The prefix ab- often denotes something negative, as in abwatschen (to give so. a dressing down)
As might be expected abschäublen means to force somebody to accept something that is bad for them. (I hope the minister is proud.)
This year’s Literaturfest in Munich hosted writers like Paul Murray and Petros Markaris. The writers presented their most recent works (“The Mark and the Void” by Murray and “Der Tod des Odysseus” by Markaris). Both books deal mainly with the effects of the financial crisis in their respective countries.
Markaris, who is best known for his crime novels, has now published a collection of short stories in German. Markaris’ novels have chronicled the steady decline of Greece and these newly published stories are his darkest yet. In one story a priest is murdered, because the people in his formerly middle class parish don’t condone his charity towards poor immigrants any longer. The priest’s plea to his parish members to love their neighbours as themselves provokes their hatred. Charity has become the choice between the bare minimum of a decent life for themselves or for others.
In another story Markaris’ narrator sketches the life of a homeless Greek, Alexandros Seremetis, in his early Fifties. The man had an English wife and two sons. He used to have a business, but lost both business and family due to the economic crisis. When the murder in the same story is solved the narrator comments: “The crime against the murder victim we managed to solve. The crime against Alexandros Seremetis remains unsolved, because the perpetrator can’t be found. It seems it’ll stay that way and his case will only gather dust in the archives.” (My translation)
Markaris was born to an Armenian father and a Greek mother, and grew up in Istanbul where he attended the St. Georgs Kolleg, an Austrian run school. He is in his eighties now and seems to record what is happening in Greece with a certain detachment. A detachment that Paul Murray, who is forty-two years younger, cannot afford. It is Murray’s generation who is bearing the brunt of the financial crisis. “The Mark and the Void” is original and fun to read despite the subject, but the anger, despair and hatred against those who caused the crisis are palpable.