Meine Geschichte, Fatale Fehler, fatale Folgen...

120 × 170 SPINE: 2 FLAPS: 70

AGORI GREKOU

Meine Geschichte

Fatale Fehler, fatale Folgen...

AG O R I G R E KO U

W

Agori Grekou was born in Greece.

She grew up in Athens and Boonton N.J. (USA). She studied French and Comparative Literature in France (Sorbonne NouvelleParis III: Maîtrise, DEA) and Modern Greek Literature in Greece (Nat. University of Athens: Ph.D. Degree). She worked as a language teacher and as a researcher and has published studies on various literary subjects (literary periodicals, Symbolism, Pure poetry). She now lives in Germany and Greece and is writing a book on Symbolist poetry. This is her first publication of literary prose.

More info www.agori-grekou.com

Meine Geschichte

riting and publishing this story of my youth seems to have been inevitable. I wrote it as if in a daze, in a new land and in a language that I was not very familiar with...

A.G.

ISBN 978-960-564-133-7 Vatatzi 55, 114 73 Athens Greece TEL. : 210 6431108 ekdoseis.ocelotos@gmail.com www. ocelotos. gr

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Meine Geschichte

Fatale Fehler, fatale Folgen...

AGORI GREKOU

Title MEINE GESCHICHTE

Fatale Fehler, fatale Folgen...

Author Agori Grekou

Cover Design by Loreto Poblete-Vio based on a drawing

by Agori Grekou

Book design Myrtilo, graphic arts Copyright© 2013 Agori Grekou

Ledergasse 65 Schwäbisch Gmünd 73525 Germany www.agori-grekou.com

First Publication Athens, March 2014 ISBN 978-960-564-133-7

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage or retrieval systems may take place without the written permission of the author.

Vatatzi 55 str., 114 73 Athens ΤEL. : 210 6431108 www. ocelotos. gr E-MAIL: ekdoseis.ocelotos@gmail.com

[...]il faisait un soleil magnifique. Une chaleur délicieuse régnait dans l’air, j’étais heureux de vivre...

Je me suis assis sur les marches de San Pietro et là j’ai rêvé une heure ou deux à cette idée: Je vais avoir cinquante ans, il serait bien temps de me connaître.

Stendhal Vie de Henry Brulard

Preface to Meine Geschichte

9

BRIEF AN RICHARD I

13

BRIEF AN RICHARD III

21

BRIEF AN RICHARD II BRIEF AN SONIA I

BRIEF AN SONIA II

BRIEF AN CATHERINE I

16 25 28

31

BRIEF AN CATHERINE II

34

BRIEF AN CATHERINE IV

40

BRIEF AN CATHERINE III BRIEF AN INÉS I

BRIEF AN INÉS II

—7—

37 43

45

—8—

Preface to Meine Geschichte

I

’m not a German native speaker, nor am I a professional writer. I write only when the words suddenly come to me filled with special meanings, revealing unknown truths, hidden realities, new ideas, subtle explanations to mysteries or even solutions to unknown problems...

I am not describing the apocalypse! I’m rather talking about little things. I started writing Meine Geschichte while participating in a EU sponsored writing workshop. I joined in because at that time I wanted to learn German better. I got there the initial kick but I walked out when I felt that the subject matter had narrowed down to those stereotypes about immigration and integration still much appreciated in the West: Turkish women treated like slaves by their husbands, desperate lack of goods and terror in the ex-communist countries etc. My story was less specific and less dramatic, so it didn’t fit in.

Well, what at first seemed like a tough language exercise turned out to be a smooth ride backwards where it all started, the time of naive happiness, undetermined fear and correctable mistakes, but also the time when my own asphyxiating stereotypes were formed... My youth...

—9—

Through the brand new words I enjoyed the dreamlike flash-backs, the unique pictures created, yes, the “time recovered” of my youth. I watched prose turn itself inevitably into poetry, the writing pace accelerating...

No, I’m not exactly describing inspiration.

Even if it exists, writing is a very calculated process.

And better still, while writing with new words, I seemed to “correct” the emerging memories, erase some of the pain, bring out some of the joy, judge, pardon or even symbolically punish the wrongdoers, get rid of past guilt or turn it into self-pardon.

Well, dear Reader, as you may have noticed, by publishing this verbal sketch of my youth I wish to advertise the amazing power that a few new words could bring with them and to communicate part of a very pleasurable experience.

Agori Grekou Schwäbisch Gmünd, 14.09.2013

— 10 —

The first “Brief an Richard” was read at the Teatro Masini in Faenza, Italy in May 2010. The second one was first read at the Stadtteilzentrum Ost in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany in April 2011.

A.G

— 11 —

— 12 —

BRIEF AN RICHARD I 06.12.2009 Lieber Richard, heute möchte ich dir meine erste Reise nach Amerika beschreiben.

Ich war fast 9 Jahre alt und wusste schon, dass ein König wirklich existiert; auch dass er nicht mehr existiert, wenn eine Junta ihn stürzt; dass man auf Demokratie hoffen muss... Ich hatte auch gehört, dass Präsident J.F. Kennedy ermordet wurde, dass sein Bruder Robert auch ermordet wurde, dass Apollo 11 auf dem Mond gelandet war. Ich hatte arme Kinder, arrogante Kinder, strenge Lehrer kennengelernt. Ich liebte die Berge und das Meer.

Auf dem Berg lebte meine Oma. Immer in schwarz gekleidet. Mein Opa war dort während des Bürgerkrieges exekutiert worden. Ein Erdbeben hat später das ganze Dorf zerstört. Die Natur ist aber intakt geblieben. Nur am Meer war ich sorgenfrei. Die warme Sonne, das endlose Blau, der gestirnte Himmel, der goldene Strand, Boote, Schiffe und Kiefern; diese Sommerlandschaft war nie gestört.

Als meine Eltern mich über ihre Entscheidung informiert haben, war ich nicht geschockt. Im Juli — 13 —

120 × 170 SPINE: 2 FLAPS: 70

AGORI GREKOU

Meine Geschichte

Fatale Fehler, fatale Folgen...

AG O R I G R E KO U

W

Agori Grekou was born in Greece.

She grew up in Athens and Boonton N.J. (USA). She studied French and Comparative Literature in France (Sorbonne NouvelleParis III: Maîtrise, DEA) and Modern Greek Literature in Greece (Nat. University of Athens: Ph.D. Degree). She worked as a language teacher and as a researcher and has published studies on various literary subjects (literary periodicals, Symbolism, Pure poetry). She now lives in Germany and Greece and is writing a book on Symbolist poetry. This is her first publication of literary prose.

More info www.agori-grekou.com

Meine Geschichte

riting and publishing this story of my youth seems to have been inevitable. I wrote it as if in a daze, in a new land and in a language that I was not very familiar with...

A.G.

ISBN 978-960-564-133-7 Vatatzi 55, 114 73 Athens Greece TEL. : 210 6431108 ekdoseis.ocelotos@gmail.com www. ocelotos. gr

ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ

ο σ ε λ ότ ο ς grekou_cover.indd 1

3/4/2014 10:27:26 PM