Eugen Ruge: In Times of Fading Light

In Times of Fading Light is Eugen Ruge's 2011 German Book Prize-winning debut novel. A multi-generational story spanning well over half a century (and drawing to a certain extent on Ruge's own family history), it charts the impact of wider historical events on the lives of the Umlitzer family, who once belonged to the Communist elite but whose socialist utopia has long-since vanished by the time the book opens in 2001. Through four generations Ruge presents different perspectives of life under different political regimes and the restrictions they imposed - we move from Fascism, to Communism and post-Communism, finishing with hyper-Capitalism. We witness characters' lives that still have their fair share of mundane chores, problems and domestic disputes, but which appear extraordinary set against backdrops that are hard now to imagine.