“Memory is like a net: one finds it full of fish when one takes it from the brook, but a hundred miles of water have run through it […]
German literature
A Gushing Fountain
“Memory is a gushing fountain.” Part One: Childhood in Wasserburg The novel opens in the fictional village of Wasserburg, a small German town on Lake Constance, during the […]
German literature
Group Portrait with Lady
“People are always saying that life isn’t a novel—but then, what is it?” Chapter 1: Introduction to the Protagonist The novel begins with an unnamed narrator researching the […]
German literature
The Clown
“I am a clown, and I collect moments.” Chapter 1: The Fall Hans Schnier, a disillusioned clown, lies injured in his Bonn apartment after a drunken fall. As […]
German literature
Dog Years
“Memory likes to play hide-and-seek, to crawl away. It tends to hold forth, to dress up, often needlessly. Memory contradicts itself; pedant that it is, it will have […]