The ordinary and the everyday as historical influences in Christoph Hein's Horns Ende

Abstract

This study is an examination of how the seemingly ordinary and everyday aspects of people's lives can have a serious impact on the wider historical and political circumstances of the times. Horns Ende takes place during the formative years of the GDR and covers a range of turbulent political and historical events. For the five narrators in Guldenberg, however, these occurrences are insignificant compared with their daily routines. They are shaped more by what happens in their own insular sphere of life than by the effects of a new government and ideology. The behaviour of those who live in Guldenberg is malicious and selfish, with very few exceptions and this is apparent at every level of their society. It is reflected in the physical nature of the town which is largely decrepit and uncared for, and divided into specific areas, doing little to create a sense of community The middle-class attitudes prevalent before the Second World War still exist despite the move towards a socialist stale. With these attitudes comes an intolerance of anyone outside their race or society, such as the Gypsies, or anyone who refuses to conform to their norms, such as the artist Gohl and his daughter Marlene. There is a cycle of betrayal in the town which has its roots in the Nazi period, yet is still occurring decades later. All the five narrators suffer from failed relationships, either through a fault of their own or because of outside intervention. The effect of this failure to build a solid base of caring and lasting relationships has repercussions not only for the narrators themselves but for following generations. Into this environment comes Horn. Banished from the Party and Leipzig because of his historical findings, Horn inadvertently brings Guldenberg in touch with the political situation of the time. The locals, however, take little notice of Horn or the events leading to his suicide. Twenty-five years after his death, Horn returns to Thomas, a child at the time of Horn's death, and through him offers the narrators a chance to recall the past and come to terms with it, thereby achieving enlightenment.