Isolde Schaad

Keiner wars

«Das politische Dilemma der Linken ist das soziale Dilemma: Wenn man links steht, muss man doch irgendwie gut sein.»

1968 is long gone, the baby-boomer generation has aged, tired and lost a good number of its illusions. While some still hold up some brave old ideal, others appease their consciences by separating their paper from their plastic and not eating meat. Marxism-Leninism often turned out to have been elite training for a comfortable career. Remembering those glorious times and complaining about depraved consumerism offer comfort for days gone by. Isolde Schaad knows this generation first hand. Her stories, which she serves up with relish, confirm such notions and prejudices – without exposing the protagonists to ridicule. In Carola's flatshare even the «notorious goody-goody» Schorsch has internalized ideas about social womanhood. And Madeleine's neurotic episodes, with which she feverishly does battle on the exercise machine, are not just down to nostalgia.
«Keiner wars» takes a keen, witty look at the after-effects of the '68 generation. Isolde Schaad does this with relish, but without malice. Everyone gets what is coming to them. Each generation threatens to lose its vigour when youthful hopes are gobbled up by time. Lucky are those who can confront the sad truth with as much wit as this author.

(Beat Mazenauer, trans. by Andrea Willfratt)

Translation of title: Nobody Did It

Limmatverlag, Zürich 2001

ISBN: 3-85791-367-3