A REVIEW OF AQUALAND
BY FRIEDRICH KRÖHNKE

The following review of German writer Friedrich Kröhnke’s tenth novel, Aqualand, published by Amman Verlag in Zürich in 1996 was published in issue 18 of  Koinos Magazine, Amsterdam, 2^nd Quarter 1998, pp. 12-13.

Memoirs of a Swimming Bath Nomad
by Gorrit Goslinga

After his disappointing (because it remained superficial) collection of stories Dieser Berliner Sommer (1994, reviewed in Koinos 5), the German author Friedrich Kröhnke has come back strongly with the short novel Aqualand, with which he again approaches the level of P14 (1992, reviewed in Koinos 1), his probing chronicle of the love between a West Berlin man and an East Berlin boy, set against the iron background of the Wall and its collapse.

Three German exiles pass the time together in the Southern Thai metropolis of Hat Yai, comfortably close to the Malaysian border for the necessary new visa every four weeks: a former shoplifter and smuggler between the two Germanies, an ex-secret agent for the DDR, and a pedophile who used to hang out in swimming pools throughout the whole of the reunited country in search of sexually charged encounters with boys. It is clear that ali three have reached a dead end: real, exciting, adventuresome life lies behind them now, and the way back is cut off. With shrinking financial resources, the future holds nothing more than giving English lessons in order to prolong existence. They’re not even interested in the possibilities of their new surroundings, although they have an eye for each other’s suffering, and that of the people around them. They dredge up memories, in which, despite the best of intentions, they hardly empathize with each other. The one thing which ties them together is their aversion to the authorities in the homeland. Only a stickler for details will note that the observations of the Thai situation seem to be considerably older than those with regard to Germany.

In view of the title and Kröhnke’s previous work, it will not be surprising that he handles the flashbacks of the swimming bath hunter the best. We see him in fleeting and more intensive contacts with lusty and curious boys, often adolescent and generally of foreign extraction; in competition with men who are looking for the same thing as he is; and in his turn being hunted by a fanatical pool manager into whose inner and marriage lives Kröhnke likewise hazards casting a glance. From the very fırst meeting the confontation is clear, and despite various escapes the outcome likewise: the inevitable expulsion from swimming bath paradise. Only the inheritance from a Nazi uncle - a theme from Dieser Berliner Sommer - enables a flight from the scales and sword of Lady Justice.

Kröhnke must have been quite at home in the chlorinated water-worlds of Germany, Denmark and Czechoslovakia in the early 1990s. Many elements, such as giving and being given the eye, and flirting, make one think of gay cruising grounds, although other elements can’t be compared to anything else at all. However, he is describing situations and possibilities which have now slipped into the past - and not just for him - because of the increasing attention being given to them. Many will applaud that; others however know what has been lost along with them. As regards to that, the book reminds me strongly of Richard Rawson’s The Paggers Papers, concerning Pagsanjan, the playground of Western men and pubertal Filipinos. Anyone who does not recognize himself among the participants won’t be able to appreciate it. The scene can be described now, only because it no longer exists.

Friedrich Kröhnke, Aqualand
Amman Verlag, Zürich, 1996
ISBN 3-250-10289-X