En el Bausler Institut, un internado femenino situado en el cantón más retrógrado de Suiza, el Appenzell, se respira una densa atmósfera de cautiverio, sensualidad inconfesada y demencia. En estos parajes por los que paseaba el escritor Robert Walser, y donde se suicidó tras permanecer treinta años en un manicomio, se desarrollan la infancia y la adolescencia de la narradora, quien las rememora desde la madurez. En ese colegio imaginario que permanece, transfigurado, en la memoria, la narradora se sentirá irremediablemente atraída por la «nueva»: hermosa, severa, perfecta, figura enigmática que parece haberlo vivido todo, y que le deja entrever algo a la vez sereno y terrible.

a strange, cold book that seems to borrow a lot from Duras' self-conscious literariness. it has beautiful turns of phrase and is quite moving in its evocation of underloved rich boarding school girls with their undeclared queerness, but i found the casual racism toward "the black girl" unpalatable and the novel was slight, i am not sure it'll linger with me. ( )

For starters: let it be clear that the title of this booklet (In English “Sweet days of Discipline”) is meant to be sarcastic. A woman looks back on her childhood, which she spent in different boarding schools in Switserland, a chilling story of suppressed feelings, coldness and gloom. On the surface, this seems like a rather classic coming-of-age novel, with all the usual ingredients of the stifling, over-disciplined life at a boarding school in Switzerland in the 1950s. But the reference, at the very beginning to Robert Walser is not an innocent link. That Swiss writer was the master of stories in which apparently nothing much happens, but which are imbued with the gravity and chillness of life, written in accurate, almost merciless prose.
And that is also the case with Jaeggy. For instance, the absent mother (who conducts her daughter's life from Brazil), and the cold, distant father who lives in hotel rooms, make clear that the unnamed narrative voice has been more or less left to her own fate. She seeks rapprochement with two other girls, one mysterious and detached, the other exuberantly extravert, with a suppressed sexual undertone, but that also not leads to much. There is a veil of gloom over the entire story, which also regularly contains references to death. Again, as with Walser, not much is happening, but it is mainly the intense, sombre atmosphere that makes this short booklet stand out; you cannot put your finger on it, but this story sticks, that’s for certain. ( )

3.5 stars. A compact and eerie account of a girl's boarding school experiences and relationships. Sweet Days of Disclipline is an atmospheric character sketch that works nicely because Jaeggy's writing, in Tim Parks's translation, is so concise.

(There's more on my blog here.) ( )

"Non basta dimenticare il nome per dimenticare l'essere" ( )