Reading in autumn : Daniel Glattauer, Quand souffle le vent du nord.

Quand soufflé le vent du nord, is a book written by Daniel Glattauer, an Austrian writer who was born in Vienna in 1960; the original German title of the novel is Gut gegen Nordwind. Daniel Glattauer has been written since 1989 many political and judicial chroniques for the Austrian newspaper Der Standard. He also has written many books and “Quand soufflé le vent du nord has achieved a great international success.

In these windy days in Catalunya, I remember this book that I was reading a few months ago.
 I read the French version. The book’s argument is about the  virtual relationship between a married woman with children, Emma, and a shy but intelligent single man, Leo, who also has another relationship, in this case a real relationship with another woman,  although this affaire doesn’t work very well.

Emma and Leo meet each other by chance in the virtual world and they begin to develop correspondence by e-mail, at the end they create a dependence relationship, but in spite of that they never meet them in the real world.

The dialogs of the book are intelligent, but it’s for me not very easy to understand, why two potential friends who have a good feeling on line are “frightened” to meet them, in the real world.

I think this comedy is a reflection about this virtual way of communication, and it's also one reflection about the solitude installed in some hearts. The virtual communicaton can sometimes help to improve the communication in the real world, and it can be also a first step for one future appointment, but I also think that to write thousands of e-mails can never replace just an appointment face to face. Everybody can "lie" in the virtual world, but face to face is already more difficult if you are not a good actor.

 

                                                                              Salvador Dalí. 

Deseo

Sólo tu corazón caliente

y nada más.

Federico García Lorca.