Anniversaries (Masterplots II: World Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Uwe Johnson
- First Published: 1987
- Type of Work: Historical realism
- Time of Work: 1931-1968
- Setting: New York City; Mecklenburg, East Germany; and Richmond, England
- Principal Characters: Gesine Cresspahl, Marie Cresspahl, Heinrich Cresspahl, Lisbeth Cresspahl, Papenbrock, Dietrich Erichson, The New York Times
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism, Historical fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Memory, New York City, 1940’s, Guilt, 1930’s, England or English people, Death or dying, Ethics, Germany or German people
- Locales: New York, NY, Mecklenburg, Germany, Richmond, England
The Novel
Anniversaries: From the Life of Gesine Cresspahl is a multileveled record of the ongoing lives of Gesine Cresspahl and her daughter Marie, counter-pointed by Gesine’s reconstruction of the past. The present encompasses the historically critical, highly eventful year of August 21, 1967, through Au-gust 20, 1968. Verbatim quotations from The New York Times provide a running chronicle that emerges as the nagging liberal voice of yet another character, “Auntie Times.”
In volume 1 (volumes 1 and 2 of the German original), a heavy drama of...
[The entire page is 2101 words long]

