Am I a Redundant Human Being?

by Mela Hartwig, Kerri A Pierce (Translator)

For the first time in English, a contemporary and friend of Virginia Woolf and Stefan Zweig gives us the definitive portrait of a woman lost on the margins of modern life.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, German Literature, Novels, Germany

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Geboren 1893 in Wien, war Mela Hartwig zunächst Schauspielerin (zuletzt am Schillertheater Berlin) und heiratete den jüdischen Rechtsanwalt Robert Spira, mit dem sie nach Graz zog. Nach der Veröffentlichung ihrer ersten Erzählungen (auf Fürsprache von Alfred Döblin) und der beiden Bücher bei Zsolnay (der Novellenband "Ekstasen" 1928 und der Roman "Das Weib ist ein Nichts", 1929) wird nichts mehr von ihr publiziert (außer 1936 in einem Pariser Exilverlag), sie ist als Jüdin und Feministin zu riskant geworden. Sie beginnt zu malen. 1938 emigriert das Ehepaar ? nach der Enteignung durch die Nazis und der Vernichtung von Mela Hartwigs Bildern ? mit kleinem Koffer nach London, wo sie sich mit Virginia Woolf befreundet.
Nach dem Krieg besucht das Ehepaar zweimal die Steiermark, beschließt aber aufgrund der Behandlung, die ihnen zuteil wird, in London zu bleiben, wo Mela Hartwig 1967 stirbt, kurz darauf auch ihr Mann. Bis zu ihrem Tod war es ihr nicht mehr geglückt, abgesehen von ganz kurzen Arbeiten, eines ihrer Werke zu veröffentlichen.

Reviews

[Mauro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book while browsing in the Dalkey Archive section of Dog Eared Books. What an incredible find. Modernism at its best.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

No

[Julie Meunier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite it taking me 2 months to read, I did in fact love this book.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have to ask yourself the question, "Am I a Redundant Human Being?", the answer is "Yes", and please don't waste your time or mine writing 200 some pages of jibber jabber. K, thanks!

[Matthew Martens · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nicely constructed abyss.

[Kate]

Viennese Carrie Bradshaw from Hell. Memoir-haters, take note: the (fictional) narrator obsessively, onanistically (sometimes literally) reviews and analyzes the events of her life, before finally asking the reader whether she is "a completely redundant human being?" and yet raging against "something that was stronger than I was, that could consume and swallow me without a trace" (obscurity?).

[Maggie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

despite being a book about a girl in WW1 Germany, it was painfully relatable

[Lise Dahl Arvedsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Er jeg et overflødigt menneske?
Et godt og eksistentielt spørgsmål. Det ligger i menneskers natur at drømme om at høre til, om at have en plads i verden, om at være noget for nogen.

Bogen, der handler om Aloisia, tager fat om dette spørgsmål gennem demonstreringen af en kvinde med store drømme og lille selvværd. Tonen fra allerførste side er kæk og fremstår selvironisk, men ganske hurtigt kammer den over og bliver til et decideret selvhad.

Protagonisten Aloisia beretter i første person, hvordan hun ingenting kan; hun overraskes ikke, når hun gang på gang fx bliver opsagt fra sit job. Men bag hendes kække og ironisk selvmedlidende tone, er det meningen, at vi skal have omsorg for hende, læseren skal synes, at det er synd for hende.

Undervejs laver fortælleren dog en række fodfejl i hendes beretning, som gør at man mister sympatien for hende. Det hele handler om Aloisia selv, og hendes fortællingen bærer vidende om total mangel på selvrefleksivitet. Dette ses også i selve strukturen af bogen, der ingen kapitler eller afsnit har. Aloisia kører afsted i selvsamme smøre, hendes liv er gået i hak, det er kun tiden der bærer hende frem. Det er fascinerende. Selvom antagonisten ikke kan være protagonisten, så er det alligevel interessant at se, hvordan det i høj grad er protagonisten selv, der modarbejder og stiller sig selv i vejen for de drømme, hun har.

... men også en smule skræmmende. Bogen, som Hartwig skrev i slutningen af 1920'erne, giver anledning til at tænke over, hvor meget af protagonistens egoisme, der er medfødt, og hvor meget der er en mekanisme, der forstærkes, måske endda skabes, af samtiden. Hvordan drømmer man i en tid, hvor der ikke er plads til drømme? Hvordan tænker man stort, når verden attribuerer én ganske lidt plads?

Bogen er velskrevet, og det er altid fascinerende at opleve bøger, hvori plottet fungerer selv 100 år efter pennen blev sat på papiret første gang.

[Jonathan M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Aloisia has no self-confidence, and is disgusted with her mediocrity. She becomes so disgusted with herself that she grovels for the attention and admiration and affection of those she considers extraordinary, or at least more interesting.

The female version of "No Longer Human" by Osamu Dazai. Like Yozo from "No Longer Human," she rants, psychologically rationalizing her insane self-hatred. It's neither endearing nor excruciating, as she admits it is pretzel logic.

In our age of midwits, self-made victims of the Dunning-Kreuger effect, this novel is kind of refreshing. Aloisia is not a model of mental health, but she understands, and depresses us with her limits: "I didn't use my ambition to demand more of myself than I was capable of giving--I simply used it to expect more of myself than I was capable of giving."

[Bryan Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A plangent, haunting short novel of first-person existential angst. Although the emo/ennui perspective is now common (if not the default) in the modern developed world, I imagine that this book could have caused something of a stir when it was originally published in the 1930s (though I suppose it could also have been a common malady in the interwar period in Europe...). I tend to find more contemporary narratives on this theme more accessible (like Sayaka Murata's "Convenience Store Woman", for example), but this was still a fast, jarring read.

[Delaney Halloran · Rating 1 out of 5]

The reasoning as to why I chose to buy this book is still perplexing to me to this day. On the back cover, the narrator describes herself as boring and self-obsessed. My mind assumed that was a sarcastic summation of what would ultimately turn into an interesting story. I was wrong.

Aloisa is a dull narcissist who accomplishes little to nothing due to the fact that she spends all day thinking about how little she has done. Even her fantasies are pretty dry, and it leaves the reader wondering: How did such a boring story ever get published?

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm kind of blown away by this book. It was written in 1931 but felt extremely modern at certain points. Really fluid translation. Absolutely perfect for readers of Ottessa Moshfegh and Halle Butler (I've heard this referred to as "millennial fiction" but this book shows me its more of a timeless mood)

[Celine Lind · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding novel!
The author captures the protagonist with a level of self-awareness that is nothing short of remarkable. The book unfolds as an extended introspective passage, where every experience and interaction is saturated with reflection—on the self, on inadequacy, on the emotional undercurrents that shape a life. I found it deeply relatable and emotionally resonant.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Global Read Challenge 1: Austria.

This is a pretty quick book. What was most striking to me was that even though it was written almost a hundred years ago it felt very modern and with the addition of cell phones could have taken place today.

[Peter Colclasure · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yes. You are.

[ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing to me that this was written in 1931 yet is so so relatable. Scares me..

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

"how was your agonizing confessional story about a neurotic secretary in post-ww1 austria?"
"good, but a little short. and how was youre?"
"good, but, heh, It was a little short."
*they both start laughing*

[Alta]

excellent novel by an unknown Austrian writer.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most vulnerable and masochistic evaluation of simple, ordinary life. I sighed in relief many times, finally knowing I wasn't the only one.

[fleetofhorses · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea is brilliant. It's unusually dark though - might put you in a weird place.