Finding Shelter - Grove by Esther Kinsky

Were it not for the newly released English translation of Am Fluß, published as River (translated by Iain Galbraith), most people in the English-speaking world might never have previously been aware of Esther Kinsky. She initially made a name for herself translating from Polish, Russian, and English literature into German by authors including Olga Tokarczuk, Joanna Bator and Thoreau. Her first novel was published only ten years ago, but has over ten publications since then.

Many of Kinsky's writing are circuitous explorations on history and memory, often playing on the interaction of a foreign figure with an unfamiliar landscape and ambivalent locals. Her work has been simultaneously described as empathetic and austere. In the case of Grove, the landscape being explored is Italy, but not the place of postcard clichés. In the first journey, the recently bereaved narrator travels to a small village near Rome. It quickly becomes apparent this flâneuse is reminiscent of certain figures in books by W.G. Sebald – minus the illustrations. The novel’s second part is a trip down memory lane, to Italy of the 70s that the narrator frequently visited as a child. The third section is set several years later, in Northern Italy, near the Po estuary. In particular, this final exploration is imbued with a deep sense of the narrator’s reconciling with her loss, but also an openness for the new place that is today’s Italy, including refuges wandering the streets.
Although this may all sound too depressing to make it a favorite for the prize, Grove reaffirms Kinsky’s status as a literary heavyweight and someone whose work will be read for long time to come. Odds: 2-1.