New novel

Franzobel: A true fate in “Menschenzoo”

Franzobel's new novel is set in Greenland, where he spent a month.

(Bild: Franzobel)

Author Franzobel is one of the most important voices in contemporary Austrian literature. His new novel "Hundred Words for Snow" will be published on February 18. In it, he tells the story of an Inuit who once ended up in the "Völkerschau" - and broke apart as a result. After Trump's grab for Greenland, Franzobel's book is highly topical. 

Greenland, the island in the far north, is currently at the center of world politics. US President Donald Trump wants to buy or annex Greenland. The predominantly traditional inhabitants, the Inuit, would then suffer "an Indian fate", believes the Upper Austrian author Franzobel.

His new novel "Hundred Words for Snow" (Zsolnay) is set in Greenland. It centers on the fate of the Inuit Minik, who was brought to New York in 1897 by the polar explorer Robert Peary together with some relatives as a display object in a "human zoo".

"Krone": Why does Minik's story have to be told right now?
Franzobel: The climate catastrophes are getting worse and worse, the western world lives only according to the principle of growth. I found it appealing to describe a society that has completely different values and still really lives in harmony with nature, knows no war, but also no king, no president, not even a boss - which is why the Inuit find it difficult to find their way in the western world.

(Bild: Julia Heimburger)

You spent a month in Greenland yourself. What is your strongest memory?
Eating raw seal, carving up narwhals and the powerful, magnificent nature. In contrast to the Inuit in Canada and Alaska, the people here still live very traditionally. Each family has around a dozen sled dogs. There are perhaps 10 kilometers of road in the whole of Greenland. Some of the hunting is still done with harpoons and kayaks.

(Bild: Zsolnay)

You tell the true story of Minik, an Inughuit who ends up in a human zoo. You tell the fate of a primitive people through him. How can we imagine him?
Minik is a torn man, a homeless person and therefore a figure of identification for all emigrants and displaced persons. In America, he becomes a pawn of various interests; in North Greenland, where he finally returns, he remains a stranger.

Now Trump wants to exploit Greenland. Is history repeating itself?
The soft colonization of the Danes has already brought a lot of disaster for the Inuit, but an Americanized Greenland with proletarianized locals and US millionaires who go hunting for fun would be a catastrophe.

What do you think?
Humanity can learn a lot from the Inuit. Hopefully the novel conveys a little of this.

Franzobel: "Hundert Wörter für Schnee", ZsolnayVerlag; €28, available from February 18;