Speculations About Jakob by Uwe Johnson

First published:Mutmassungen über Jakob, 1959 (English translation, 1963)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Psychological realism

Time of plot: Mid-1950’s

Locale: East Germany

Principal characters

• Jakob Abs, a railroad dispatcher in East Germany
• Gesine Cresspahl, a worker for NATO in West Germany and lover of Jakob
• Herr Rohlfs, an agent of the East German secret service
• Jonas Blach, an assistant in the English department at the university in East Berlin, in love with Gesine
• Heinrich Cresspahl, a cabinetmaker in East Germany, Gesine’s father and a father figure to Jakob

The Story:

Jakob Abs is killed crossing the railroad tracks, tracks he has crossed many times in the past. His death leads several people to recall what they know of his life and to speculate about his death.

Rohlfs, an East German secret agent, is observing Heinrich Cresspahl in the small northeastern town of Jerichow because Cresspahl’s daughter, Gesine Cresspahl, works for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in West Germany. Gesine met Jakob Abs when he and his mother arrived in Jerichow as refugees from Pomerania at the end of World War II. She was thirteen and he eighteen at the time. They soon developed a brother-sister relationship, which they have continued through her university years and his time working at a railroad job in another town. Gesine finally decided to leave Communist East Germany and move to West Germany.

Rohlfs talks to Jakob’s mother about the goals of socialism; she asks Heinrich Cresspahl to carry two suitcases for her to the train station, which causes the rumor that Cresspahl has left for West Germany. Jakob, who works as a dispatcher for the state-owned East German railroad, is contacted by Rohlfs and receives a telegram from Cresspahl, saying that his mother has gone to the West.

Jonas Blach leaves East Berlin, where he teaches English at the university; he meets Gesine in the street when she is walking with American officers to their car. In Jerichow, he is introduced to Jakob at Cresspahl’s house, where Jakob has gone because his mother has left. Some time before he traveled to Jerichow, Jakob broke up with his girlfriend, Sabine. As usual, Rohlfs is keeping them all under surveillance. Jakob puts his mother’s things in order; to him it feels as though she has died. Jonas, who is involved in a group critical of the Communist government, tells Jakob and Cresspahl about the group.

When Cresspahl calls Gesine to tell her about Jakob’s death, she has already heard about it. She remembers how she, on a surprise visit from West Germany, had run into Rohlfs, whom she did not know at the time. She had sat in a restaurant, waiting, and as Jakob walked in, he recognized Rohlfs. Jakob denied Gesine’s identity while establishing eye contact with her to let her know he would meet her later. He then left with Rohlfs to talk about his mother. When Jakob met Gesine outside, they took a cab to another city to catch the train to Jerichow. After an escapelike trip that involved changing trains, long after midnight they ended up at Cresspahl’s house, where Jonas still waited. Rohlfs met them all there later, and they discussed the political situation, especially the rebellion in Hungary. Rohlfs allowed Gesine to return to West Germany.

Jonas returns to East Berlin; Gesine sends a telegram from the first post office on the West German side. Coming to his office, Rohlfs discovers that Jakob disappeared Tuesday evening. Jonas, who has lost his job at the university, visits Jakob that Tuesday, October 30. It is the day when Jakob has to decide for himself whether to use his job at the railroad to delay a troop transport with tanks under way to end the rebellion in Hungary; he lets it pass through because he understands that a delay of ten minutes or even a day will not make any difference. In their conversation, Jonas also realizes that Gesine has not told Jakob about her love for Jakob.

The next day, Jakob makes his trip to the West, officially to see his mother, which Rohlfs has cleared with the authorities. Jakob calls Gesine from his hotel, and they spend time together over the next few days. Coming from a visit to the refugee camp, they hear on the radio about the suppression of the Hungarian rebellion by the Soviets and the imminent military action by the West in the Suez Crisis. On their last night together, Gesine asks Jakob to stay in the West, while he asks her to come with him to the East. She takes him to the local train station, and he leaves alone. The next morning, he is very tired, and, as he crosses the railroad tracks on his way to his job, he is struck by a train. He dies shortly afterward during surgery. Sabine and Jonas, who have in the meantime been staying with friends and visited a literature class at another university, notify Cresspahl. Cresspahl arrives in the early afternoon, and Jonas takes a train to Jerichow. The next morning, however, Jonas turns himself in to Rohlfs, who arrests him. Gesine meets with Rohlfs in West Berlin to talk about what has happened.

Bibliography

Baker, Gary Lee. Understanding Uwe Johnson. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999. Presents examination of Johnson’s five novels, with chapter 4 devoted to an analysis of Speculations About Jakob. Another chapter discusses Johnson’s approach to narrative and storytelling.

Boulby, Mark. Uwe Johnson. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1974. Places Speculations About Jakob within the context of world literature and German literature. Provides plot summary and character analysis for this intricate novel, with English translations for all quotations.

Demetz, Peter. After the Fires: Recent Writing in the Germanies, Austria, and Switzerland. 1986. Reprint. San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. Presents concise discussion of Johnson’s complete works that is useful for understanding Speculations About Jakob.

Fickert, Kurt J. Dialogue with the Reader: The Narrative Stance in Uwe Johnson’s Fiction. Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1996. Focuses on Johnson’s innovative narrative techniques, through which the author seeks to involve his readers in creating the structure of his novels. Chapter 1 examines Speculations About Jakob.

Hirsch, Marianne. Beyond the Single Vision: Henry James, Michel Butor, Uwe Johnson. York, S.C.: French Literature Publications, 1981. Offers interpretation of Speculations About Jakob as well as character analysis, including discussion of each character’s function as narrator. Presents all quotations in the original German and in English.

Johnson, Uwe. “’Unacknowledged Humorist’: An Interview with Uwe Johnson.” Interview by Leslie A. Wilson. Dimension 15, no. 3 (1982): 398-413. Johnson answers several questions directly pertaining to Speculations About Jakob.

Taberner, Stuart. Distorted Reflections: The Public and Private Uses of the Author in the Work of Uwe Johnson, Günter Grass, and Martin Walser, 1965-1975. Atlanta: Rodopi, 1998. Examines the fiction of the three writers and public intellectuals who lived in the former West Germany to determine their involvement in political activities. Demonstrates how Johnson’s fiction portrays intellectuals who acknowledge their impotence and retreat from political engagement.