Oscar Peer

La chasa veglia / Das alte Haus

«Das ist immer das Schlimmste, denkt er, die Gewissheit, dass kein Wunder geschieht.»

Oscar Peer, an author from the Engadin valley in eastern Switzerland, tells of unwholesome goings-on in the pristine landscape of the Swiss Alps. When Chasper Fluri's father is laid to rest, he leaves his unpaid debts to his son. While Chasper is desperately trying to borrow money to keep the family home, Mayor Lemm steps in to stop him. Lemm realises that there is a profit to be made from the sale of the old house. Chasper is unwilling, but no one can or is inclined to help him so he gradually distances himself from the village community. The process is subtle and hidden. The conflict only openly flares up once, when Lemm and Chasper fight. Even though he is the victor this time, Chasper never really had a chance of winning out in the end. Happiness has become a mere memory for him: the memory of his family and the old times when his mother was still alive and his brother Domenic still around. The memory of his sweetheart Johanna. Oscar Peer portrays this simple, rural story with sober precision. Conflicting emotions always culminate in action and none of the characters are capable of thinking beyond the scope of their own experiences. This emphasized simplicity lends intensity and credibility – an existential depth – to the narrative. In the end the only option left to Chasper is to burn all bridges.

(Beat Mazenauer, trans. by Andrea Willfratt)

Translation of title: The Old House

Limmat Verlag, Zürich 2010

ISBN: 978-3-85791-599-4