Jenny Erpenbeck’s new novel follows lovers in crumbling East Germany
“Kairos” is a story of history both grand and intimate
The ancient GreekS took the word kairos to mean “the opportune moment”; in Christian texts the term has been translated as “spiritual opportunity”. More simply, kairos can mean “the right time”. It certainly seems that way for Hans, in his early 50s, and 19-year-old Katharina, who meet on a bus in East Berlin in July 1986. Their encounter is a coup de foudre of desire and anguish. The relationship plays out momentously—and, over the course of the next four years, destructively—as the German Democratic Republic begins to crumble.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “An affair to remember”
Culture June 3rd 2023
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