The New Apartment by Heinz Huber
"The New Apartment" by Heinz Huber delves into the complexities of modern social dynamics through the lens of a seemingly mundane gathering at the home of a young couple, Marx and Kay Messemer. Their newly refurbished apartment, marked by minimalistic decor and a sense of sterility, serves as a backdrop for interactions that reflect both privilege and underlying tensions. The narrator admires Marx and views the gathering as emblematic of a society adapting to post-war realities, yet the atmosphere is laden with restraint, as guests shy away from potentially controversial topics.
The Messemers' pride in their apartment, which was once a cluttered space belonging to reclusive widows, underscores the acute housing shortages following World War II. This history creates a feeling of discomfort that seeps into the evening's conversations, revealing an awareness of socio-economic struggles lurking beneath the surface. The evening's entertainment shifts to cool jazz records, echoing the apartment's austere aesthetic. Conclusively, the narrator's reflections as he heads home hint at a cautious optimism about future aspirations, framed within the realities of the present moment. This story captures the nuanced interplay between aspiration, social status, and the constraints of a transformed society.
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The New Apartment by Heinz Huber
First published: 1961
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The 1950's
Locale: Germany
Principal Characters:
The narrator , a middle-class German technicianHis wife Marx Messemer , his colleagueKay Messemer , his colleague's wifeFraulein Kliesing , a party guest
The Story
The narrator describes a bland and uneventful social gathering at the home of Marx and Kay Messemer, a young upwardly mobile couple who are proud of their newly acquired, completely refurbished apartment. Its wall-to-wall carpeting is graphite gray; its furniture is severely functional; and its walls are bare, except for a single painting. One of its few decorations is a leafless branch in a large glass vase. The effect reminds the narrator of the Italian artist Giorgio Chirico, whose surrealistic paintings of deserted city squares convey uncanny feelings of loneliness and melancholy.
The narrator, who admires his friend Marx, mentions that he considers such modest social gatherings to be significant in the development of a new society that is adapting to a changed environment. This comment is typical of the story's ambiguity and understatement. The hosts and their guests actually seem inhibited, determined to avoid any topics of conversation that might cause embarrassment. The apartment itself serves as a neutral topic that helps them evade more awkward or controversial matters.
The narrator describes Marx as a connoisseur of cool jazz, whose entire apartment suggests "cool jazz converted into armchairs, carpets, lamps (or rather light-fittings), and pictures." The Messemers boast about what they have achieved, spending much of the evening describing how they managed to get their place and how much time and thought have gone into its modernization. They reveal that the rooms were formerly occupied by two reclusive old widows, who lived among piles of accumulated junk and paid no attention to housekeeping or maintenance. This is thus not a new apartment in a modern building, but a modernized unit in an old building that has survived World War II.
After one of the widows died, the Messemers managed to have the other woman placed in a nursing home. From their descriptions of the maneuverings through which they went to get their apartment, it is clear that there has been an acute housing shortage since the surrender of Germany in the war. Embarrassed by this development in the conversation, the narrator states: "I had the feeling that Messemer now had really gone a bit too far."
Later in the evening, the host entertains his guests by playing some of his newest cool jazz records. Afterward, the narrator and his wife take a taxi home. He explains that they do not own a car yet but adds: "I'm quite confident we shall have one next year or the year after—provided that nothing comes in between, which I think rather improbable."