Ilija Trojanow “Power and Resistance” (published in German only!)
This book is not easy. Trojanow describes the life of Konstantin and Metodi, two men in post-socialist Bulgaria. Konstantin is the “resistance”, suffering from nightmares and betrayal, a victim of the regime and its prisons and torture, melancholic and broken, suffering. Metodi is “power”, a former agent, always and still loyal to the regime and its ideals, proud and arrogant, still interogating everybody. The two of them are rather one-sided and predictable - hate the perpetrator, feel with the victim. To switch it arounf (a former bully suffering from his deeds and a weakend fighter of the resitance) would have been more interesting to read about - but maybe that is my personal opinion.
These two men stand opposite each other, symbolically and formally in alternating chapters. It is a simple premise, this opposition, but a powerful one. The books sends it strong message without any superflous material. Definitions, descriptions and metaphors are kept simple, but spot on; the sentences are very long, yet simple; explanations are rare. The reader does understand what is meant at all times, but the style is nevertheless peculiar.
Some parts are a bit too modern for my taste - why for example do years have to “tell” chapters? It is also often difficult to read about this “time after” with only sparse information about the time, the socialism, itself. Bulgarian history is something I am widely unfamiliar with, as a lot of readers would be. Another negative aspect was the ending: I felt as if Konstantin did not get enough revenge, enough closure about his past and Metodi. On the other hand - maybe the message was the he is stronger than that and does not need revenge? Personally, I would have expected him to piss on Metodis grave, but that again is personal opinion. A more serious negative point was the overall length of the book: half of it would have been sufficient. It was not boring, but neither did I learn about anything totally new.
A big positive point, which evens out one or the other format issue, was the meaning of the book. Trojanow researched a lot, and many of the characters are closely inspired by real actors of the socialism. He also included real original documents from the secret police, their surveillance protocols and reports and the like. And once you realize that all this was real (that the power was indeed this brutal and convinced of being right, that the resistance really suffered that much), you can forgive Trojanow many things. It is not an easy book, but an important one.
