Accident: A Day's News: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) [Paperback]

Christa Wolf (Author), Heike Schwarzbauer (Translator), Rick Takvorian (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2001 | Series: Phoenix Fiction

An East German writer, awaiting a call from the hospital where her brother is undergoing brain surgery, instead receives news of a massive nuclear accident at Chernobyl, one thousand miles away. In the space of a single day, in a potent, lyrical stream of thought, the narrator confronts both mortality and life and above all, the import of each moment lived-open, as Wolf reveals, to infinite analysis.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

East German writer Wolf's ( Cassandra ) latest novel, a slender, claustrophobic monologue, distinguishes itself from much contemporary fiction in focussing on the essential: the destructive demiurge lurking under the human skullcap, a destructiveness apparently inextricably linked to our creative intelligence. But she fails to say anything illuminating or fresh about this well-worn subject or, except glancingly, to say it in an interesting way. Her 60-ish narrator, a grandmother living alone in a German village, is much occupied with tending her garden, but most of all--against a backdrop of beautiful spring weather--with the Chernobyl disaster then in progress. At the same time, in neat juxtaposition, she is preoccupied with the operation her brother is undergoing for a brain tumor. An epigraph and references make it clear that Wolf drew substantially on Carl Sagan's popular writings which, provocatively pithy as they may sometimes be, are insufficient in themselves to furnish an interesting novel. The culminating citation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness draws attention all too invidiously to Wolf's failure to develop her heartfelt perceptions, with the requisite creative and subtle imagination, into a novel that moves the heart and mind.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Where is the danger zone for humanity today? For an East German writer, struggling with her thoughts on the day of her brother's surgery in April 1986, it's near the Chernobyl reactor's glowing core, near a brain tumor's malignant cells. Engulfed by these concerns, she offers the monologue that forms this truly remarkable novel, a speculative consideration of human knowledge versus technology by a mind forced "to overcome reluctance." As the knife cuts deeper into her brother's diseased tissue, the writer questions how she has come to know her world and whether "there is such a thing as an established right to luck." Wolf is in the vanguard of German writers, and this novel's popularity in West Germany (where it was a best seller for 26 weeks) demonstrates the timeliness of her themes.
- Paul E. Hutchison, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 121 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (May 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226905063
• ISBN-13: 978-0226905068
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating!, June 29, 2000

By 

Ms Diva "cycworker" (Nanaimo, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accident / A Day's News (Hardcover)

I read this book as part of a German Lit. in Translation class. Wolf was by far the best author we read. The book pulls the reader right into the story so you feel like it is happening to you. Wolf challenges readers to think about the way we are treating our world and question whether we are making the right decisions. What is particularly interesting about Wolf is that she is so blunt about the world's problems but she still has hope. The book left a strong impression on me.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical novel, November 17, 2011

By 

Clint Augustyn - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Accident: A Day's News: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)

Christa Wolf's Accident, A Day's News is a unique view into the mind of the narrator and main character (the German Writer) as she experiences a single day of personal and community crisis. On a personal level, the writer is struggling through the brain surgery of her brother, who lives far away and with whom she "speaks" to throughout the narrative. We experience the writer's relationship in something of a past tense, moments of reminiscence, concern, and wonder. She speaks of their shared past and she expresses her love and concern for her brother, and wonders about his future. Intertwined in that personal crisis is a worldwide concern regarding the after-effects of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident. There is great struggle for the writer as she attempts to navigate this new world, with its warnings about milk and vegetables, and the fear of the great storm cloud that threatens to rain down deadly radiation on all.

Accident is probably one of the most oddly-written books that I have ever read. There is never a clear identification of the characters of the novel, the kind of introduction and details that make the reader care about what he or she is reading. While this stylistic choice may allow the reader to relate with their own lives or may provide a more detailed telling of the narrator's thoughts than others, I found myself at times grasped by the story and other times forcing myself forward. At times, the thoughts of the writer fleeted back and forth as she experienced her day. Once in a while, as she shared them I struggled to figure out why a particular paragraph or idea was included. It seemed that our main character was so preoccupied with her crises that nearly everyone and everything was relevant in the destruction of the man or the world. I often found it very difficult to read this novel while still following the story line and tracking what was happening in the multiple plot lines that seemed to be developing, perhaps in part because I am not fully familiar with some of the other works.

In the end, this novel seemed to be one of those that left more questions than answers. The resolutions are only those that are for the single day's events. We may be informed as to the outcome of the surgery, and perhaps the closing of the day in nuclear wonder, and even the mundane events that seem to occupy our daily lives, but I felt that I had to fill in the blanks about what the future may hold for the writer, her brother, and the nuclear world. At the same time, life is often like the writer's thoughts, with one idea leading to another and the most simple object leading to a memory or idea. Truth be told, most stories leave a good number of unanswered questions; and every ending is merely just another beginning. A new day will follow this for each of the characters of the book, as life presses onward.

2.0 out of 5 stars Little enthusiasm., November 17, 2011

By 

Sieanna - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accident: A Day's News: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)

German author Christa Wolf's Novella accident: A day's News is a story told by a narrator who questions and contemplates life, death, science and disaster.

Christa Wolf's novella accident: A Day's News is not an easy read, it is hard to follow, and I found myself wanting to put it down rather than pick it up. The basis of the story tells of a person's (sister) emotional frustrations concerning the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and her anger she feels toward the cancer (or tumor) that her brother is receiving surgery for. The two incidents happen to have taken place on the same day and the novella describes in that one day a sisters mixture of emotions, scientific jargon, nuclear information, the medical treatment her brother is receiving and memories of the past.

If you can get past the mixture of the major themes, the sentences that seem to run on forever and the authors tendency to wander from one thought, emotion, or memory (with little connections with between them) the book does have some meaning hidden in there.

I came to the conclusion that the author is exploring the daily things that people take for granted, life being the main focus. One day you are living normally then, the next you have cancer, or you can't eat an egg, drink milk, or even play outside in the rain.