Back then, in Lüneburg and before they became unexpected friends, Thomas Schwarz envied and fought Claes Philip Osterkamp, the son of a business owner. And then suddenly they listen to jazz together on the radio at night, work out their views of the world, study architecture, escape to Hamburg, and try climbing the ladder of success.
Claes Philip, soon better known as CPO, advances to become the catchword in the green alternative scene after 1989 and someone whom nothing escapes concerning any new building project in the city of Hamburg. Thomas, in the meantime a middle manager, comes to ponder: »One becomes an architect when one has not enough courage for art, and finds physics too stressful in the long run.« His passions are aging cars and long drives through an expansive American city, where he has ended up in the company of Elise, an unshakeable sculptress. At 40 years of age, underway alone through a no-man`s-land after September 11, he has a resumé to create, a new beginning to try out. Or, as Elise queries, does he want to »avenge himself«? And for what?
This development novel stretches from the 1970s to the present, from the North German lowlands of Hamburg to St. Louis.
Ulf Erdmann Ziegler
born in 1959, lives in Frankfurt. He is the author of biographical stories (»Personal life. Trips to the unknown society we live in«, togehter with Ulrich Beck, Timm Rautert and Wilhelm Vossenkuhl). Since 1989, he has been writing essayistic texts about art and design.
