Half Swimmer. A German term for one who has recently learnt to swim but hasn’t yet mastered the technique.
Growing up in 1980s East Germany, as the daughter of an army officer and a teacher, Tanja seems set up to become a model citizen of the German Democratic Republic. Except she has other ideas. And so, it turns out, does the course of history. This is a collection of memories from one life, following a girl as she attempts to forge her own identity under the social pressures of both the GDR, and the capitalism of a unified Germany.
‘Katja Oskamp knows how to capture the essence of people beautifully. They really come to life in her portraits.’ – Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany
Publisher: Peirene Press Ltd
ISBN: 9781916806009
Number of pages: 152
Dimensions: 198 x 125 mm
Half Swimmer is told in vignettes of Tanja’s life, a coming of age story with the twist that the reader doesn’t get the full story.
The chapters jump from year to year, never completely clear whether they’re told...
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The stories are set in and around Berlin, forming snapshot vignettes of Tanja’s life. She is a teen, developing into a young woman as she meanders through her school years and then embarks on dating. She is destined... More
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