir ortaya atildi ve 'insanoglunun bu fasizmden kurtulusu su anda ezilen Hristiyan kesimi sayesinde olacak' gibi bir dusunceyle kitaba sozde umutlu bir final yapildi. Kitaptaki feminizm odagi bir anda kaydi. 'Kadin ozgurlesmeli' mesaji siliklesip 'toplum ozgurlesmeli' mesajina evrildi. Ataerkil duzenin en uc noktaya ulastigi bu 700 yillik Nazi imparatorlugunda kadinin indirgendigi halden cikarilmasi umudu, bir bakima, yine kadini ikinci plana atan Hristiyan toplulugun ellerine birakilmis oldu. Kitap feminist bakis acisiyla okundugunda, pesimist bir finali oldugu, umut olmadigi soylenebilir.
Final haricinde; yazarin kadina layik gorulen ikinci sinif muamele hakkinda soyleyecek bir cift sozu olmasi, bunu bir distopya araciligiyla aktarmasi degerli. Annenin Edith'i emzirme sahnesini hatirlayalim; yazar bu ornekle kadina yonelik siddetin kokeninde kadina karsi hissedilen acizlik ve zayiflik oldugunu iddia etmis. Erkegin bunu ortbas etmek icin gidebilecegi son noktayi da fasist bir imparatorluk olarak tasvir etmis. 'Erkeklik dusuncesi' oncelikle kadin erkek esitsizligi olarak ele alinmis, sonra bu dusunce daha da ileri goturulerek dunya tarihine uyarlanmis ve dunyadaki diger daha zayif toplumlarin da bu dusunceyle sindirilmesi tasvir edilmis. Iktidar fikri kapsamli sekilde hayal edilmis. Kitabin kapsamini, ulastigi noktalari, anlatmaya calistigi seyleri genel olarak sevdim. Odak ile ilgili mesele olmasaydi daha cok icime sinerdi.
December 18, 2022
This frightening counterfactual novel of a Europe dominated by Nazi Germany is exciting and most unusual in three ways: First, it was published in 1937, two years BEFORE the events described nearly came to be. Most "the Nazis won the war" novels are the product of the post-1945 world; second, the author (and women who deal in Nazi counterfactuals were rarer then than they are now) imagines a Nazi Europe centered on homoeroticism. Let's call it Sparta with panzers and Stukas; lastly, this novel prefigures THE HANDMAID'S TALE in conjuring up a world where women are breeders but not sex objects. In fact, hetero sex is forbidden except to breed a new generation of soldiers. The theme of fascism=homosexuality has been explored by a genius, Alberto Moravia in THE CONFORMIST. Here it is used mostly for shock value: "Stop the Nazis or all men will turn gay!" Still, Burdekin had the courage to warn her compatriots that Hitler was an existential threat, not an opponent, and if he won the war she prophesized the world would be turned upside down.
July 30, 2019
Konusu itibariyle büyük bir merakla başladım, aslında çok da iyi başlamıştı; ancak bitirdiğimde bir şeylerin yarım kaldığını hissettim. Yazar sanki fazlasıyla kısa kesmiş gibi bir his oluştu içimde kitabı bitirdiğimde. Merak uyandırıcı bir distopyanın daha fazla karakterler anlatılmasını isterdim sanırım. Özellikle temeline "kadın"ı oturtan bir distopyada kadın karakterlere neredeyse hiç yer verilmemesini garipsedim. O dünyayı kadınların gözünden de okuyabilmeyi isterdim. Yine de Burdekin'in diğer romanını da kısa zamanda okumayı istiyorum.
January 23, 2020
Δεν είμαι κριτικός αλλά :p
https://pepperlines.blogspot.com/2020...
Υ.Γ. 4,5*
https://pepperlines.blogspot.com/2020...
Υ.Γ. 4,5*
August 13, 2012
Along with Brave New World and We, Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night is often hailed a precursor to Orwell's earth-shattering work of dystopian fiction, 1984. While 1984 is probably a better story (for story's sake, with deeper, more well-rounded characters), it has one weakness; it is largely a justification of the idea that a society so twisted when compared with our own might survive. Burdekin's Swastika Night is not so much about the survival of a sick society (as arguments can be made that all societies are sick and to feel the need to justify the survival of one over the other reveals the author's inability to unroot himself from the society in which he lives for the purpose of writing the book) as about the death of a sick society, and not due to heroism or any other external force but due to the weight of its own internal lunacy. We'd do well to have so probing an exploration of the lunacy of our own society.
But then, Swastika Night is, in its own way, a probing look into our own society as well. Its criticism of the treatment of women goes beyond the beyond-deplorable condition women find themselves in during Burdekin's narrative (which takes place seven hundred years into a world where the Nazis control half the globe and women have been relegated literally to the status of animals, kept shaved and degraded in breeding pens with no right to anything, especially no right to refuse any man copulation should he demand it of her) to theorize that women themselves were subverted long before these conditions were enacted, subverted by male dominated society which always determined the shape and character women should espouse.
In a particularly excellent section, an Englishmen, who has rejected the Nazi notion that due to his not being German he is inherently inferior to all Germans (a lie which is observably untrue throughout the novel), has come to the conclusion that for a person to truly be himself he must consider himself superior to those around him. The greater social issue facing their society - that women are no longer producing female children - he theorizes is due to a breaking of the female spirit, and that only if women learn to love themselves and consider themselves superior can a society with sustainability be achieved. So, in essence, he has rationalized feminine superiority which, given the backdrop in which he does so, makes the idea all the more incredible.
Readers should be warned, Swastika Night lacks two things: subtlety and strong narrative. The majority of the book is conducted through one-on-one conversations between characters, relating ideas and histories. There isn't much that happens in an active sense. On the note of subtlety, pretty much every page is dripping with the Nazi indoctrination of Burdekin's future society, to the point where at times it is almost difficult to remember that one is reading a satire. While the constant Hitler-worship and blunt rejection by the majority of characters of the idea that women may be in any way human lacks any kind of subtlety at all, there is a certain subtlety to watching the characters who reject this society's conscious precepts attempt to overcome the unconscious prejudices which it has instilled (one character even remarks on the difference between cultural conscious versus cultural subconscious directly, a truly progressive thing to discuss in 1937).
Anyone who is interested in dystopian fiction should have a look at Swastika Night. Although it is touted a precursor to Orwell's 1984 (as I even brought up above), to call it such and leave it there is a real crime. The irony of a woman's gender-based exploration of dystopianism being considered a precursor but a work of less esteem than a man's relatively gender-neutral exploration of the same would probably not have been lost on Burdekin, who published the novel under an assumed name to prevent people from knowing it was written by a woman in the first place. All that aside, to the serious dystopian-interested intellectual, Swastika Night more than stands on its own and is an indispensable experience.
Dystopia fans aside, I would also recommend Swastika Night to anyone interested in gender studies. I'd urge caution to anyone expecting a more action-oriented experience; a bad, if not inaccurate, description of the book may detail it as a narrative of the passing of the means of dissent from one generation to the next in a Nazi-dominated future history, which sounds more like action-sci-fi than the novel really is. I still wouldn't warn people away from the novel, as it is full of fodder for consideration, but I would urge people to be aware of what they're getting into when picking it up.
But then, Swastika Night is, in its own way, a probing look into our own society as well. Its criticism of the treatment of women goes beyond the beyond-deplorable condition women find themselves in during Burdekin's narrative (which takes place seven hundred years into a world where the Nazis control half the globe and women have been relegated literally to the status of animals, kept shaved and degraded in breeding pens with no right to anything, especially no right to refuse any man copulation should he demand it of her) to theorize that women themselves were subverted long before these conditions were enacted, subverted by male dominated society which always determined the shape and character women should espouse.
In a particularly excellent section, an Englishmen, who has rejected the Nazi notion that due to his not being German he is inherently inferior to all Germans (a lie which is observably untrue throughout the novel), has come to the conclusion that for a person to truly be himself he must consider himself superior to those around him. The greater social issue facing their society - that women are no longer producing female children - he theorizes is due to a breaking of the female spirit, and that only if women learn to love themselves and consider themselves superior can a society with sustainability be achieved. So, in essence, he has rationalized feminine superiority which, given the backdrop in which he does so, makes the idea all the more incredible.
Readers should be warned, Swastika Night lacks two things: subtlety and strong narrative. The majority of the book is conducted through one-on-one conversations between characters, relating ideas and histories. There isn't much that happens in an active sense. On the note of subtlety, pretty much every page is dripping with the Nazi indoctrination of Burdekin's future society, to the point where at times it is almost difficult to remember that one is reading a satire. While the constant Hitler-worship and blunt rejection by the majority of characters of the idea that women may be in any way human lacks any kind of subtlety at all, there is a certain subtlety to watching the characters who reject this society's conscious precepts attempt to overcome the unconscious prejudices which it has instilled (one character even remarks on the difference between cultural conscious versus cultural subconscious directly, a truly progressive thing to discuss in 1937).
Anyone who is interested in dystopian fiction should have a look at Swastika Night. Although it is touted a precursor to Orwell's 1984 (as I even brought up above), to call it such and leave it there is a real crime. The irony of a woman's gender-based exploration of dystopianism being considered a precursor but a work of less esteem than a man's relatively gender-neutral exploration of the same would probably not have been lost on Burdekin, who published the novel under an assumed name to prevent people from knowing it was written by a woman in the first place. All that aside, to the serious dystopian-interested intellectual, Swastika Night more than stands on its own and is an indispensable experience.
Dystopia fans aside, I would also recommend Swastika Night to anyone interested in gender studies. I'd urge caution to anyone expecting a more action-oriented experience; a bad, if not inaccurate, description of the book may detail it as a narrative of the passing of the means of dissent from one generation to the next in a Nazi-dominated future history, which sounds more like action-sci-fi than the novel really is. I still wouldn't warn people away from the novel, as it is full of fodder for consideration, but I would urge people to be aware of what they're getting into when picking it up.
March 5, 2015
"1984", "Cesur Yeni Dünya" gibi büyük distopya eserleriyle birlikte anılan, yazarı Katharine Burdekin'in 1937'de Hitler henüz yaşarken yazdığı eseri Swastika Geceleri geçen yıl çıktığı andan beri merak ettiğim bir eserdi. Sonunda okuma fırsatı buldum ve oldukça beğendim.
Kitap, Hitler'in dünyayı ele geçirmesinden 700 yıl sonrasında geçiyor. Hikaye iki eski dost olan Hermann ve Alfred'in Almanya'da karşılaşmasıyla başlıyor. Hermann, inancına bağlı bir nazi. Alfred ise Hitler dinine inanmayı çoktan bırakmış, şüpheci ve "gerçek" tarihe meraklı bir ingiliz. Birbirleriyle eski bir görev de tanışmış iki karakterimiz aralarında ki hiyerarşiye rağmen dostlukları bozulmamış. Hermann ve Alfred'in karşılaşması ile birlikte Burdekin'in kurguladığı dünyayı yavaş yavaş şekillendirmeye başlıyoruz.
Naziler'in zaferinden sonra dünya ikiye bölünmüştür. Nazi imparatorluğu ve Japon imparatorluğu(Bunun hakkında pek bilgi sahibi olamıyoruz). Nazi imparatorluğunda Hitler artık bir tanrı pozisyonundadır. Gök gürültüsü tanrısı olan babasının kafasından infilak ederek oluştuğuna inanılmaktadır. Böylece o kadınlarla girilen pis ilişkilerle lekelenmemiştir. Çünkü, Burdekin'in dünyasında kadınlar birer "hayvan" olarak resmediliyor. Bilgisizdirler, düşünemezler, hiçbir konuda söz sahibi olamaz ve hiç bir vatandaşlık hakkına sahip değillerdir. Üreme dışında. Evet, kadınlar sadece üremek ve "erkek" çocuklar doğurmak için vardırlar. Kadınlara tecavüz de suç değildir.
Kitabın kahramanı ve seçilmiş kişisi sayılabilecek Alfred'in bir alman şövalyesi ile karşılaşması ve düşünceleriyle onu etkilemesinin ardından karşılıklı günler sürecek anlatılara başlıyoruz(roman çoğunlukla diyalog şeklinde ilerliyor.) Şövalye, Alfred'e babası Von Hess'in sahip olduğu eski bir kitap ve Hitler'in kanlı canlı resminin olduğu bir fotoğrafı (yanında bir kız ile çekilmiş) gösterir ve günlerce nazi imparatorluğu öncesi "eski tarihi" ve dünyanın şu an ki inanç ve özgürlük değerlerini tartışırlar. Kitap ve fotoğraf, Hitler'in aslında tanrı falan olmadığının ve kadınların eskiden erkeklere yakın eşitlikte bir hayat sürdürdüklerinin kanıtıdır…
Burdekin'in kurguladığı dünyaya benzer bir geleceğimizin olabileceği düşüncesi bile insanın içini ürpertmeye yetiyor. Kitabı okurken ister istemez günümüz Türkiye’siyle karşılaştırma yapıyorsunuz. Ülkemiz de şu an ki kadınlara ve farklı inançlara bakış açısının 700 yıl sonrasını hayal ettiğimizde Burdekin’in distopyasından aşağı kalır yanının olmayabileceği aklınıza geliyor ve ürperiyorsunuz.
Romanın, Hitlerin iktidara gelişinden sadece iki yıl sonra yazılmış olması ise yazarın öngörüsüne hayran bırakıyor insanı. Ayrıca, feminist bir distopya olarak geçen bir kitapta kadın sorununun tartışılmasının erkekler tarafından yapılması ise gerçekten çok ilginç. Kitapta kadın karakter olmadığı gibi kadınların bakış açısıyla tasvir edilen dünyayı görme şansını da elde edemiyoruz. Burdekin’in kurduğu şu cümleler ise sanki kadınların yenilgisini baştan kabulleniyor; “Başka bir hayata imrenerek, özlemle bakıyorsanız, kendinizi kaybetmişsiniz demektir. Çünkü her şeyden üstün olduğunu bilmeyen hiçbir şey kendi olamaz. Kadınlar kendilerini asla üstün görmediler. Sadece eşitlik istediler; makul, küçük şeyler...”. Kitap her ne kadar karanlık bir dünya sunsa da Alfred gibi kadınların indirgenmesini sorgulayan ve bu durumun değişebileceğine inanan insanların hala var olabileceğini göstererek de bir “umut” taşıyor aynı zamanda.
Kitabın anlatım dili açısından biraz zorlayıcı olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Çoğu bölümü diyalog şeklinde yazılmış olmasına rağmen çok akıcı değil. Bazı şeyleri tekrar tekrar okuyormuş hissine kapılıyorsunuz. Kurgulanan dünyayı anlatmak için yaratılan karakterler ise çok iyi işlenememiş bence. Ama yine de eser çok etkileyici. Rahatsız edici ve düşündürücü distopyaları okumayı seven herkese öneririm.
Bu arada Daphne Patai’ın esere yazdığı önsöz muhteşem. Sizi kitaba hazırladığı gibi yazar ve kitabın yazıldığı dönem hakkında müthiş bilgiler içeriyor. Kitap kadar başarılı bir giriş kısmına imza atılmış.
Kitap, Hitler'in dünyayı ele geçirmesinden 700 yıl sonrasında geçiyor. Hikaye iki eski dost olan Hermann ve Alfred'in Almanya'da karşılaşmasıyla başlıyor. Hermann, inancına bağlı bir nazi. Alfred ise Hitler dinine inanmayı çoktan bırakmış, şüpheci ve "gerçek" tarihe meraklı bir ingiliz. Birbirleriyle eski bir görev de tanışmış iki karakterimiz aralarında ki hiyerarşiye rağmen dostlukları bozulmamış. Hermann ve Alfred'in karşılaşması ile birlikte Burdekin'in kurguladığı dünyayı yavaş yavaş şekillendirmeye başlıyoruz.
Naziler'in zaferinden sonra dünya ikiye bölünmüştür. Nazi imparatorluğu ve Japon imparatorluğu(Bunun hakkında pek bilgi sahibi olamıyoruz). Nazi imparatorluğunda Hitler artık bir tanrı pozisyonundadır. Gök gürültüsü tanrısı olan babasının kafasından infilak ederek oluştuğuna inanılmaktadır. Böylece o kadınlarla girilen pis ilişkilerle lekelenmemiştir. Çünkü, Burdekin'in dünyasında kadınlar birer "hayvan" olarak resmediliyor. Bilgisizdirler, düşünemezler, hiçbir konuda söz sahibi olamaz ve hiç bir vatandaşlık hakkına sahip değillerdir. Üreme dışında. Evet, kadınlar sadece üremek ve "erkek" çocuklar doğurmak için vardırlar. Kadınlara tecavüz de suç değildir.
Kitabın kahramanı ve seçilmiş kişisi sayılabilecek Alfred'in bir alman şövalyesi ile karşılaşması ve düşünceleriyle onu etkilemesinin ardından karşılıklı günler sürecek anlatılara başlıyoruz(roman çoğunlukla diyalog şeklinde ilerliyor.) Şövalye, Alfred'e babası Von Hess'in sahip olduğu eski bir kitap ve Hitler'in kanlı canlı resminin olduğu bir fotoğrafı (yanında bir kız ile çekilmiş) gösterir ve günlerce nazi imparatorluğu öncesi "eski tarihi" ve dünyanın şu an ki inanç ve özgürlük değerlerini tartışırlar. Kitap ve fotoğraf, Hitler'in aslında tanrı falan olmadığının ve kadınların eskiden erkeklere yakın eşitlikte bir hayat sürdürdüklerinin kanıtıdır…
Burdekin'in kurguladığı dünyaya benzer bir geleceğimizin olabileceği düşüncesi bile insanın içini ürpertmeye yetiyor. Kitabı okurken ister istemez günümüz Türkiye’siyle karşılaştırma yapıyorsunuz. Ülkemiz de şu an ki kadınlara ve farklı inançlara bakış açısının 700 yıl sonrasını hayal ettiğimizde Burdekin’in distopyasından aşağı kalır yanının olmayabileceği aklınıza geliyor ve ürperiyorsunuz.
Romanın, Hitlerin iktidara gelişinden sadece iki yıl sonra yazılmış olması ise yazarın öngörüsüne hayran bırakıyor insanı. Ayrıca, feminist bir distopya olarak geçen bir kitapta kadın sorununun tartışılmasının erkekler tarafından yapılması ise gerçekten çok ilginç. Kitapta kadın karakter olmadığı gibi kadınların bakış açısıyla tasvir edilen dünyayı görme şansını da elde edemiyoruz. Burdekin’in kurduğu şu cümleler ise sanki kadınların yenilgisini baştan kabulleniyor; “Başka bir hayata imrenerek, özlemle bakıyorsanız, kendinizi kaybetmişsiniz demektir. Çünkü her şeyden üstün olduğunu bilmeyen hiçbir şey kendi olamaz. Kadınlar kendilerini asla üstün görmediler. Sadece eşitlik istediler; makul, küçük şeyler...”. Kitap her ne kadar karanlık bir dünya sunsa da Alfred gibi kadınların indirgenmesini sorgulayan ve bu durumun değişebileceğine inanan insanların hala var olabileceğini göstererek de bir “umut” taşıyor aynı zamanda.
Kitabın anlatım dili açısından biraz zorlayıcı olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Çoğu bölümü diyalog şeklinde yazılmış olmasına rağmen çok akıcı değil. Bazı şeyleri tekrar tekrar okuyormuş hissine kapılıyorsunuz. Kurgulanan dünyayı anlatmak için yaratılan karakterler ise çok iyi işlenememiş bence. Ama yine de eser çok etkileyici. Rahatsız edici ve düşündürücü distopyaları okumayı seven herkese öneririm.
Bu arada Daphne Patai’ın esere yazdığı önsöz muhteşem. Sizi kitaba hazırladığı gibi yazar ve kitabın yazıldığı dönem hakkında müthiş bilgiler içeriyor. Kitap kadar başarılı bir giriş kısmına imza atılmış.
November 13, 2017
Rated 4.5/5 stars
I'm honestly a little bit blown away by this book. It's the first "if hitler won the war" dystopia, and yet reads like something that could very well be published (and extremely popular) now. Just the way the world is imagined brings about so many discussions of racism, sexism/feminism, religion, you name it.
Now I will say that some of the discussions did seem to go on for a little too long, and the majority of the book seemed to be going through the "big reveal" stage of the plot. But since that's my favourite part of any book - finding out all the secrets and whatnot (especially since this one concerns a made up aleternate history) - I loved it! Maybe it would have been nicer to see a little more of the aftermath, but also I kind of like how it ended. It just seemed right.
As a book I'd never even heard of before, I can safely say this one has taken me by surprise!
TW: Extreme sexism & racism, rape, mentions of suicide
I'm honestly a little bit blown away by this book. It's the first "if hitler won the war" dystopia, and yet reads like something that could very well be published (and extremely popular) now. Just the way the world is imagined brings about so many discussions of racism, sexism/feminism, religion, you name it.
Now I will say that some of the discussions did seem to go on for a little too long, and the majority of the book seemed to be going through the "big reveal" stage of the plot. But since that's my favourite part of any book - finding out all the secrets and whatnot (especially since this one concerns a made up aleternate history) - I loved it! Maybe it would have been nicer to see a little more of the aftermath, but also I kind of like how it ended. It just seemed right.
As a book I'd never even heard of before, I can safely say this one has taken me by surprise!
TW: Extreme sexism & racism, rape, mentions of suicide
August 11, 2021
Ich hasse das Cover zu diesem Buch. Das ist das einzige Buch in meinem Regal, dessen Cover ich früher oder später einfach mit einem anderen überkleben werde. Wann auch immer ich während dem Schreiben meiner Bachelorarbeit Besuch hatte, habe ich dieses Buch möglichst unter anderen versteckt. Dieses Cover ist einfach schrecklich und ich hoffe sehr, dass niemand auf falsche Gedanken kommt, nur weil ich dieses Buch hier rezensiere. Die Autorin ist nämlich kein Nazi und findet diese Ideologie wohl genauso schrecklich wie jeder normale Mensch, wenn nicht sogar noch schrecklicher. Dieses Buch erschien erstmals in der zweiten Hälfte der 1930er. Merkt euch das, denn das macht diesen Roman eindrucksvoller, als er eh schon ist.
In diesem Buch haben die Nazis ihr Ziel erreicht und einen großen Teil der Welt erobert. Und diese Welt ist noch schlimmer, als ihr euch das vielleicht jetzt vorstellt. Der Nationalsozialismus hat sich hier zu einer verdammten Religion entwickelt! Hier wird das große Arschloch mit H. angebetet, er ist hier ein blonder, muskulöser Halbgott, der bereits mit zehn Jahren Kriege gewonnen hat. Es gibt eine eigene Bibel dafür, Gottesdienste, Sünden,... Besonders beschäftigt sich Burdekin mit dem Männlichkeitskult der Nazis, den sie hier darstellt. In dieser Welt dreht sich alles um Männer. Frauen spielen nur eine untergeordnete Rolle, sie leben eingepfercht in Ghettos und haben weniger Rechte als je zuvor in der Geschichte der Menschheit. Sie sind reine Gebärmaschinen. Dass sie Menschen mit Gefühlen sind, das ist hier komplett egal. Solang sie Kinder und vor allem Söhne gebären, sind die Männer zufrieden.
Diese Dystopie wird hauptsächlich aus der Perspektive des homosexuellen Nazis Hermann erzählt und aus der Perspektive des Engländers Alfred. Alfred befindet sich auf Pilgerreise durch Deutschland und steht dem ganzen Kult eher kritisch gegenüber. Da kommt es ihm gerade recht, dass ein sogenannter Knight (das ist eine Mischung aus Priester, Bürgermeister und Richter) auf ihn aufmerksam wird und ihn in seinem Widerstand unterstützt.
Ich legte diesen Roman immer wieder angewidert zur Seite und konnte doch nicht aufhören, ihn zu lesen. Gut, es war eigentlich ja auch keine Option, immerhin schrieb ich da ja meine Arbeit darüber. Aber dieser Text hat mich einfach nicht mehr losgelassen. Ich lag nachts wach und dachte nach. Ich sprach mit meiner Großmutter und mit einigen Freund:innen darüber. Und es lässt mich immer noch nicht los. Burdekin hat hiermit ein unglaubliches Werk geschaffen und ich kann es nicht fassen, dass ihr Text nicht eine viel größere Rolle in der Literaturwissenschaft spielt. Die Frau war ein Genie. Sie sollte viel bekannter sein als sie es im Moment ist!
Mein Fazit? Diesen Text sollte wirklich jede:r gelesen haben.
In diesem Buch haben die Nazis ihr Ziel erreicht und einen großen Teil der Welt erobert. Und diese Welt ist noch schlimmer, als ihr euch das vielleicht jetzt vorstellt. Der Nationalsozialismus hat sich hier zu einer verdammten Religion entwickelt! Hier wird das große Arschloch mit H. angebetet, er ist hier ein blonder, muskulöser Halbgott, der bereits mit zehn Jahren Kriege gewonnen hat. Es gibt eine eigene Bibel dafür, Gottesdienste, Sünden,... Besonders beschäftigt sich Burdekin mit dem Männlichkeitskult der Nazis, den sie hier darstellt. In dieser Welt dreht sich alles um Männer. Frauen spielen nur eine untergeordnete Rolle, sie leben eingepfercht in Ghettos und haben weniger Rechte als je zuvor in der Geschichte der Menschheit. Sie sind reine Gebärmaschinen. Dass sie Menschen mit Gefühlen sind, das ist hier komplett egal. Solang sie Kinder und vor allem Söhne gebären, sind die Männer zufrieden.
Diese Dystopie wird hauptsächlich aus der Perspektive des homosexuellen Nazis Hermann erzählt und aus der Perspektive des Engländers Alfred. Alfred befindet sich auf Pilgerreise durch Deutschland und steht dem ganzen Kult eher kritisch gegenüber. Da kommt es ihm gerade recht, dass ein sogenannter Knight (das ist eine Mischung aus Priester, Bürgermeister und Richter) auf ihn aufmerksam wird und ihn in seinem Widerstand unterstützt.
Ich legte diesen Roman immer wieder angewidert zur Seite und konnte doch nicht aufhören, ihn zu lesen. Gut, es war eigentlich ja auch keine Option, immerhin schrieb ich da ja meine Arbeit darüber. Aber dieser Text hat mich einfach nicht mehr losgelassen. Ich lag nachts wach und dachte nach. Ich sprach mit meiner Großmutter und mit einigen Freund:innen darüber. Und es lässt mich immer noch nicht los. Burdekin hat hiermit ein unglaubliches Werk geschaffen und ich kann es nicht fassen, dass ihr Text nicht eine viel größere Rolle in der Literaturwissenschaft spielt. Die Frau war ein Genie. Sie sollte viel bekannter sein als sie es im Moment ist!
Mein Fazit? Diesen Text sollte wirklich jede:r gelesen haben.
April 8, 2020
Hitler is worshipped as a god and not a single book of history remains to contradict his story...or does it?
This was written in 1937, and is as remarkable a bit of prognostication as I have ever read. It suffers from excessive explaining through dialogue, clunky characters, weird ideas about women being fundamentally different than men (even once you get past the Handmaid's Tale-type elements), and general preachiness. But yowza what it got right, and ouch, how much of it feels relevant today.
Recommended if you like dystopias of a philosophical sort.
This was written in 1937, and is as remarkable a bit of prognostication as I have ever read. It suffers from excessive explaining through dialogue, clunky characters, weird ideas about women being fundamentally different than men (even once you get past the Handmaid's Tale-type elements), and general preachiness. But yowza what it got right, and ouch, how much of it feels relevant today.
Recommended if you like dystopias of a philosophical sort.
September 18, 2023
ไม่สนุก 🥲
แต่เราจะเอาอะไรกับนิยายดิสโทเปีย 1984/เรื่องเล่าหญิงรับใช้/บอด ไรงี้ก็ไม่สนุก นิยายดิสโทเปียที่ดี = ไม่สนุก ดังนั้น สวัสดิกะไนท์จึงเป็นนิยายดิสโทเปียที่ดี แนวคิดที่จะสื่อออกมาคือถ้านาซีชนะแล้วโลกเราจะมีหน้าตาเป็นยังไงต่อไปอีก700ปีถัดมา
เรื่องคือ เวลาเราอ่านดิสโทเปียที่มีการกดทับขนาดหนัก เช่นเรื่องนี้เป็นต้น ชาวคริสต์คือชายขอบ ผู้หญิงเป็นปศุสัตว์ อังกฤษ เมกา คือพวกบ้านนอก มีแค่เยอรมันกับญี่ปุ่นที่จงเจริญ คือ setting โลกมันเหี้ยมากจนแบบ เหี้ยขนาดนี้จะมีการปฏิวัติยังไง ด้วยอะไร และทำไมจึงเกิดการตื่นรู้ทั้งๆ ที่ผ่านมา 700 ปีแล้วก็ยังไม่มีใครทำอะไรได้อยู่ดี ไหนดูสิ จะเล่ายังไง จ้ะ เรื่องที่เล่ามันเลยราบเรียบมาก ไม่มีจุดพีค ไม่มีความตื่นเต้น ทุกสิ่งทุกอย่างคือมวลความไม่พอใจ ความไม่เข้าใจ ความพยายามที่อัดแน่นแค่ในอกแล้วทำอะไรไม่ได้ เพราะกฎหมายและโลกในปัจจุบันมันเกินเยียวยาจะลุกฮือ ก็เข้าใจได้ที่มันออกมาเป็นในลักษณะเส้นตรงแบบนี้ โดยมีความหวังเล็กๆน้อยๆ hint ลงไปในหนังสือช่วงท้ายๆ เป็นสิ่งซึ่งที่ทั้งสร้างความหวังและความทุกข์ให้กับตัวละครหลักในเรื่อง
ก็นับว่าเป็นดิสโทเปียที่ไปสุดโต่ง ไม่สนุกสักนิด แต่ดิสโทเปียที่สนุกก็มีนะอย่าง brave new world แต่โดยปกติแล้วดิสโทเปียก็มักเป็นบทบรรยายยาวยืดเหมือนบทความมากกว่านิยายที่มีตัวละครดำเนินเรื่องเพื่อให้เราเชื่อว่า โลกเหี้ยๆแบบนี้มีแค่ในนิยายก็พอแล้ว และเออ เชื่อจริงจ้า
แต่เราจะเอาอะไรกับนิยายดิสโทเปีย 1984/เรื่องเล่าหญิงรับใช้/บอด ไรงี้ก็ไม่สนุก นิยายดิสโทเปียที่ดี = ไม่สนุก ดังนั้น สวัสดิกะไนท์จึงเป็นนิยายดิสโทเปียที่ดี แนวคิดที่จะสื่อออกมาคือถ้านาซีชนะแล้วโลกเราจะมีหน้าตาเป็นยังไงต่อไปอีก700ปีถัดมา
เรื่องคือ เวลาเราอ่านดิสโทเปียที่มีการกดทับขนาดหนัก เช่นเรื่องนี้เป็นต้น ชาวคริสต์คือชายขอบ ผู้หญิงเป็นปศุสัตว์ อังกฤษ เมกา คือพวกบ้านนอก มีแค่เยอรมันกับญี่ปุ่นที่จงเจริญ คือ setting โลกมันเหี้ยมากจนแบบ เหี้ยขนาดนี้จะมีการปฏิวัติยังไง ด้วยอะไร และทำไมจึงเกิดการตื่นรู้ทั้งๆ ที่ผ่านมา 700 ปีแล้วก็ยังไม่มีใครทำอะไรได้อยู่ดี ไหนดูสิ จะเล่ายังไง จ้ะ เรื่องที่เล่ามันเลยราบเรียบมาก ไม่มีจุดพีค ไม่มีความตื่นเต้น ทุกสิ่งทุกอย่างคือมวลความไม่พอใจ ความไม่เข้าใจ ความพยายามที่อัดแน่นแค่ในอกแล้วทำอะไรไม่ได้ เพราะกฎหมายและโลกในปัจจุบันมันเกินเยียวยาจะลุกฮือ ก็เข้าใจได้ที่มันออกมาเป็นในลักษณะเส้นตรงแบบนี้ โดยมีความหวังเล็กๆน้อยๆ hint ลงไปในหนังสือช่วงท้ายๆ เป็นสิ่งซึ่งที่ทั้งสร้างความหวังและความทุกข์ให้กับตัวละครหลักในเรื่อง
ก็นับว่าเป็นดิสโทเปียที่ไปสุดโต่ง ไม่สนุกสักนิด แต่ดิสโทเปียที่สนุกก็มีนะอย่าง brave new world แต่โดยปกติแล้วดิสโทเปียก็มักเป็นบทบรรยายยาวยืดเหมือนบทความมากกว่านิยายที่มีตัวละครดำเนินเรื่องเพื่อให้เราเชื่อว่า โลกเหี้ยๆแบบนี้มีแค่ในนิยายก็พอแล้ว และเออ เชื่อจริงจ้า
Displaying 1 - 30 of 417 reviews