Matters II

"Matters II" tells the brutal, fragmented tale of two people trapped in the modern service proletariat. Greta and Gregor Matters endure an everyday reality that routinely ravages their fragile hopes and desperate efforts to create an illusion in which they can survive. A sympathetic narrator tries to tell about their lives one last time.
Translated from German and transposed by Paul David Young.

The book "Matters II" is part of a project on the topic of the "Working Poor" and, in its conception, goes far beyond the conventional understanding of prose. In order to capture the essence of the new "service proletariat" in its supranational, location independent, and multilingual dimension, the book has been translated into Hungarian and American English. The American translation also takes place in Vienna, as in the original text. But further the text has been transposed to a de-localized version to New York City. This is intended to prompt a discussion on the general narratability and the universal or international validity of the "Working Poor" in a global context. However, in the Hungarian translation relocating the story to Budapest, although only 250 km away from Vienna, was not as straightforward. Therefore, the Hungarian version is only available as a traditional translation. Further translations are planned.