After Midnight - Keun Irmgard

Main characters:

 

We are introduced to the narrator as Susanne. Also known as Sanna.

Her brother : Algin

Algin's wife : Liska

Liska's friend from handicrafts: Gerti

Gerti is in love with : Dieter Aaron (non- Aryan)

Liska is in an affair with: Heini

Sanna is in love with: Franz

Herr Kulmbach

Betty Raff: seems to be friendly with both algin and his wife Liska. (in an affair with Algin)

Franz's mother: Sanna's Aunt, Adelheid

Kurt Pielman: also in love with Gerti

 

Chapter 1

 

The opening of the book we seem to be introduced to a bar of some sort. Where we get to know a little bit about the main characters. Sanna's relationship with each person and how she knows them are presented in her point of view.

 

We are also introduced to a suspense with regard to Franz's letter which apparently had no explanation. We get to know of Aunt Adelheid and her pro-Nazi agendas as well.

 

The love between Gerti and Dieter is deemed to end in a tragedy because he is a non-Aaryan and during these times in the advent of National Socialist(Nazi) ideas. Sanna sees it as a love that is doomed from the start without any future. But the couple in love, tries to live in the moment.

"Perhaps the two of them wouldn’t love each other so much if they were allowed to. However, there’s nothing more idiotic than wondering why people love each other when they are in love."

 

We first encounter the story about the day prior to Liska's party. The day the Fuhrer comes to Frankfurt. We can see the change of the normal atmosphere of the town, and the excitement it causes to the supporters of the Party.

"You get used to feverish celebrations of something or other going on all the time in Germany, so that you often don’t stop to ask what it is this time, why all the fuss and the garlands and the flags?"

We see that Sanna herself is not much interested in politics and that she yearns for a normal life, free from the rules and regulations which is made pretty clear further in the novel.

 

We are then introduced to a little bit of the Silias Family who are devout followers of the Fuhrer.

-The thin gray man who wanted to go to work on time speaking out against the Fuhrer:

“That’s right,” said the thin, grey man, “the Führer gets to have the ideals and we get to carry the can.” and the reaction of the people who participated in the occasion of arrival of the Fuhrer.

 

Kurt Pielmann being in love with Gerti and the need for them to marry - the perspective from Gerti's family.

 

Chapter 2

 

We are back at a bar after the function of the Fuhrer and Gerti and Sanna are accompanied by Herr Kulmbach and Kurt Pielmann. Gerti is still mad about not meeting Dieter so she is a bit outspoken about her non-belief on the political aspects.

 

They go to the ladies room to have some privacy which as Sanna says herself: "But politics is in the air even in the Ladies these days."

 

They find themselves limited in every way. In their choice of people to love in Gerti's case. Sanna thinks to herself that "I suppose the safest thing is not to love anyone at all"

 

We are then caught up upon a plausibly unimportant narrative regarding the Breitwehr family and the Silas family. We get the overall understanding of how untrustworthy each and every person is around during these times from this narrative. It eventually leads up to the death of the Silas daughter.

 

And the death of Berta. After going to the end of the story we can see that it implies the impending doom of both Algin and Heini who are also both writers.

 

And the silver fox fur: For me it seems to resemble the life of Gerti and Dieter. Wanting something they cannot have and in yearning for this they have to give up on something else that means dear to them and value a lot.

 

Chapter 3

 

In this chapter we are transported back to Sanna's time with Aunt Adelheid where she met Franz. We encounter another brutal child death (that of Franz's brother) supposedly carried out by Franz himself(3 years old) when he and the brother was left alone at home.

? Is that a clue of some sort about Franz's character??

Franz is seemingly a depressed soul according to Sanna's first impression. He seems to have no ambition whatsoever and is not capable of a lot of relationships with other people.

 

In addition to that Sanna meats the Assistant Secretary and she seems to be proud of her associations with him as he is a higher official of the party. Franz intervenes at her dinner with the Assistant Secretary and then we are slightly introduced to Paul, Iho is Franz's friend whom we'd learn a lot more in the future as the story moves on.

Franz then somehow joins Sanna in some sort of emotional level than before.

 

Chapter 4

 

Now we encounter one of Sanna's hardships where she is betrayed upon by her aunt over some minor matter, something she said which was so trivial but could be taken as being against the National Socialists. She is summoned to the Gestapo and upon leaving she decides to flee from her aunt's place to Frankfurt. It is now that the readers are given a clue as to what led her to Frankfurt to the present day.

 

We also learn that Sanna does not actually understand the party principles or their teachings and she is in constant fear that someone might know that.

"I said I’d rather not hear him, because I always got the feeling he was telling me off. And that was absolutely all I said on the subject, but even so it was far too much."

"How do I know I’m not one of the sort who are going to be smashed? And the worst of it is that I just don’t understand what’s really going on. I’m only gradually getting the hang of the things you must be careful not to do."

 

The conversation with another lady who buys liquor to her husband to prevent him from going to the bar and getting drunk rightly portrays the situation of that region during the time. "Sanna, I’ll find my old man sitting there grumbling. ‘Elvira,’ he says, ‘this place is no better than a concentration camp.’ ‘Fancy you not noticing that before,’ says I. ‘We’re all in a concentration camp, the whole nation is, it’s only the Government can go running around free.’ ”

 

Chapter 5

 

This chapter entirely circulates the conversation between the Sanna and Heini with the involvement of a couple of others. A lot of politics involved in the narrative and a bit thick and boring to be honest. We are introduced in great depth to Betty Raff as well. She is a particular character in this whole narrative. Someone Sanna thinks is responsible for Liska falling in love with Heini and the fall out between Liska and Algin.

 

Betty Raff seems to be a representation of the Nazi Party. Meddling in affairs and causing all sorts of disruption.

 

"Liska has never got any farther with Heini than the removal of threads. And now she is as if she had broken into a hundred thousand pieces, she is flying in the air like motes of dust. She keeps putting herself together again in a different way, like some intricate mosaic which she thinks might appeal to Heini. "

 

This particularly sums up how Liska tries to impress Heini. She seems to change from one personality to another according to the will of Heini. Heini doesn't seem to notice any of it though.

 

Heini rants on and on about doctors. He seem to have a singular debate about the intentions of doctors. And there is this weird story about the patient with appendicitis. I can't seem to make up my mind about that exactly.

 

Chapter 6

 

Algin joins Sanna and Heini along with the doctor in the bar. Algin is distraught and fed up on life but Heini is not helping him deal with the situation in anyway. He says:

“Apart from all that, though, you’re superfluous now. This dictatorship has made Germany a perfect country, and a perfect country doesn’t need writers. There’s no literature in Paradise. Can’t have writers without imperfection around them, can’t have poets. The purest of lyric poets needs to yearn for perfection. Once you’ve got perfection, poetry stops."

 

"Perfection renders words unnecessary. You write and speak to communicate your thoughts, we write and speak to communicate with each other. Perfect unity among mankind means silence. Every word is war, whether it means strife or peace. As long as there are words in the world there’ll be wars. And when there are no wars left the word will fall victim to eternal peace as well."

 

Chapter 7

 

It's the day of the party. Up until now we have learnt proportionately about various characters and their backgrounds. Dieter who is a non-Aaryan is invited to the party as well and Gerti is using Sanna to lie to Kurt Pielmann to say that she is unwell and cannot come to their date. As he is a SA officer he is not to know of this party because of the people present.

 

Algin is not present. Betty is frightened of that. But Liska his wife is head over heels in love with Heini so does not notice. Heini hasn't even arrived yet. Sanna is indignant that Betty is more concerned that Algin is not there than Liska is.

 

Sanna goes to find Algin and finds him at a bar drinking with Herr Kuppers. Herr Kuppers wants to get away from his son and daughter in law where he is treated minimally just because they get to have his pension and Algin wants to kill himself but gives up on that idea and decides to go with Kuppers. Algin goes back to his house to make the affairs in order and plans to meet Kuppers at midnight to go away for good.

 

Once at home, Sanna meets Franz. He has a horrendous story to tell. And we, the readers are satisfied with the story at last. But before we are allowed on in this story Heini goes into another rant exposing all the people and their actions at the party including the relationship with Gerti and Dieter. He makes hell to the ones present.

 

The rest of the chapter is full of many events that describe the soul of a being who is against nazicism and solves all our queries surrounding Franz as well.