Anja Jardine

Als der Mond vom Himmel fiel

«Wissen Sie, es ist doch so. Irgendwann steht man vor der Frage, für den Rest des Lebens ganz allein zu bleiben oder wenigstens ein Kind zu haben. Alles andere hat man ja auch hingekriegt...»

In a precise and atmospherically dense prose Anja Jardine recounts eleven stories of people who are waiting for happiness to come their way. The preface quotes singer Björk: „possibly maybe probably love“.
Anja Jardine’s sharp eyes can see both the bleak details and the sublime signals. Such as in the narration „Badnjars Augen“. ENGLISH? Shortly after the end of the war in Bosnia a reporter accompanies the expatriated Bosnian Mevsud back to Sarajevo. His old apartment is still occupied by Serbians but Mevsud wants to visit – above all to see his Serbian neighbour and friend before he has to leave according to the peace treaties. On their way they come across Badnjar, a Bosnian who fancies himself in the role of the triumphant warrior. Yet, the narrator only focuses on his eyes in which she sees begging, pleading. While Badnjar recollects himself quickly, his eyes follow the narrator all the way into her dreams.
Delicately and cautiously Anja Jardine explores her figures who in a clumsy manner are searching for happiness, mostly in vain as it drifts past them like a seductive scent. As unhappy as they might seem, there is a certain amount of secrecy around them that even the narrator can only partially suspect.
(Beat Mazenauer, transl.by Anja Hälg)

(Full version (german) on culturactif.ch)

Translation of title: When the Moon Fell From the Skies

Kein & Aber, Zürich 2008

ISBN: 978-3-0369-5518-6