A woman leaves 1930s Berlin on a trip to France with her lover. When the slice of France he offers her isn’t what she dreamed of, she learns that he, too, is less than what she imagined. This sensuous story of a summer spent falling in and out of love is graced with playful dialogue, rich landscapes, and the subtle inner musings of a woman who sets off alone to discover her own paradise.
Background for Love is a semi-autobiographical novella by Helen Wolff, a prominent publisher, translator, and the founder of Pantheon Books. Following the dreamlike novella is an enriching companion essay by Marion Detjen, the author’s great niece, who discovered the manuscript in a box in the attic and decided to share it with the world. It’s a special read for anyone who finishes a book and starts to wonder what the characters are getting up to next. The addition of the essay is an opportunity to descend further into Wolff’s story, through details about her own life and the historical context surrounding her posthumously published novella.
“I sit on the edge of the well and look around at my small world; the moonlight suits the daisy bush nicely, it’s as white as it is in daylight. Wolf is right, I think. Life is magnificent, as long as you can be content with it. Anything else is false. To yield, just as you take the water trustingly into your arms when swimming; if you have no fear, then you can’t go under. Fear is the only false thing. To be always on high alert, that’s false. To indulge in sinister thoughts is false. The thing to do is to put yourself in the arms of life. Just as they used to give in to God’s command. Maybe, after all, it’s not so different” (70).
