Guten Tag

Ugresic's piece by piece telling of her story does create an unconventional novel, in that there isn't the structure that we all learned in elementary school with the story going "up the mountain" to the climax and then coming down into a conclusion. Rather her story is told in a sort of zig zag pattern that sometimes comes back around and sometimes not so much. I enjoy her quips about her friends/acquaintances or her daily exploits because in the short bursts she is telling them Ugresic is able to offer much more detail or observations of personal importance than she would be able to effectively in a story with the conventional flow.

Gutan Tag

The author writes in a particular manner that greatly affects the story. Most narratives have an arrangement that follows the old-fashioned criteria of “conflict, climax, resolution”, but this plot definition is more difficult to come across in The Museum of Unconditional Surrender. The random facts and situations give the reader an insight and knowledge of the events that occurred during this time. Instead of being chronological with the events that occurred, the writing style involved more of a streamline of thought rather than a structured format. This may be because of her detachment, or feelings of detachment, from the world and how she feels from being in exile. To follow the traditional format it would be more difficult to give so much information to the reader; Ugresic had a very chaotic life and events change very quickly for her, just as though the events change fast in the book. The style gives the reader a better view of how Urgesic feels internally and gives the reader more insight than that would be achieved if the piece of written differently.

Guten Tag Structure

The structure of Ugresic's novel is a move from the fluid and chronological nature of most novels, and it is this lack of flow which makes the book's story difficult to grasp. However, "Guten Tag's" structure appears to have purpose. Given that the story focuses on a sense of displacement and exile, it is appropriate for the novel's structure to mimic these moods through text. Choosing to avoid a sequential telling, the changing scences extend a bridge to the reader, giving the author more authority in deciding what the reader should feel, reading this novel (confusion, ostracism, depersonalization). However, this same structure also threatens the novel's effectiveness, as certain readers may be unable to note the parallels in structure and content. Consequently, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of ''Guten Tag."

Guten Tag Post

In the section Guten Tag, the narrator quotes an acquaintance, saying, "Rilke once said that the story of a shattered life can only be told in bits and pieces." I think that this adequately sums up Ugresic's style of writing. By writing in fragmented bits and pieces, Ugresic is demonstrating the chaos and dysfunction of living the life of an exile. The pieces of the story are often hard to follow at first, but gets easier as the novel progresses. A pattern that I found in at least three of the short pieces included in this section is the narrator's interaction with other displaced people. She describes Sissel, the map-obsessed artist; Jane, the American who knows everything about Europeans; and her Chinese neighbor who is never content with where he is at, to name a few. I think that Ugresic uses these interactions to show the different examples of displaced people, and how they are coping with the arrangement.

Guten Tag

One pattern I noticed in reading ‘Guten Tag’ is the inclusion of the different peoples/cultures that make up Berlin society and interestingly enough, many of these short pieces are concerned with people who are not native to Berlin or Germany. Just to give a few examples that Ugresic mentions- a Moroccan woman who signed up for a beginner’s German class, a Chinese neighbor who seems to despise every place he has ever traveled to, and Russian and Croatian writers who share their negative opinions about Berlin. I think these Ugresic presents these short narratives, in part, to portray Berlin as a kind of metropolis where lots of people with very different backgrounds and ethnicities are interacting with each other and influencing the society that they live in. Perhaps Ugresic is trying to have the reader think about the nature of German (or maybe just Berlin) identity. Given the wide array of cultures and ethnicities, which form that society(from Russian to Chinese), one cohesive sense of ‘German’ identity is hard to form.

-Ravi Nulu

Guten tag

The Guten tag chapter contains choppy, sporadic anecdotes that are seemingly disconnected, but somehow the reader knows that they connected. The chapter starts off describing different people and descriptions of Berlin. The stories are initially puzzling because of the unfinished nature of each numbered piece, but together they eventually form a larger picture.

I agree with most of the posts before me that this style of writing is similar to our human mind’s erratic thoughts (it makes you wonder how we ever piece a whole idea together), but I also think that Urgesic chose this style of writing because it gives her freedom from the constriction of having the story told through one perspective. I notice that she jumps from the first person perspective, to an all-knowing narrative voice, and to the perspective of individual characters. I think this suggests that stories can’t ever be told in one point of view—it takes a multitude of people and stories to piece together greater idea.

Guten Tag

Ugresic's writing is very distinct unlike the smooth flow of a tradition novel. The structure of the novel is a series of independent thoughts that result in the following thought. The fact that the novel doesn't have a common plot structure makes it hard for the reader to follow at first. However, the individual sections of text contribute to the story by displaying the narrators feelings of loneliness and disconnect. All the readings have this pattern of lonliness and disconnect which the narrator seems to be feeling at most times. Even when recalling childhood memories she connects them to a tragic memory or event in present or past reality. Living in Berlin has become difficult to adapt to for the narrator she lacks the social interaction between others around her that she once had. The people of Berlin are very consumed in their personal lives and don't have time to interact with others. Even though Yugoslavia is filled with many unhappy memories she longs for her home country, to which she cannot return.

Museum of Unconditional Surrender

Ugresic uses fractions of moments and interactions and thoughts in attempts to weave together something whole, something full. The constant themes of exile, loneliness, despair layer onto each other more and more as you start stringing together these seemingly random fragments of the story. It is by no means traditional writing or formatting, but that is simply because it is attempting to encompass a particularly unorthodox story matched with complex characters. Eventually these connections will establish themselves with the characters and you get a sense of understanding amid all the disconnectedness. The chopped up stories and point of views are an obvious pattern used to mirror the disorder happening and the solitude the character(s) feel. Attention to detail and furiously paying attention to the surroundings are also a pattern Ugresic uses to show what she can't experience herself. You also see this stream of consciousness throughout the entire breaking up of the passages which gives the story a more free and authentic feel. All in all, the story being suggested through these patterns is that loneliness through exile makes the mind substitute different feelings and emotions through disorderly story told in a unorthodox way.

guten tag

Ugresic’s book does not conform to typical plot structure but her approach to writing seems to better reflect human experience: reality doesn’t consist of an introduction followed by a rising action, climax, and resolution. Reality is disorganized and chaotic. Part three of the novel, Guten Tag, is a series of short fragments that come together to conjure up an image of solitude in the city of Berlin.

The disjointed story mirrors the narrator’s dreamlike trance as she tries to endure exile and an overwhelming sense of isolation. Living in Berlin without companionship or a country to call home leaves the speaker feeling “shipwrecked”. She drifts through each moment not fully aware of her surroundings but deeply aware of her loneliness. In fact, the only part of the story in which there is a spark of emotion is when she reminisces over the map of Yugoslavia. It made me think of my friend from New Mexico who told me she was considering transferring back home. She said: “It’s just hard. Being somewhere and constantly wishing you were somewhere else.” Except in the novel, the writer cannot return home.

Do you have some time?

Ugresic writes in a very distinct manner which, while it doesn’t follow the more normal mold of how a story is told, creatively still embodies several clear messages. One of the most prominent patterns within the writing follows the mold of the narrator asking a friend, “Do you have some time?” and the reoccurring response is, “No. Why do you ask?” The narrator will then go on to explain what their (always artist) friend is usually so busy with. This is the main pattern that I see in the writings, but what then does that mean for the storyline being implied? Over and over again the theme of loneliness or isolation within Berlin comes up. At the same time however, everyone cannot find time for other people. Everyone is too invested in their own personal pursuits to ‘give their time’. Even the narrator admits that, “I had myself promised some other people that I would call them and didn’t, that I would visit them and hadn’t.” And I find this very fascinating because while the narrator does talk of much loneliness, we still see that there are times when others are neglected. I believe this could be somewhat of a testament to simply the self-centered nature of humanity.

The Museum of Unconditional Surrender

The pieces of the narrative are arranged in what at first seems like a random order, with no beginning, climax, or resolution. Each short piece is a different thought of the author, interaction with another person, or story about the city of Berlin and her time spent there. I think Ugresic intentionally writes this way to show what it was like for her to be living in exile at the time. This structure illustrates disconnect, which Ugresic must have been feeling as she spent her time away from her home country. Throughout the short pieces, there is a pattern of the tragic and almost depressing state of Berlin. Whether she is describing the empty station, how Berlin is a "mutant-city", or how its loneliness is "acute and unambiguous," she is emphasizing how Berlin feels to her. I think she is trying to portray the loneliness and emptiness that she is literally feeling inside, through these outside descriptions of the city.

Guten Tag

Ugresic's description of Berlin is one that is approached in an unorthodox manner. Instead of telling a chronological story of her time in Berlin, she instead jumps from thought to thought. This method of story telling directly relates to the opening page of the novels description of Roland the Walrus's stomach contents. While the approach of her story seems random at first, common ideas begin to surface upon reading. The most prominent feeling Ugresic describes is one of loneliness. Her adventures in Berlin though numerous, are nearly always in solitude. This state of mind is what leads her to this random, unusual method of storytelling. Because of this loneliness the story plays out as Ugresics' thoughts appearing on paper. She is going around Berlin taking in everything, and mentally jotting down her impressions and feelings of the city. Feelings that are heightened by her detached, isolated state of mind.

-Darian

Unconditional Surrender, Guten Tag

My impression of the organization of this passage was that it is what Ugresic considers the only way to accurately describe Berlin. She wants to ensure that all the intricacies and idiosyncrasies that she holds as key to the description of Berlin are well depicted to come together as the overall essence of Berlin. Many of these things cannot be stated explicitly so she uses these eloquent descriptions of different seemingly random facets of Berlin people, culture, and environments. The organization of these descriptions comes in a way that is much like the way one might think about something freely, without much prompt or parameters. The thoughts float around based on loose associations but every thought has obviously come to mind as a piece of the overall notion. In other words, if you were to ask someone outright to "describe Berlin", you would get a much more limited answer than if you said "talk about Berlin, whatever comes to mind."