All That I Am

“You feel things before you can think them. A narrative was being drawn here from selected facts – the easy story. And I was in a waking dream of drowning, a puppy in a tin bucket, silent bubbles coming out of my mouth, floating uselessly to the surface. Every time I want to protest I take in water.” – Anna Funder

Anna Funder’s All That I Am is a multi-themed, multilayered narrative spanning 68 years between contemporary Sydney and pre-war Germany, England, France and New York. Told by characters Ruth Blatt and Ernst Toller, the novel begins in Berlin with the line, “When Hitler came to power I was in the bath.”

These are words reminiscent of Funder’s Samuel Johnson-prize winning Stasiland. They are clear and factual, the sentences dark and humorous, absurdly coupled nouns held together by verbs. And while on the surface both novels appear to share in theme and locality – Funder has set both of her works at least partially in Germany, and has used a journalistic style of expression, explicit in Stasiland and understood in All That I Am – the works differ greatly, both in audience engagement and authorial voice.

At its advent, the story moves between Ruth’s latter years in Sydney and her former in Berlin. In Sydney, Ruth receives a notebook as “brittle as old skin, or a pile of leaves”. The notebook, discovered in the basement of a New York hotel, is filled with the writings of Ernst Toller and serves as the novel’s TARDIS, for it is through this book that we learn more of Ernst and Ruth, as well as Ruth’s husband Hans and cousin Dora.

In 1933, a group of left-wing activists flee Berlin and settle in London where they continue to alert the world to a rallying, war-ready Germany, despite such behaviour’s illegality – London would grant asylum to refugees so long as they remained apolitical. While looking for houses, Funder, through Ruth, also comments on the political situation between the English and the Irish, reminding the reader, albeit briefly, of her ability as a witty observer.

In Berlin, Hitler accuses the Communists of burning a Reichstag building and there is a show trial. Eventually, “and despite the commission finding no evidence against the four accused,” the fire is used as a political tool and Hitler suspends the civil liberties of the German population.

In response, Dora announces a rival trial in London and, through her contacts in Germany, sneaks her witnesses into England. “This will be the most public event we can make it … worldwide publicity,” she says. But this attracts the attention of the Gestapo – the idea that they existed beyond Germany’s borders was largely dismissed at the time – and eventually Dora and Mathilde, a late entrant to the group, are found dead in their flat.

At the inquest, Toller and Ruth are virtually silenced by the coroner – “I feel I must make it clear at the outset … that we cannot have politics introduced into this court” – and the jury determines their causes of death to be suicides, a further comment on England’s ignorance of, or disbelief at, a growing, war-hungry Germany.

Funder is a refreshing voice in the Australian literary scene who, along with writers like Tom Cho, sets her stories predominantly overseas. All That I Am is an enormous undertaking, both in literary scope and style: there are two narrators, multiple locations, point-of-view changes and the responsibility to those who inspired the narrative.

In what must be an exceedingly annoying occurrence, many – myself included, obviously – will attempt to draw parallels between this book and Stasiland, as it seems inherent to compare what is known with that which is new. All That I Am lacks Anna Funder the character, or indeed an equivalent replacement, whose thoughts and feelings populated Stasiland and allowed for literary immersion: a full-body escape, a dream one navigates while aware of the dream.This is not to say All That I Am lacks substance; quite the opposite. Funder addresses a Britain inundated with political refugees prior to World War II – a largely ignored subject – and develops several strong protagonists, especially Dora, an intelligent feminist-socialist.

Funder has created an important, factual narrative that, while lacking in authorial moxie (or relative authorial moxie), makes up for itself through its depiction of a time in need of remembrance.

Rating: 3 stars

All That I Am
By Anna Funder
Penguin, paperback, RRP $29.95