Unknown location (Salamander, 1938) is a short epistolary novel written by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. It is a novel praised for having anticipated the second great conflict of the XNUMXth century, capable of portraying the ideology and friendship of two Germans while Nazism takes root in a surprising way in anyone not prepared for it.
Over the course of 80 pages, two German friends write to each other from the other side of the world. While one continues to reside in the United States, the other has decided to return to his country, to troubled Germany in the years before the outbreak of World War II. This is a kind of epistolary prelude to World War II.
Unknown whereabouts: the epistolary prelude to World War II
Narrate by observing
Unknown location is the story of two German friends who exchange a series of letters. Through the letters it is known that Max Eisenstein continues to reside in San Francisco (United States) while his friend and partner, Martin Schulse, has decided to return to Germany during the rise of Nazism. Confusion reigning as it was in that time and space, the epistles become illuminating and dramatic while issuing unprecedented judgments.. Through these unique characters, Kressmann analyzes the context and issues a warning of caution without trying to manipulate or please the reader.
This short epistolary novel, however, also has a surprising ending in a story where fate gravitates in the same way it does in real life. Thus It highlights how condensed the narrative is, despite the stinging observation it makes of reality.. Fictitious letters do not detract from the analysis; On the contrary, the union of both is what makes this novel an extraordinary literary work.
For its part, the story arises from an event that the author witnessed in the United States when some Germans avoided the greeting of an old Jewish friend. The author was able to see like few others what was taking place on European soil and this book is an epistolary prelude to the Second World War.
Sending letters
Max and Martin's letters seem friendly at first and little by little they turn dark as events unfold. Max is of Jewish origin and the loyalty that had united them is corrupted because Martin joins his family in Germany in the shadow of the regime that began in 1933. He begins to work in the service of the Nazis and in those circumstances the nature of the letters reveals the cruelty and fanaticism typical of the dawn of World War II.
Since the novel is the germ that anticipates what is to come, in its pages It also exudes the context that would explain what happened in Germany between the First and Second World Wars.. For this reason they also have a special literary value. Many details emerge from the epistles of Max and Martin that subtly develop defeatism and the subsequent conquest of the Germans by Hitler's ideas. Something that is much more than an 80-page novel, but that Kressmann knows how to use to his advantage.
The novel is dominated by the Germans' perspective on Nazism, how some had lived in the United States and then returned to Germany. Concord and brotherhood destroyed by the rise of Hitler are also the key to the book. A novel with a very harsh and sharp observation about what was coming to the world, in which the author especially tried to raise the conscience of Americans and Germans about the dangers of Nazism.
Conclusions
The danger posed by National Socialism has never been so well condensed. Unknown location es a short novel in which the events adjust to the letters that its protagonists address to each other. The narrative is direct and plain and leaves open the gap of the ideological and racist conflict two years before it broke out. Without a doubt, it is an epistolary novel that has already gone down in history because it portrays very little of the social situation in Germany at the time. It is read in one breath and Within historical fiction, it provides a sagacious and very sharp point of view..
About the author
Kathrine Kressmann Taylor was an American writer born in 1903.. He was a student at the University of Oregon and dedicated himself to advertising and teaching, teaching communication and creative writing. In 1938 he published his first novel, Unknown location, a critique of Nazi ideology and what was to come with the rise of National Socialism, just two years before the Second World War began. His novel was banned for a time in Germany, but it became known thanks to the several translations it had in different countries. Her influence in the United States was special.. Today it is considered a classic work of XNUMXth century literature for its congruence and acuity. His second novel is titled Until That Day.