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April 18, 2024

Book tip: "Tschick" by Wolfgang Herrndorf

To be included in the canon of German school reading is for every novel the literary accolade. That draws? Tschick? by Wolfgang Herrndorf with classics like? Oliver Twist? or? Moby Dick ?. Tschick is completely different. At least in contrast to all the reading that I learned in my long-time schooling within the curriculum? was imposed.

Tschick is a youth novel for adults. Or is it the other way around? An adult novel for teenagers? Not only in relation to this question Tschick reminds of Mark Twains, Tom Saywer and Huckleberry Finn. There are also parallels with regard to the topic. Both Twain and Herrndorf describe a youth friendship between two outsiders. But while Tom and Huck ride on a raft on the Mississippi, Maik and Tschick take a stolen, light blue Lada in the former East German province. But one after anonther?

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The narrator Maik Klingenberg goes into the eighth grade. Despite his interesting nickname? Psycho? Maik is considered boring. He does not have any friends and his home-style parental home is broken in truth. His mother regularly goes to her? said clinic for alcohol withdrawal, while Maik's father is seeking confirmation from his young lover Mona.

One morning, Maik's teacher introduces a new classmate to the class. The Russian-German Andrei Chichachev is due to his unpronounceable surname of all soon only? Tschick? called. He puzzles his classmates. Known by him is actually only that he tilts occasionally in the classroom from the chair and lives in a prefabricated housing estate in Berlin-Hellersdorf.

The summer comes with the heat. Maik's mother has to check in again at the beauty farm and Maik's dad goes to Mona on business trips. To top it all, the class beauty Tatjana, the Maik? Find a birthday party. Of course, Maik is aka Psycho? not invited. On the day of the party Tschick suddenly stands in front of Maik's house with a light blue Lada. Maik is alone and bored. So he goes into that? Borrowed? Car to show up at Tatiana's party as a surprise guest.

This is the beginning of an adventurous journey with the distant goal of visiting Tschick's grandfather in Romanian Wallachia. The ride not only leads through the former East German province, but also into the middle of the legendary parallel universe called puberty. Wolfgang Herrndorf draws extensively from the youth language in his dialogues and lets Maik and Tschick talk about how pubescent boys have grown their beaks. Thanks to his great narrative art, this does not seem appalling or embarrassing at any time, but it fits in the end - in order to put it in the tone of Tschick. Buy now Tschick Tschick 10,00 ?

To the author

So entertaining and hilarious is the novel? Tschick? In places, so tragic was the too-short life of the man who wrote this wonderful book. Wolfgang Herrndorf killed himself in August 2013 at the age of only 48 years. The euphemistic phrase has taken its life? does not fit here. No, he put a revolver in his mouth and pulled it. There it is killed? probably best.

In February 2010, a malignant brain tumor is discovered at Herrndorf. Diagnosis? Glioblastoma? comes to a death sentence, only the time of his death is still unclear. Herrndorf is just 45 years old, studied art in Nuremberg and worked as an illustrator in Berlin. And he wrote all the time, almost on the side. Already in the year 2002 his debut novel appears? In Plüschgewittern? and 2007 is followed by the short story collection "This Side of the Van Allen Belt". Both works are discussed favorably by the critics. The big breakthrough, however, remains denied him.

Instead of being paralyzed by his newly diagnosed, deadly disease, Herrndorf develops an unprecedented level of productivity. "It works best when I work." He completes his already started novel "Tschick" in record time, which will be released in 2010 and will become a bestseller overnight. At the same time he starts in the blog? Work and structure? to publicly document his illness. He decrees that the online blog texts should be published after his death as a book.

He does not have much time to enjoy the fruits of his sudden success. His personality does not change as a result of the illness, but his coordination and spatial orientation are becoming increasingly worse. But Herrndorf, who does not want to experience his last weeks as a nursing case, has taken precautions and got himself a revolver. He spends weeks researching meticulously how he can shoot himself with 100 percent certainty. On one of the last days when he is physically able to implement his plan, Herrndorf sits on a bench on the banks of the Hohenzollern Canal.He puts the Revolverlauf in the mouth, aims through the palate on the brain stem and squeezes.

"Because you can not hold the air forever, but for a long time." - From? Tschick?