Silberputzen

A literary mystification: the supposed diary of Andreas Pohl, a far from model pupil in the fifth form before the First World War, as put together by a fictional editor and illustrated with period postcards. The son of a Viennese privy councillor, he is moved, officially because of his mother's illness, though in the end something more delicate emerges, from his school in Vienna to one in Pressburg (Bratislava). The diary runs only from 9 September to 3 November. The well-brought-up, comfortable adolescent arrives in the former coronation town with muddled dreams of the maid at home and of an honourable officer's career, and finds the town's corners, its love-struck apprentice girls from the Stollwerck factory and strolling couples far more instructive than his lessons at the Magyarising school.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novella

Length

103 pages in the original

Genres

Coming of age, Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

Slovakia, Austria, 1910s

First published

2006 by Albert Marenčin Vydavateľstvo PT

Author's age

65 when first published

ISBN

8089218113 (original)