Annemarie Schwarzenbach’s first novel, written when she was 22. The seventeen-year-old piano student Bernhard likes to hang out with the aspiring painter Gert and his friend Inès, both of whom seem to be in love with Bernhard. But Inès also has a serious crush on the sculptor Christina, and Gert in turn falls heavily for Christina’s artist-brother Léon…

There were a lot of echoes here of Klaus Mann’s first novel, Der fromme Tanz, but this felt like a more grown-up book, seriously digging into the questions facing young people who are dealing with questions of whom (of either gender) they really love, and trying to decide between exploring their artistic gifts and satisfying their parents’ ambitions for them to follow respectable careers. There’s a certain amount of fainting, but very little gushing or pontificating. Schwarzenbach's main point of view character, Inès, manages to maintain a certain distance from all the overheated emotion. But there's quite a lot of jolly driving around the mountains in open cars, and a cute dog. Fun for all... ( )

Les Amis de Bernhard was published in 1931, it was Schwarzenbach's first novel and it tells the story of a group of young artists trying to make a living in Paris and Berlin and coming to terms with their sexuality. It's main focus is Berlin where some young people enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle just before the Nazi takeover in 1933. Annemarie Schwarzenbach was born in Switzerland in 1908 and after completing her doctorate in history she spent some years in Berlin and moved in a circle that included Erika and Klaus Mann (daughter and son of Thomas Mann). Annemarie had from an early age dressed herself as a boy and set her cap at Erika, but she was to be disappointed. Her first novel reflects the artistic community that she was so anxious to be included within.

Bernhard is a young musician that is recognised by some critics to posses a special talent but he lacks the drive and ambition that might push him onwards :

Tout le monde aime Bernhard, dit-elle, c’est un garçon vraiment gentil et d’un charme rare”

He settles to make a living by giving music lessons, not even having the confidence to try his hand at playing in cafes. He has two special friends Gert and Innes whom he met at the conservatoire and they form a sort of threesome while all the time Gert and Innes talk of Bernhard's child like characteristics and Gert falls in love with the prospect of making a perfect drawing of Bernhard's features. Christina, a successful artist falls into their circle and she has a younger brother Leon a fiercely talented artist. Gert begs to meet up with him and travels to Berlin to meet him and soon moves in to his apartment where he shares his bed and they work together. Leon has perhaps the selfishness needed to succeed and Gert becomes bitterly disappointed when he realises that he is not the centre of Leon's world: Christina warned him that this would be the case. The story moves away from Bernhard in Paris and onto Berlin with Gert and Leon who have left Innes trailing in their wake.

The book's themes are the difficulties of carving a place for yourself in an artistic milieu while at the same time not losing confidence in yourself and your abilities. There are other characters involved: Gerald is a successful surgeon and also a patron of the arts, he has an interest in young girls, but sees in Bernhard with his waif like qualities someone he is prepared to nurture, but again this is a one way relationship. Bernhard meets Betsy a wealthy young American woman to whom he gives singing lessons, but when she moves back to America it causes the start of a crisis for Bernhard and then there is the precocious thirteen year old Mica under the protection of Gerald. The need to earn money only affects some of the characters, these are largely privileged young people drifting around trying to find meaning to their lives. Although the epoch is lightly sketched is gives enough background to the story: Hitler is only mentioned once when Gert asks someone what they think of Hitler and does not receive much of a reply.

This is a book is a Libretto edition which is a French publishing house that seems to specialise in early 20th century literature. This book was translated from the German. There are other books published by Libretto from the same author who led an interesting life in the arts, in travel and in drug taking - she died young. I enjoyed this short excursion into Mitteleuropa and so 3.5 stars. ( )

Bernhard is a student who has a talent for playing the piano and making friends with similarly artistically minded youths in the late 1920s. When school finishes, he persuades his family that he should receive musical training in Paris. With the move from Germany to Paris, however, begins Bernhard's journey of life on his own and he has to navigate not only his new home, new acquaintances, and difficulties making a living, he also leaves behind a circle of friends, who seem to be rather lost without him.

Freunde um Bernhard (Bernhard's Friends) is Schwarzenbach's debut novel. Written in 1930/31, Schwarzenbach had to divide her time between writing this novel and writing her PhD, an endeavour which left her close to exhaustion on many an occasion. At the time, Schwarzenbach was only 22, and it continues to astound me that she not only was in a position to submit a postgraduate degree at this point, but also that, by this time, she had already close friendships with Klaus and Erika Mann, both of whom discussed their work with her and critiqued her work. That is, at least the Manns discussed Schwarzenbach's previous novella (Lyric Novella) with her. It seems from the correspondence between Schwarzenbach and Erika, that Erika didn't get to read Bernhard until after it was published (if, indeed, she ever did read it).

Freunde um Bernhard is not a book that thrives on a gripping plot. Rather, it is a coming of age story of the main character Bernhard as well as of each of the friends surrounding him that is based on the development of the relationships between each of the friends. This is not a concept that I expected to work as well as it did, tho, it does require some patience on the part of the reader to bear with the characters. The characters, themselves, i.e. Bernhard and his friends, are well drawn out, even if they are somewhat naive at times. Then again, Schwarzenbach is fully aware of this but also describes to Erika Mann that some of the characters show much of her adolescent self and her own struggles coming to terms with the world around her.

Reading the story, this was fascinating because the set of characters, modeled - no doubt! - not only on the author but also on the relationship with her friends (particularly the Mann siblings) is such a mirror of the generation of its time. A generation of the inter-war years finding it difficult to conform to the societal norms of the previous Wilhelminian Era and trying to build a society of its own, yet, not accustomed to or comfortable with the idea of fully-fledged rebellion. ( )

3.5* rounded up.


Bernhard is a student who has a talent for playing the piano and making friends with similarly artistically minded youths in the late 1920s. When school finishes, he persuades his family that he should receive musical training in Paris. With the move from Germany to Paris, however, begins Bernhard's journey of life on his own and he has to navigate not only his new home, new acquaintances, and difficulties making a living, he also leaves behind a circle of friends, who seem to be rather lost without him.

Freunde um Bernhard (Bernhard's Friends) is Schwarzenbach's debut novel. Written in 1930/31, Schwarzenbach had to divide her time between writing this novel and writing her PhD, an endeavour which left her close to exhaustion on many an occasion. At the time, Schwarzenbach was only 22, and it continues to astound me that she not only was in a position to submit a postgraduate degree at this point, but also that, by this time, she had already close friendships with Klaus and Erika Mann, both of whom discussed their work with her and critiqued her work. That is, at least the Manns discussed Schwarzenbach's previous novella (Lyric Novella) with her. It seems from the correspondence between Schwarzenbach and Erika, that Erika didn't get to read Bernhard until after it was published (if, indeed, she ever did read it).

Freunde um Bernhard is not a book that thrives on a gripping plot. Rather, it is a coming of age story of the main character Bernhard as well as of each of the friends surrounding him that is based on the development of the relationships between each of the friends. This is not a concept that I expected to work as well as it did, tho, it does require some patience on the part of the reader to bear with the characters. The characters, themselves, i.e. Bernhard and his friends, are well drawn out, even if they are somewhat naive at times. Then again, Schwarzenbach is fully aware of this but also describes to Erika Mann that some of the characters show much of her adolescent self and her own struggles coming to terms with the world around her.
Reading the story, this was fascinating because the set of characters, modeled - no doubt! - not only on the author but also on the relationship with her friends (particularly the Mann siblings) is such a mirror of the generation of its time. A generation of the inter-war years finding it difficult to conform to the societal norms of the previous Wilhelminian Era and trying to build a society of its own, yet, not accustomed to or comfortable with the idea of fully-fledged rebellion. ( )