"Ideas" by Patricio Pron - Critical Theory Essay

The Agent of Social Change:

 Antiestablishment Metaphor in Patricio Pron’s Ideas

  

Christopher Grapes

Intermediate Expository Composition 201

Leslie Jewkes

Abstract

            Patricio Pron, in his short story “Ideas”, writes of a mysterious youth named Peter who exerts a strange influence over the children of the small East German town of Sterberode, leading them away into the night with no reason or explanation. The adults of the town search for the children, expressing concern and eventually fear and denial over the seemingly supernatural powers of Peter. By placing the story under a hermeneutic lens and overlaying Pron’s own history and influences, we can examine the tale as a harsh critique of oppressive government control and an investigation into subversive propaganda and social disorder. 

 “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” – President Reagan

Argentinian Patricio Pron’s short story “Ideas” is a tale about the mysterious disappearance and subsequent reappearance of children from the fictional East German town of Sterberode, during the 1980s. The main character, a child named Peter Möhlendorf, appears to lure the other children away by means unknown, leaving the adults of the village in fear and confusion until they eventually return, unscathed and unharmed. The surface tale appears a relatively benign mystery about the events, but the tale also represents a powerful metaphor for Pron’s experiences and knowledge of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Reunification of Germany.

            The Germany of the 1980s was divided, following the conclusion of World War Two. Though it was initially split into four distinct sectors, ideologically the country was split between Western (comprising of Britain, America and France) and Eastern (Soviet Union) blocs. During the last few years of its division, East Germany saw numerous uprisings and increased political disorder as the government attempted to stranglehold the population, censoring subversive literature and arresting writers and journalists who questioned the regime and demanded reform. “Ideas” is set within this timeframe in East Germany.

            Pron himself was born in Argentina 1975, and spent most of his childhood there. Though a country not necessarily associated with the European Soviet blocs, Argentina was a country in its own social disorder – during the 1970s the National Reorganization Process saw a military dictatorship seize the country, and proceed to eliminate, whether through deportation or other means, any who opposed the ideology of the newly established government. In the 1990s, Pron moved to Germany, studying literature at the University of Göttingen. Though this move occurred after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the country was still struggling with reunification, and Pron's experiences with Argentina's own recovery from the oppressive government would have made him highly sensitive to political turmoil, possibly more so than ordinary citizens who lived before and during Reunification. Oliver Hartwich, living in West Germany at the time of  the fall, identified that "if you had asked the West Germans before 1989 about the chances of re-unification, the older ones would have told you that it was not going to happen in their lifetime. The younger ones would not even have understood the question"(9). The influence upon Pron of these periods of social upheaval is undeniable within his texts, especially within his views of politics and government.

            The government as presented in the story is a mostly ineffective force. The narrator consistently references them as "the so-called Democratic Republic of Germany". Their place in the story mostly comes from their failures - the failure to build a highway and the failure to locate the missing children (the only direct government involvement comes in the searches, where nameless and faceless members of the Volkspolizei and Volksarmee (respectively the police and armed forces of East Germany) search fruitlessly and without comment). The narrator notes that "the management of ruins is the only thing that government really seemed to have devoted itself to"(Eggers 317). Though referencing a medieval wall the government leveled in preparation of highway construction, one could also take this as an oblique reference to the Berlin Wall itself - the government so possessed with managing and controlling the wall, little else actually matters to them. Indeed, several commentators have noted that the Berlin Wall is itself “the most important icon of the Cold War, and the fall […] remains the best known marker of its end”(Schaefer 506). In effect, its literal breakup serves as a potent metaphor for the ideological breakup of the Soviet Union.

Adults in the story are introduced by their profession – most seem to be relatively core jobs, essential for the basic running of a rural Soviet bloc – farmers, teachers and maintenance (electrician, tailor, etc) – whereas children are introduced entirely by their ages. Of course, we would not expect children to possess jobs, but considering the children are representative of the rebelling faction (also perhaps a tie-in with adolescent rebellion in itself?), perhaps this is intentional that they are described as such. The adults are not represented as particularly intelligent in themselves – though they are educated in their profession, they seem to possess little imagination or desire for knowledge – though they search for the children, they never seem to express any concern as to why they disappeared.

The events of Peter’s disappearance and, later, the children’s disappearance and return are presented matter-of-factly. After the children return, the parents do not further question the event, aside from brief musings on the fleeting nature of childhood. The hermeneutic interpretations of these events are broad and meaningful. Considering the time frame, and the consistent references to the government of East Germany, one could take the event as a metaphor for the socialist government, and the eventual downfall and reunification of the country. Peter convincing the other children to join “his side” could be representative of social disorder – Peter is “recruiting” children to distance themselves from Sterberode (ostensibly representative of East and West Germany– examine the line “The woods are on the outskirts of Sterberode and continue until they are silhouetted against the Harz mountain range, diving the region in two” (Eggers 318), a clear reference to the division of Germany).

One interesting influence for Pron comes from German folktales – Peter’s influence over the children is strikingly similar to the famous tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The folktale concerns the eponymous piper, who possesses a remarkable ability to lure rats with his pipe. The city government hires him to rid the town of vermin, but rebuke him once he comes to collect payment. He seeks revenge on the government by changing his tune to one that lures children instead, leading them from the town and taking them into a mountain, where they are never heard from again. The comparisons are obvious – Peter is the Piper, luring children to his rebellion following dissatisfaction with an uncaring government. Bertolt Brecht argues that the tale of the Pied Piper can also be used as an analogy for social criticism, demonstrating that the Piper wants to “rescue them from the city, that the children could have a better place to grow up” (Wilkening). This creates a particularly intricate layer in Pron’s own story – both can be considered metaphors for antiestablishment against an oppressive government.

            Under such tightly controlled regimes, subversive underground literature is often the focal point for antiestablishment movements. During the communist regime of the Soviet Union, subversive literature like this became known as samizdat – literally translated as “self-publishing”. Because of intense government censorship of printed materials, these underground works of literature were often highly political in nature, whether fiction, poetry or non-fictional essays. The state controlled all forms of media, and this was often the only way to spread opinions or criticism of the government. As such, to avoid detection, this type of literature relied heavily on hermeneutics to get the message across – what could be on the surface a benign and mostly harmless tale of peasantry could, when viewed from the right mindset, be a powerful antiestablishment message. To that end, the subversive literature of Pron’s childhood ostensibly influenced him, layering his own works with such almost subliminal messaging.

            The striking similarities between Peter’s tale and the Pied Piper could even be compared at the samizdat level too – by the late 70s the persecution of samizdat writers was not as ferocious as it was during the height of the Soviet government. Original writers of the material were still subject to arrest and punishment, but retypers of the material were left alone. Toker surmises that “from the point of view of the authorities, [retyping] may have helped to keep urban intelligentsia busy and out of mischief” (741). Could this be what Pron is doing? Retyping the story of the Pied Piper as a demonstration of legitimate (ie – government approved) samizdat?

            At the height of the Cold War, in comparison, samizdat was punishable to extremes. Possessing it became a crime – even knowing of it could lead to arrest. This helped to foster a level of willful ignorance for many citizens, pretending such literature didn’t exist, even when presented with it at face value. When Peter Möhlendorf turns around and smiles at the narrator, he expresses disbelief, denying that Peter himself (and thus, subversive antiestablishment movements) even existed:

I couldn’t see his face because he was in the shadows, and yet I think I remember—but it could just have been an illusion—that he smiled and that his smile didn’t explain anything, not a thing. (Eggers 321)

More clues to Peter representing a metaphor for literature can be found in the narrator's growing concerns about Peter's abilities -  his "growing influence with the rest of the children, his ability to vanish in a small town in a relatively accessible region [...] and his ability to go without food and shelter" (Eggers 320). An ability to survive without food and shelter could be a subtle note to the decentralized nature of subversive literature - often consisting of a group effort with no explicit author, editor or publisher mentioned. To this end, Peter himself is an agent of social change – he is the embodiment of the antiestablishment literature of Pron’s youth, literature that, as a student and eventually teacher, he would have almost certainly come across himself.

            In a 2010 interview, Pron identified a key element in the hermeneutical impact of his work. Questioned on whether he was writing autobiographically, he stated "Not exactly in its plot, which is imaginary, but yes with regard to the narrator’s opinions about literature, and to the question that permeates the entire story of why and from where the young writers [...] come from"(Post). By the deeper meaning inherent in Ideas, from the idea of Peter as samizdat to the overarching themes of rebellion and social disorder, it can be concluded that, unlike the narrator, Peter’s smile was not just an illusion for Pron.

Works Cited

Eggers, Dave. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010. Boston: Mariner Books, 2010. Print.

Hartwich, Oliver Marc. "After The Wall: 20 Years On." Policy 25.4 (2009): 8-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.

Post, Chad W. "Patricio Pron." Three Percent. University of Rochester, 06 Dec. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2012.

Schaefer, Sagi. "Hidden Behind The Wall: West German State Building And The Emergence Of The Iron Curtain." Central European History (Cambridge University Press / UK) 44.3 (2011): 506-535. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.

Toker, Leona. "Samizdat And The Problem Of Authorial Control: The Case Of Varlam Shalamov." Poetics Today 29.4 (2008): 735-758. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.

Wilkening, Christoph. "The Pied Piper Of Hamelin." World & I 15.8 (2000): 178. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.

Bibliography

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Eggers, Dave. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010. Boston: Mariner Books, 2010. Print.

Hartwich, Oliver Marc. "After The Wall: 20 Years On." Policy 25.4 (2009): 8-11. Academic Search Complete. Web.

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Schaefer, Sagi. "Hidden Behind The Wall: West German State Building And The Emergence Of The Iron Curtain." Central European History (Cambridge University Press / UK) 44.3 (2011): 506-535. Academic Search Complete. Web.

Toker, Leona. "Samizdat And The Problem Of Authorial Control: The Case Of Varlam Shalamov." Poetics Today 29.4 (2008): 735-758. Academic Search Complete. Web.

Wilkening, Christoph. "The Pied Piper Of Hamelin." World & I 15.8 (2000): 178. MasterFILE Premier. Web.

Zatlin, Jonathan R. "Unifying Without Integrating: The East German Collapse And German Unity." Central European History (Cambridge University Press / UK) 43.3 (2010): 484. MasterFILE Premier. Web.