Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz nach Zeugnissen ihrer Spielfrau Laura. Roman in dreizehn Büchern und sieben Intermezzos

by Irmtraud Morgner

Set in the German Democratic Republic of the early 1970s, The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice—a landmark novel now translated into English for the first time—is a highly entertaining adventure story as well as a feminist critique of GDR socialism, science, history, and aesthetic theory.



In May 1968, after an eight-hundred-year sleep, Beatrice awakens in her Provence château. Looking for work, she makes her way to Paris in the aftermath of the student uprisings, then to the GDR (recommended to her as the “promised land for women”), where she meets Laura Salman, socialist trolley driver, writer, and single mother, who becomes her minstrel and alter ego. Their exploits—Beatrice on a quest to find the unicorn, Laura on maternity leave in Berlin—often require black-magic interventions by the Beautiful Melusine, who is half dragon and half woman.



Creating a montage of genres and text types, including documentary material, poems, fairy tales, interviews, letters, newspaper reports, theoretical texts, excerpts from earlier books of her own, pieces by other writers, and parodies of typical GDR genres, Irmtraud Morgner attempts to write women into history and retell our great myths from a feminist perspective.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, German Literature, Historical Fiction, Feminism, Germany, Classics

669 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my case, A Novel in Ten Books and Five Intermezzos (up to p300). As the blurb sums up, this is an “adventure story as well as feminist critique of GDR socialism, science, history and aesthetic theory,” fiendishly abandoning all rules of space and time for a meandering and digressive intellectual epic. The episodes with Beatrice are the wittiest and spikiest moments, and her antics, although only fleetingly coherent to me, comprise the most entertaining and accessible content of the novel. The Intermezzos are excerpts from an earlier Morgner novel and hang loosely off the main books, which hang loosely off themselves and their individual chapters and sentences. The style in evidence is not particularly impressive, adopting a fable-gone-bad tone throughout, which makes the prose itself aesthetically challenging and gradually the content becomes too incoherent, random and utterly specific to its time and setting, becoming simply tedious to read and all the fun of earlier parts fades.

[Rachel Denham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just started this book yesterday, and wow...it is amazing so far! It contains such a beautiful intersection of Medieval and contemporary Women's History (and even more!) I wish I could forget all of my prior commitments and just sit and read the whole book today.

It also makes me wish I could read German, though, because I haven't been able to find any other translated versions of Morgner's writings.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice as Chronicled by Her Minstrel Laura a terribly frustrating read. It is a book that really ought to have pushed my buttons, and there were parts of it I loved (the first third, I think, was my favorite), but overall it just . . . dragged. Morgner's book is clearly meticulous and an admirable achievement, and her humor and intelligence are amazing. But it did not work for me, and although I suspect this is my fault and not Morgner's or her translator's, the fact remains.

[Cecilia Mould · Rating 5 out of 5]

read gospel of valeska for a class and oh my god. one of the best things i’ve ever read i could cry

[Noah · Rating 1 out of 5]

When my friend told me he had heard this was a masterpiece, I was intrigued. Time travel and dragons mixed with East German feminism and communism, described as an adventure and satire? Well, that does sound up my alley. Oops.

It might not be right to say this book isn't good or that I didn't like it. It's the first book in ages that has felt simply too hard, as if I were an elementary school student trying to read a "chapter book" I wasn't ready for. What does it mean for some chapters to be copied by the half-dragon time-traveling left-wing terrorist from the author's previous, unpublished novel, into this one? Beats me. The references to Medieval poetry were lost on me, as were the (cutting, I'm sure) satires of East German publishing and politics layered into every page. Everything about the prose, from sentences to chapters, is deeply fragmentary in a way I struggled with. I had to give up about halfway through, something I almost never do.

Still, I'm glad to have read it, I guess, so I can make Trobadora Beatrice and Minstrel Laura jokes, which I think I'll be able to do forever because this was easily the weirdest thing I've ever read. Too bad no one else will understand them.

[Brandon Prince · Rating 4 out of 5]

Socialist magical realist collage novel. The only of its kind in English translation that I, a lay reader, am aware of. Please enlighten me to similar titles. This is not ‘dissident' magical realism from a Soviet Bloc country, but *socialist* magical realism as in the author was a committed member of the GDR’s ruling party and national writer’s union, supported the SED’s expatriation of Wolf Biermann in 1976 (hardly a popular move among fellow East German writers e.g. Christa Wolf, Sarah Kirsch) and whose husband was a high profile informant for the political police.

Includes discussions of: unicorns — their brains can be freeze dried, pulverized and introduced into drinking water in order to maximize the development of class-consciousness in a given population; cannibalism, its nutritional value and relation to the class struggle; and an oft quoted "Left Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder” (from which Minstrel Laura is continually referring because Trobadora Beatrice’s ultra-left voluntarism is always getting her into trouble.) Similar in tone and spirit to Vera Chytilová's "Daises”, but with less anarchism and more dialectics.

[Melanie Spiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have somewhat eclectic tastes in music and in literature, you will definitely like this book. It's a translation (German to English) for Irmtraud Morgner's "The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice, as chronicled by her minstrel Laura, a novel in thirteen books and seven intermezzos".

Beatrice de Dia was a real (12th century French) trobairitz (female troubadour). Morgner imagines her sleeping for 800 years and waking up in 1968's behind-the-iron-curtain East Germany. The novel is written in a very unusual style, switching POVs, having a strong political/feminist slant, and swobbling time-travel elements, a small amount of magical realism, and writing styles, including poetry and song, eavesdropping on political meetings, and a fairly wild ride of a story. It's hilarious in places, disturbingly prescient in others.

I'm just shy of half-way through (it's about 450 pages). It's not a fast read, but it's compelling. DO read both the author's note and the translator's, especially if you don't know much about troubadours, Beatrice De Dia, or iron-curtain Germany.

[Noah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Das Buch strotzt vor guten Ideen, ist aber stilistisch verwirrend und in Teilen eine Zumutung. Die Kerngeschichte der Trubadura ist interessant und unterhaltsam, auch wenn der Feminismus Überhand nimmt (die Protagonistin wird alle 5 Seiten vergewaltigt). Das Drumherum, bestehend aus dem hohen Lied des Kommunismus in bester Manier des Bitterfelder Weges und langen Paraphrasen auf andere Werke der Autorin, nervt, ist langweilig, schlecht geschrieben und hat mit dem Plot nichts zu tun.

[Geoffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

BOY did I want to like this. It really seemed like my kind of thing. And I kind of did, at first. But while it has its bizarrely entertaining moments, it fairly quickly just become an unbearable slog that I would have given up if not for my perverse determination to finish every book I start. Sorry!

[Dimis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leider konnte mich der Roman von Irmtraud Morgner ''Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz nach Zeugnissen ihrer Spielfrau Laura'' nicht überzeugen. Ich hatte große Erwartungen und wurde enttäuscht. Nur der Titel mit dem Wort ''Trobadora'' also einen weiblichen Trobador, ist vielversprechend.
Der Roman beginnt sehr stark und gut mit der Geschichte von Beatriz de Dia, die durch Persephone nach einem 800 jährigen Schlaf aufwacht und so ihre neue Reise im 1968 beginnt. Von Frankreich fährt sie in die DDR und zusammen mit Laura Salman (eine Triebwagenführerin) erfahren sie immer neue Abenteuer.
So vielversprechend die kurze Zusammenfassung klingt, ist leider der Inhalt des Romans nicht. Die Geschichten der verschiedenen Figuren und deren Familiengeschichte werden konfus von einem Kapitel zum anderen beschreiben, ohne eine strenge im erzählten. Die Änderung bei einigen Kapiteln zur Lyrik oder zur Dramatik fand ich am interessantesten, aber leider auch ohne strenge und konfus. Die Figur der Beatriz de Dia hat mich von allen Figuren am meisten interessiert, aber leider in der Mitte des Romans war sie nicht mehr da und kam erst am Ende des Romans wieder. Es handelt sich definitiv um einen experimentellen Roman und einer experimentellen Erzähl- und Schreibweise, aber das war nicht meins. Obwohl ich experimentell begrüße.
Ich werde irgendwann noch die Fortsetzung lesen, aber ich mache mir da nicht mehr große Hoffnungen.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical realism punctuated with a dark sense of humour, tho' also a lot of whimsy, and subtle political digs (it contains fragments from an earlier novel by Morgner which was rejected for publication). Beatrice de Dia was a 12th century Provencal troubadour, whom Morgner has make a deal to sleep until better times for women. She is accidentally awoken by an engineer tasked with building a highway through what was thought to be a wildly huge growth of rose bushes, cursing loudly when he discovers Beatrice's chateau hidden within. This is just the beginning.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvelous modern entertainment

[LOL_BOOKS]

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN THE SOVIET UNION SPECIFICALLY, OR THE EASTERN BLOC IN GENERAL? I READ A LOT OF GERMAN LITERATURE SO IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN THE GDR I CAN MAYBE HELP.

SO THE BIG ONES ARE CHRISTA WOLF AND ARNOLD ZWEIG. THEY'RE BOTH RLY EXCELLENT AND YOU SHOULD CHECK THEM OUT IF YOU DON'T KNOW THEM. MY OTHER TWO FAVORITES I WOULD RECOMMEND ARE WOLFGANG HILBIG AND IRMTRAUD MORGNER. HILBIG IS LIKE THIS WEIRD IMPRESSIONISTIC WRITER WHO RAMBLES WITHOUT ENTIRELY MAKING SENSE, BUT YOU GET THIS INTENSE FEELING OF PLACE AND TIME AND SETTING FROM HIS WRITING. MORGNER IS A LITTLE WEIRDER. SHE'S MOST KNOWN FOR THIS NOVEL IN WHICH A MEDIEVAL LADY GOES TO SLEEP AND WAKES UP IN EAST GERMANY AND THEN DEALS WITH MODERN GENDER ROLES, BUT THE PROTAGONIST ARGUES WITH THE AUTHOR AND CONTEMPORARY GERMAN WOMEN'S MAGAZINES AND SHIT. IT'S STRANGE BUT RLY EXCELLENT.

[chase Adams · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this. I still admire it. An accomplishment deserving of respect, yet I can't recommend it to anyone. I spent months thinking that I was taking so long making progress because I was just lazy or preoccupied. I just did not want to read this. Massive chore.
The novel's structure alone contains an incredible amount of depth. Incredibly complex characters, hell, the sort of metanarratives I usually adore, yet there just isn't anything that held my interest for one second, and the choppy, granted...poetic, haphazard prose doesn't allow for any real personal investment in reading this sucker.
bleh.

sorry, hipinion book club

[Kat Kam · Rating 2 out of 5]

It may be a classic of german feminist literature, but i found it extremely difficult to get through. No fun for me, hardly any change in pace or somehting similar to climax and anticlimax,very dry and lengthy. Possibly a book to read in school, or in a book circle, with others to discuss and cast light on possible paths of understanding.

[Nouvel Diamant]

(ähnlich wie von anderen Reviewern schon angemerkt) fand ich das Buch schon sehr verwirrlich in der Struktur und schwierig zu geniessen, wenn man nicht überall "drüberlesen will, weil man zu Stolz ist sich selber einzugestehen, dass man nicht mehr drauskommt"

[Monica]

too may books but I wouldn't mind knowing about her

[Vasha7]

Schwierige Kost, zäh zum Kauen; habe es nach 6 Monaten runter. Das Verdauen wird mir vielleicht nicht gelingen.