In his autobiographical novel "A Beautiful Dress", Jasper Nicolaisen tells of a fulfilled desire to have children and a family that is queer in the best sense of the word
Everything is actually perfect in the lives of Jannis and Levi. The two men have a nice flat, a happy relationship and reasonably fulfilling jobs. And yet they are missing something for which their dog can only be a poor substitute: a child. The lengths they go to to achieve this, the paths they take and the wrong turns they make, the hurdles they overcome, not to mention the comments they have to endure from those around them. Jasper Nicolaisens tells the story of all this in "A Beautiful Dress".
The Berlin-based translator and author, born in 1979, calls his book a "novel about a queer family". It is true that many things in it are exaggerated and exaggerated. But the basis of his narrative is his own experiences, as Nicolaisen reveals in his preface.
Not a factual report and not a guidebook
Not a factual report and not a guidebook, which would certainly have been the obvious choice. But that would certainly not have made for such an enlightening, moving and entertaining read. Just like this novel, which is at times truly tear-jerking and then again incredibly funny, in which Nicolaisen takes his readers on a long journey through the jungle of youth welfare offices and family support services.
Admittedly, as a gay man who doesn't necessarily dream of spending the following years with prams, nurseries and the screeching of tired toddlers. But you approach this story with rather detached curiosity. But then you find yourself caught up in Jannis and Levi's awakening parental feelings and their growing love for the new family member. However, things are anything but smooth sailing with their foster son Valentin. On the contrary, you get the impression that the responsible employee at the youth welfare office was quite happy to have finally placed the linguistically impaired Valentin in a foster family - even if they are a gay couple.
Haunting and realistic
What is surprising, however, is not only how vividly and realistically these many new challenges and changes in the lives of Jannis and Levi are portrayed. It is also remarkable how calmly, almost casually Nicolaisen tells a no less unusual detail about this family. Levi was actually once Jannis' girlfriend, and also had a different first name at the time. But it never really fitted. And when Levi decided to live as a man in future, Jannis stayed by his side. True love is not necessarily bound to a gender, but above all to a person. Unlike Jannis' temporarily somewhat overwhelmed environment, it was obviously quite easy for him to deal with the associated changes.
"It was beautiful and completely different to what I had expected," says Jannis, describing his first sexual encounters with Levi. "To everyone else, he was a young woman; to me, his body spoke male things: the firmness, the hard hands, but also the sudden yielding."
Unbridled desire to have children
Thanks to this laconic calmness and the light, sometimes self-deprecating tone, Jasper Nicolaisen manages to formulate even deeper reflections and greater challenges in this way. But without compromising the narrative flow and entertainment value of his novel. At the end, not every reader may feel an irrepressible desire to have children. But readers will have thought about many things and developed a great respect for (foster) parents - whether they are queer or not.
Jasper Nicolaisen: "A beautiful dress. A novel about a queer family". Querverlag, 254 pages, paperback, 14.90 euros
