Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Where Were You Robert by Where Were You, Robert? by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1998) T his is a time travel book by one of Germany's most well-known authors. He is a poet and novelist, writing primarily for adults. I first 'discovered' Enzensberger, the poet, when I was a young teenager at secondary school, and consequently was delighted when Where Were You, Robert? popped up in the shops. A new work, newly translated. It isn't at all what I was expecting. It's a rather strange book. Essentially, Robert, a lonely, only child, quite suddenly begins to drift through time. By fixing on a picture - film, painting or photograph - he is transported to the place itself. His first adventure takes him to a ghastly life in Siberia in 1956. In some time travel stories the traveler can control his departure and arrival quite accurately, but in this story, Robert doesn't understand how he comes to be in Siberia and settles down into a dreary, poverty-stricken life there. He thinks he is marooned, out of his own time and place. He is taken in by Olga, a Russian pharmacy attendant and stays in her impoverished flat with communal kitchen. Robert has a series of seven adventures in outlandish, rather unreal places and time zones, always drifting backwards in time. He spends many months in each place, resigned to the fact that he cannot escape. Some themes run through the whole book. For instance, the collection of junky bits and pieces which Robert carries with him in his jacket pocket from time zone to time zone, both benefit him in his travels and incriminate him. Gradually, he loses them all along the way, leaving his twentieth-century junk scattered through time like derelict satellites orbiting the earth. But he does manage to bring one thing back with him from 1621, when he finally returns to his own kitchen, a couple of years after his journey began. Where has Robert been? Well, he must have been somewhere because he brings back the paintbrush, to prove it. So it wasn't all just a bad dream. How long has he been away for? Robert thinks he was away for a couple of years, but does that mean he must be sixteen when he comes home again, or can he return home to the exact moment when he left? And even if he does manage to return home to the exact moment, won't he be a sixteen-year-old trapped inside a fourteen-year-old's body? Working as an apprentice in a Dutch artist's studio in Amsterdam in 1621, Robert finally finds a way to transport himself home. He paints himself back into it: Bravo! He returns home to the very moment when he left, two years ago. But, strangely, one thing is missing from the kitchen. One thing which he forgot to paint back into his picture when he transported himself back home. His mother's red glove, which she left on the counter when she went out earlier, has disappeared for ever: I must say, I don't really understand that. The red glove must be somewhere. Which kitchen is reality now? The one which Robert painted himself back into, or the one which he left behind? Aren't they the same? As I said, it's a strange, uncomfortable book. I never felt that Robert was a real person. His reaction to his extraordinary adventures seems intolerably passive. And the adventures which he has, although they are bizarre, follow an essentially boring formula. Three adventures would have been quite enough for me. See what you think. What can I read next? If you are an older reader and you enjoy time travel stories you might like to look at this one by Alan Garner: If you just enjoy strange stories, you could look at this new one by Susan Price: Where Were You, Robert? by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1998) T his is a time travel book by one of Germany's most well-known authors. He is a poet and novelist, writing primarily for adults. I first 'discovered' Enzensberger, the poet, when I was a young teenager at secondary school, and consequently was delighted when Where Were You, Robert? popped up in the shops. A new work, newly translated. It isn't at all what I was expecting. It's a rather strange book. Essentially, Robert, a lonely, only child, quite suddenly begins to drift through time. By fixing on a picture - film, painting or photograph - he is transported to the place itself. His first adventure takes him to a ghastly life in Siberia in 1956. In some time travel stories the traveler can control his departure and arrival quite accurately, but in this story, Robert doesn't understand how he comes to be in Siberia and settles down into a dreary, poverty-stricken life there. He thinks he is marooned, out of his own time and place. He is taken in by Olga, a Russian pharmacy attendant and stays in her impoverished flat with communal kitchen. Robert has a series of seven adventures in outlandish, rather unreal places and time zones, always drifting backwards in time. He spends many months in each place, resigned to the fact that he cannot escape. Some themes run through the whole book. For instance, the collection of junky bits and pieces which Robert carries with him in his jacket pocket from time zone to time zone, both benefit him in his travels and incriminate him. Gradually, he loses them all along the way, leaving his twentieth-century junk scattered through time like derelict satellites orbiting the earth. But he does manage to bring one thing back with him from 1621, when he finally returns to his own kitchen, a couple of years after his journey began. Where has Robert been? Well, he must have been somewhere because he brings back the paintbrush, to prove it. So it wasn't all just a bad dream. How long has he been away for? Robert thinks he was away for a couple of years, but does that mean he must be sixteen when he comes home again, or can he return home to the exact moment when he left? And even if he does manage to return home to the exact moment, won't he be a sixteen-year-old trapped inside a fourteen-year-old's body? Working as an apprentice in a Dutch artist's studio in Amsterdam in 1621, Robert finally finds a way to transport himself home. He paints himself back into it: Bravo! He returns home to the very moment when he left, two years ago. But, strangely, one thing is missing from the kitchen. One thing which he forgot to paint back into his picture when he transported himself back home. His mother's red glove, which she left on the counter when she went out earlier, has disappeared for ever: I must say, I don't really understand that. The red glove must be somewhere. Which kitchen is reality now? The one which Robert painted himself back into, or the one which he left behind? Aren't they the same? As I said, it's a strange, uncomfortable book. I never felt that Robert was a real person. His reaction to his extraordinary adventures seems intolerably passive. And the adventures which he has, although they are bizarre, follow an essentially boring formula. Three adventures would have been quite enough for me. See what you think. What can I read next? If you are an older reader and you enjoy time travel stories you might like to look at this one by Alan Garner: If you just enjoy strange stories, you could look at this new one by Susan Price: Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Hans Magnus Enzensberger (born 11 November 1929 in Kaufbeuren), is a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He has also written under the pseudonym Andreas Thalmayr . He lives in Munich. Contents. Enzensberger studied literature and philosophy at the universities of Erlangen, Freiburg and Hamburg, and at the Sorbonne in Paris, receiving his doctorate in 1955 for a thesis about 's poetry. Until 1957 he worked as a radio editor in Stuttgart. He participated in several gatherings of Group 47. Between 1965 and 1975 he edited the magazine "Kursbuch". Since 1985 he has been the editor of the prestigious book series Die Andere Bibliothek , published in Frankfurt, and now containing almost 250 titles. Enzensberger is the founder of the monthly TransAtlantik . His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages. Enzensberger is the older brother of the author Christian Enzensberger. Enzensberger has a sarcastic, ironic tone in many of his poems. For example, the poem "Middle Class Blues" consists of various typicalities of middle class life, with the phrase "we can't complain" repeated several times, and concludes with "what are we waiting for?". Many of his poems also feature themes of civil unrest over economic and class based issues (it is perhaps appropriate to mention that he lived in Fidel Castro's Cuba for several years). Though primarily a poet and essayist, he also makes excursions into theater, film, opera, radio drama, reportage, translation, and has written novels and several books for children and is co-author of a book for German as a Foreign Language (Die Suche) . Australian writer Rhoderick Gates identified Enzensberger as a leading West German alongside Rudolf Bahro as "one of the few left-wing dissidents to predict the slow disintegration of the USSR."( Trials From The Past , Global Echo , Feb. 9th) Honours received. 1963 Georg-Büchner-Preis; see also Georg Büchner 1985 Heinrich-Böll-Preis; see also Heinrich Böll 1993 Erich-Maria-Remarque- Friedenspreis; see also 1998 Heinrich-Heine-Preis; see also Heinrich Heine 2002 Prince of Asturias Communications and Humanities award. Published works. Verteidigung der Wölfe, Gedichte, 1957 Viele schöne Kinderreime, 777 poems for children, 1962 , essays, 1962 Politik und Verbrechen, Essays, 1964 Deutschland, Deutschland unter anderm. Äußerungen zur Poilitik, 1967 Das Verhör von Habana, Prosa, 1970 Constituents of a Theory of the Media, 1970 Der kurze Sommer der Anarchie. Buenaventura Durrutis Leben und Tod, Prosa, 1972 Gespräche mit Marx und Engels, 1970 Palaver. Politische Überlegungen, Essays, 1974 Mausoleum. 37 Balladen aus der Geschichte des Fortschritts, Gedichte, 1975 Der Untergang der Titanic ( The Sinking of the Titanic ), Versepos, 1978 Polit. Brosamen, Essays, 1982 Ach, Europa! Wahrnehmungen aus sieben Ländern, Prosa, 1987 Mittelmass und Wahn, Essays, 1989 Zukunftsmusik, Gedichte, 1991 Die Tochter der Luft, Drama, 1992 Die Große Wanderung, Essays, 1992 Zickzack, Aufsätze, 1997 Wo warst du, Robert?, Roman, 1998 Der Zahlenteufel, Roman, 1999 Leichter als Luft: Moralische Gedichte, Gedichte, 1999 Schreckens Maenner: Versuch ueber den radikalen Verlierer (5th ed.), Essay, 2006 Einzelheiten I & II, Essays, 2006 Gedichte 1950-2005, Gedichte, 2006. Bibliography (English) The Number Devil , 2005 Where Were You, Robert? , 2000 Lighter Than Air: Moral Poems , 2000 Selected Poems , 1999 Zig Zag: The Politics of Culture and Vice Versa , 1997 Civil War , 1994 Civil Wars: From L.A. to Bosnia , 1994 Selected Poems , 1994 Mediocrity and Delusion: Collected Diversions , 1992 Political Crumbs , 1990 The Sinking of the Titanic: A Poem , 1989 Europe, Europe: Forays Into a Continent , 1989 Dreamers of the Absolute: Essays On: Politics, Crime and Culture , 1988 Critical Essays , 1982 The Sinking of the Titanic: A Poem , 1980 Raids and Reconstructions: Essays on Politics, Crime, and Culture , 1976 Mausoleum: Thirty-Seven Ballads from the History of Progress , 1976 The Havana Inquiry , 1974 The Consciousness Industry; On Literature, Politics and the Media , 1974 Politics and Crime , 1974. Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Hans Magnus Enzensberger" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice. Where Were You Robert? by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Hans Magnus Enzensberger is Germany’s most important poet, as well as a provocative cultural essayist, a highly influential editor and one of Europe’s leading political thinkers. His poetry’s social and moral criticism of the post-war world owes much to Marxism, yet insists on the freedoms often denied by Communist governments; like Orwell he maintains that satire and criticism should not be party-political. Born in 1929 in the Bavarian town of Kaufbeuren, he grew up in Nazi Nuremberg. He studied , philosophy and languages at the Universities of Elangen, Freiburg im Breisgau and Hamburg, and in Paris at the Sorbonne, completing his doctorate in 1955 with a thesis on the poetics of Clemens Brentano. At Freiburg the philosopher Martin Heidegger was an influential figure, but Enzensberger found him ‘disagreeably authoritarian’. He then worked as a radio editor in Stuttgart until 1957. Like all his books, his first collection, defence of the wolves (1957), provoked wildly differing reactions, with one reviewer calling his poetic critique of postwar Germany an ‘unintentional parody of poetry’, while another saw it as ‘the first great political poetry since Brecht’ from Germany’s first ‘angry young man’. He has always been a controversial figure in Germany, managing to upset even his admirers, but ‘that’s how it should be. It’s a sign of vitality. I would be disappointed if there were a lukewarm, benevolent indifference.’ He was a founder member of Group 47, a loose grouping of disaffected German intellectuals including Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass, generally viewed as the most influential movement after the war, although Enzensberger now talks of the group as ‘a historical myth’: ‘It just so happened that after the war there were a few guys who felt uneasy about the country, to put it mildly. It was like living with an enormous corpse in the cupboard.’ Franz-Josef Strauss famously called them Schmeissfliegen (blowflies): writers whose attacks on its political institutions seemed to risk damaging Germany’s clean postwar image. In 1960 he published his pioneering anthology, Museum der modernen Poesie (Museum of modern poetry), introducing German readers to writers such as William Carlos Williams, Fernando Pessoa and Lars Gustafsson, but also expressing in his title his view that Modernism was defunct. In 1965 he founded the radical periodical Kursbuch (Railway Timetable), which published critical texts on the media and language and became a legendary forum for the student movement. In 1980 he founded the journal Transatlantic , and in 1985 began editing the prestigious book series Die Andere Bibliothek , now featuring nearly 250 titles, among them The watermark of poetry, or The art and enjoyment of reading poems (1985) by one Andreas Thalmayr. He used the same pseudonym for Poetry gets on my nerves! First aid for stressed readers (2004), a playfully ironic guide to the subject for younger readers in the spirit of his Poetry Machine installation (2000) – which caused something of a stir in Germany when he demonstrated how it could churn out lines of “poetry” at the touch of a button. ‘Some of the poems are quite enjoyable,’ he told a journalist. ‘So I made a remark that was not well taken by some poets. I said anybody who can’t do better than the machine should put away their pen.’ From 1961 he spent long periods abroad, living in Norway, Italy and the USA as well as West Berlin, before settling in Munich in 1979, where he still lives. He has also travelled to Mexico, South America, the Soviet Union, China and the Near East. A year in Cuba, in 1969 – where Castro denounced him as a CIA agent – inspired his master work, The Sinking of the Titanic (1978). He has translated poetry from English, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Norwegian, and his own work has been translated into many languages. He has received numerous prizes and honours, including the Georg Büchner Prize (1963), Ernst Robert Curtius Prize (1997) and Heinrich Heine Prize (1998) in Germany, as well as Italy’s Premio Bollati and the Spanish Premio Príncipe de Asturias, and in 2009 a Lifetime Achievement Award from Canada's Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry. Enzensberger’s books include several on culture and politics which have been translated into English, among these Europe, Europe (1989), Mediocrity and Delusion (1992) and Civil War (1994), as well as two bestselling works for young people, The Number Devil (1998), an entertaining look at maths, and Where Were You, Robert? (2000), about history. In 2004 Dialoge zwischen Unsterblichen, Lebendigen und Toten (Dialogues between immortals, the living and the dead) was published in Germany, a book of prose pieces on the influence of historical figures on the present-day zeitgeist. His introduction to English readers came with a Penguin Selected Poems in 1968. His much larger, bilingual Bloodaxe Selected Poems of 1994 covered collections published over 30 years, up to Music of the Future (1991), including The Sinking of the Titanic . These were followed by two later collections, published in English translation by Bloodaxe, Kiosk (1995/1997) and Lighter than Air: moral poems (1999/2002). In Germany he recently published Die Elixiere der Wissenschaft (The Elixirs of Science, 2002), a gathering of his poetry and prose relating to science, followed by collection of 99 meditations, Die Geschichte der Wolken (2003), published in English by Seagull Books as A History of Clouds (2010). His bilingual New Selected Poems was published by Bloodaxe in 2015. Where Were You, Robert? An enchanting journey through time and through history, this phenomenal European bestseller is a magically evocative novel for readers of all ages. Fifteen-year-old Robert is a dreamer and one evening while he is watching television his eyes blurover and he quite literally disappears from his kitchen. He has become a time traveller. Each journey takes him further from his home and further back through the centuries, and soon he no longer holds any hope of returning . . . until he becomesa painter's apprentice in 17th century Amsterdam, where at last his photographic memory may help him to return to the future. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Hans Magnus Enzensberger is one of Germany's most eminent authors. He is also renowned as a poet and cultural critic who has been likened to Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Rorty.