“Fruchtcocktails” and “Explosionen”: Navigating War and Destruction in Olga Grjasnowa’s Gott ist nicht schüchtern (2017)

Abstract

With more than two thirds of Olga Grjasnowa’s Gott ist nicht schüchtern set in present-day Syria, the novel’s main objective is to convey to its readers a sense of the Syrian Civil War and its effects on individual lives. Grjasnowa goes to great lengths to describe the early days of the uprising, the atrocities committed by the Assad regime, and the slow but definite destruction and ultimate uninhabitability of the Syrian nation state. But the text also reveals the importance of coping mechanisms and strategies for survival and resistance. By foregrounding the quotidian spaces of everyday life and the often banal routines for navigating war and destruction, this article interrogates to what extent life under extreme conditions is still conceivable and explores what kinds of insights the depiction of war opens up for envisioning a more hospitable environment for newcomers in the host country.