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Im Keller, 1 Cassette

By Reemtsma, Jan Philipp

Product Image: Im Keller, 1 Cassette

Im Keller, 1 Cassette

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Description
Jan Philipp Reemtsma, a prominent German intellectual and director of the humanitarian Hamburg Institute for Social Research, was kidnapped from his home on March 25, 1996. For the next 33 days, he lived in the tiny cellar of a house in an unknown location, his movements restricted by a small length of chain, while his kidnappers demanded 20 million Deutschmarks for his safe return. That the ransom was eventually paid and Reemtsma released is never in doubt--aside from his authorship as proof of survival, Reemtsma begins at the end, with his release and the phone call to his wife that put him back on the road to normalcy. Deprived of the element of suspense, then, Reemtsma's story must plunge far deeper into his experience than any strictly journalistic account would dare. In the Cellar is a tale about life-changes forced upon a person at gunpoint and the resigned acceptance of those changes. Carol Brown Janeway's translation from the German has a slight awkwardness that actually enhances the "you are there" feel of the text as Reemtsma's mood ebbs and flows and he loses and regains his faith several times a day. The largely third-person narrative traces the calling into birth and the evolution of a new personality, a man who is Reemtsma but also not him, offering a crucial insight into the experiences of relieved as well as shell-shocked hostages anywhere. --Tjames Madison
Product details
Publication Date:
1998-08-01
Publisher:
Hoffmann und Campe
Languages:
Published: German, Original: German
ISBN10:
3455301274
Weight:
97 g
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