Kairos

“Kairos, the god of fortunate moments, is supposed to have a lock of hair on his forehead, which is the only way of grasping hold of him. Because once the god has slipped past on his winged feet, the back of his head is sleek and hairless, nowhere to grab hold of. Was it a fortunate moment, then, when she, just nineteen, first met Hans?”

This passage supplies the title of the novel, which is the only time it is invoked throughout the narrative. It repurposes the myth of the Greek god Kairos to establish the need for memory to make sense of life, foreshadowing the tenor of Katharina’s relationship with Hans. One acts in the moment to grab Kairos’s hair and receive his good fortune, just as Katharina is shown to have reacted in the moment to her fortuitous meeting with Hans. It is only long after that relationship has ended that she can finally assess whether their meeting was good or bad.

“A long time ago, the papers in his boxes and those in her suitcase were speaking to each other. Now they’re both speaking to time […] what is forgotten just as creased and yellowed as what, dimly or distinctly, one still remembers.”

This passage establishes the symbolic function of the boxes, which contain the mementos and keepsakes of Hans and Katharina’s relationship. Key to the symbolism is the fact that Katharina has her own keepsakes in a separate container, which implies that the boxes represent only Hans’s recollections of their time together. By viewing those objects through her perspective, the novel offers a more nuanced glimpse into their relationship.