“It seemed to him that a story told, a story from the past, would never truly fade once it had moved someone. The act of remembering, of reading, was like a return, a homecoming into a story. He was never closer to himself than in the remembered and read.”
“…that was when she put the wind chimes on the balcony, along with a sprig of mistletoe and a linen sachet stuffed with Alpine leek and dried St John’s wort. He had always loved the smell as she burned the herbs and let the smoke drift through the house slightly sweet, spicily pungent, a hint of thyme, of heather and valerian, aromas of apple blossom, and resin.”
Twelve Nights by a Swiss writer, Urs Faes is a quiet, evocative atmospheric novella set in the frozen vastness of the Black Forest (in Germany) during the Twelve Nights between Christmas and Epiphany, a period of time that is traditionally associated with reflection and the supernatural when spirts wander and the frontier between the reality and spiritual realm becomes less visible.
“Year in and year out, she had told stories about these nights, the Twelve Nights, Dodecameron, which threatened disorder and peril through the work of dark forces, the abysses gaping open (..).”
Twelve Nights explores themes of memory, the mystical, solitude, grief, forgiveness, fragility of relationships, misunderstanding, loss, unrequited love and our connection to the past. The wintery landscape veiled in snow depicted in the book serves as a metaphor for the emotions felt by the protagonists and symbolises the inner struggle of the main protagonists as well as the state of their relationship.
“… finding sanctuary in the candlelit chapel, a pilgrim seeking quiet reflection…”
Written in poetic, restrained and intensely dreamlike prose, Twelve Nights depicts inner stillness, the suspended atmosphere and introspection marked by silence and uncertainty. The novella offers hope for gradual healing and transformation.
The story follows a solitary, emotionally guarded middle-aged man Manfred burden by guilt and unresolved grief. He returns to his childhood village after many years living abroad. Upon settling in the rented cabin, he is overwhelmed by the memories of his childhood and youth.
“Only on the edge of town did he stop and look around, searching for traces of something familiar after his many years of absence. (…) Familiarity drifted towards him like an old melody, as though something that has been missing all these years had suddenly returned.”
Manfred is haunted by the long-standing emotional and spiritual rift between himself and his brother Sebastian “which run like a dark spoor through the passing years”, caused by a tragic event involving a woman with whom both brothers were in love and whose silent absence has shaped their lives for decades. Sebastian is deeply connected to the family land, folklore, traditions and like Manfred he carries deep emotional wounds.
“Ancestry, this was the word that came to mind, maintaining a connection with one’s forefathers, the grandparents and parents; preserving a part of their lives, and, in doing so, a part of oneself.”
“Childhoodland, filled with scents and stories, legends like that of the forest spirit Hollander Michel, figures looking out of the darkness of the tress, the meadows and marshlands, shallow waters and moon -pale quarry ponds.”
As Manfred reconnects with familiar places and memories, he confronts his absorbing guilt and misunderstandings which created the physical and emotional distance between him and his brother. In Twelve Nights, forgiveness does not come easy, but it is possible. The Black Forest’s winter terrain is the extension of Manfred psychological journey as well as constitutes a companion in his internal quest.
“Was he searching for something that had become lost over the years? The notion of something that was no longer there, that memory couldn’t fill (…).”
Throughout the book the mystical feeling of the Twelve Nights is omnipresent – the supernatural and reality blend together. During this symbolic period, the boundary between the past and present is blurred.
“These were the ghosts which filled his Twelve Nights. The ones from folklore, he didn’t believe in, but he did believe in his own (…).”
Manfred encounters people he knew during his youth, revisits the familiar places and reflects on the possibility of reconciliation.
“He wanted to make his way slowly: towards the houses, huts, stables and sheds that rose out of the snow-grey, to find his footing in his gradual process of familiarisation; a feeling of arrival that he hadn’t felt in a long time (…). For a moment, he hoped that, by returning, he would be able to reconcile with this at once lost yet intimate landscape. Perhaps even find his way home? (…) He paused and listened, watching the mist sweep through the boughs of the trees and along the stream down the valley.”
Silences in the novella – unspoken thoughts, internal conversations, pauses, solitary walks through the quiet snowy landscapes, sharing the space without uttering any words – permeates the entire story and plays an important role in depicting the emotional struggle of the characters where so much remains unresolved. The absence of words is also presented as a form of communication especially when people are deeply hurt.
“Everything was silent. Even the murmur of the stream seemed to be part of the silence, one which struck him, the city dweller he had become, not only as unfamiliar, but as unnatural.”
“… fascinated by the wintry bleakness of a world paralysed by ice, where even the birds could no longer be heard, not even owl calls; only frost-silence.”
Memories are a character in the book where the past and present intermingle shaping all the relationships in Manfred’s life. Forgiveness is shown as a slow, hesitant and gradual process which can happen through the moments of connection, the acknowledgment of the mutual suffering and the need for finding peace.
As we leave Manfred and Sebastian, winter slowly transitions into spring serving as a reminder that healing has started and it can happen even after a prolonged period of destructive cold.
I absolutely love Twelve Nights which provided me with so much comfort. I highly recommend it as a book to read during one of these cold wintery evenings in the room lit by candles.
“… on New Year’s Eve and Epiphany had gone through the house with her solstice bundles of hazel, oak leaves and mountain arnica. (…) The scent had lingered in the house for days on end: heavy, penetrating. (…) They [these scents] were there long before the words, and evoked the images tthat never fade, the embrace that linger on; an arrival, perhaps, or more, childhoodland, the scents of the Twelve Nights, Epiphany.”
