Memoir of a Postwar Childhood in Europe

Buchpräsentation und Lesung in englischer Sprache Einführung: Jorun Johns

Christine Haidegger’s first novel, Zum Fenster hinaus, has been translated into English and is now available from Ariadne Press (Riverside, CA). This novel, Mama Dear, will be presented tonight by the author in the presence of the translator and Jorun B. Johns, editor at the publishing house.

In Mama Dear, Christine Haidegger paints a picture of the post-war time in Europe. She has Irene, the protagonist, tell her story in her own words. With precise insight into this small girl, the author gives a detailed account of Irene’s growing up. Slowly her language and her insights grow up with her. She observes the end of the war, the arrival of the American soldiers, her mother’s daily fight for survival, the meanness of most villagers against her mother. She is an avid reader and at age ten has the chance to go to an exclusive boarding school on a scholarship. Away from her beloved, peace-loving mother, bent by rules and unexplained orders, surrounded by teachers who will never listen but enforce rules just for rules‘ sake, Irene – always trying to understand the why of injustice and fight against it – is slowly worn down by different pressures. A childhood of the 1940s and 50s is being conjured from the perspective of an overly sensitive little girl.

Following the presentation a glass of sparkling wine will be offered!

Christine Haidegger was born in Dortmund and grew up in upper-Austria. She travelled extensively in Italy, England and France and settled in Salzburg in 1964. She was the founder of the literary group “Projekt-IL” and editor of the magazine of the same name from 1976-81. She started publishing in 1976. She wrote several books and her poems and prose were published in various magazines and anthologies. Recent publications: “Cajuns Cola Cadillac” (prose) and “Weiße Nächte” (poetry). The author has been awarded various prizes for her works. In 1991 she spent a semester as a writer-in-residence at Roanoke College, Virginia.

Büchertisch: Salzburger Autorengruppe