Tomorrow can come
Ildikó von Kürthy’s new novel is a liberating act
Ildikó von Kürthy at the Hamburg Alster. Photo: Daniel Reinhardt/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Is marriage obsolete? What happens during menopause and should people strive for happiness? Ildikó von Kürthy gives answers to these questions in her new novel “Tomorrow can come”.
Ildikó von Kürthy (54) has been one of the most widely read German writers for decades.
In her first novel «Moonlight Tariff» (1999) she was still looking for «Mr. Right”, with her non-fiction books “Unter dem Herzen” (2012) and “Hilde” (2017), the author, who lives in Hamburg with her husband and two sons, gave insights into her life as a mother and dog owner.
Menopause is now one of her themes. For example in her new novel “Tomorrow can come”, which has now been published by Rowohlt Verlag in Hamburg.
A new form of energy
“The heroine of my first novel was still waiting for the right person to call. The current one frees itself from the false. This is how times change,” said Kürthy in the dpa interview in Hamburg. She wrote a liberation novel because she had the impression – and biology agrees with her – that mid-life women have a new form of energy.
«They take stock and say goodbye to what they have grown out of. It can be relationships, norms, outdated claims, but it can also be the job and it is the role of mother that we have to free ourselves from,” said the author.
The menopause also played a role. “It’s the case with every woman that the hormones estrogen and progesterone just get out of the field. These are the nest building and worry hormones. And then women no longer ask: ‘Honey, what should I cook tonight?’ But: ‘What am I hungry for?’ » That is not always well received by the environment.
What happens is basically a reversal: “During puberty, the estrogen shoots in and you wonder how you please others. During the menopause you finally ask yourself how you like yourself,” said Kürthy.
perspectives and life plans
Her protagonists Ruth and Gloria ask themselves similar questions. The two mismatched sisters broke up a long time ago and are now reunited at Gloria’s house. Gloria’s friends are also there: the seriously ill Rudi and the gay Erdal, who is bringing his cousin Fatma with him.
For the first time, Kürthy took the perspective of different protagonists. “It was an incredible adventure for me. It was also thrilling and exciting for me to see if I could even do it. Can I empathize with the thoughts and feelings of other people who are not at all close to me?”
Ruth considers leaving her husband who is cheating on her. Gloria lives without a husband, but in a house of friendship. “It can also be a good life plan. The classic marriage, which should last forever, is a life model of many and not, as you can see from the divorce rates, particularly promising, »said Kürthy.
It is a fundamental mistake to believe that men and women can and must automatically live well together “just because they can mate”. «Gloria lives differently than outdated norms dictate, separated, single parent with a family of friends. That’s an alternative, good way of life.”
Ildiko von Kürthy: Tomorrow can come. Rowohlt Verlag, Hamburg, 361 pages, 22 euros, ISBN 978-3-8052-0093-6