The Heritage

Very few authors have had this effect on me. I first discovered Lenz’ extraordinary work in An Exemplary Life, in the 1970s, borrowed from the local library. I set out to read all I could find of his and managed to chalk up a few (The German Lesson and Heritage) both from the library. All are exceptional and I developed the literary tic (?) of checking the bookshelves for his name whenever I entered a bookstore, but with little success over the years except for The Lightship and (in French) Training Ground. It seems that Siegfried Lenz, an icon of post-War German literature, went out of print in English! So after 25 years of vainly checking shelves, I finally had the idea of seeking him out second-hand and with some success – slow, show more but better late than never!

SS UgandaActually, it’s nice to read a book that passed through others’ hands. My copy of Heritage seems to have started its journey on the passenger ship SS Uganda and I’m sad to see from this Wikipedia entry that this ship went to war in the Falklands, ignoring the lessons it carried in the ship’s library. Because all of Lenz’ oeuvre is about morality, informed probably by his personal experiences of war.

Heritage tells the story of a museum founder in the city of Lucknow (probably Lenz’ home town Lyck on the German-Polish border pre-WWII and now the Polish city of Ełk). The book is entirely narrated from his hospital bed as he recovers from the burns received when he destroyed his museum and tells his story to give context to his action. We are treated to a potted history of Lyck from the earliest times and through two world wars as the territory swung back and forth between rulers including Teutonic Knights, the Prussians, the Russians, the Poles and the Germans. For instance, we learn of the post-WWI elections when the townspeople voted 8339 to 8 to remain German and the total annihilation/dispersion of the populace in 1945. The narrator explores the importance of heritage and homeland but eventually destroys his museum when he sees how such noble sentiments can be appropriated and corrupted.

Don’t be alarmed by the high-flung ideals addressed by the book. As in all his works, they are wrapped in a story by a master of story-telling told at a pace that never wanes and yet captures the human spirit, simultaneously horrible and uplifting. show less

Mam wyjątkowo ambiwalentne odczucia po przeczytaniu tej książki. Z jednej strony czytanie Lenza, jego fraza i mięsista, choć rozwlekła materia jego prozy, potrafi być źródłem wielkiej przyjemności i dać mnóstwo satysfakcji. Z drugiej jednak - w dużej mierze z tych samych powodów - wielokroć miałem ochotę cisnąć książką w najciemniejszy kąt i sięgnąć po coś mniej wymagającego.
W każdym bądź razie ocena jest wypadkową wspominanej ambiwalencji, mikroskopijną sumą rozlicznych zachwytów i bóli, jakie były moim udziałem.

Wonderful saga of several generations, of gathering and letting go, of lost arts, of war and relationships, very gripping and moving. The kind of book one never wants to end.