Dear Niels

Takes its readers by storm. Eccentric, egomaniacal and extravagant. A maelstrom of our times. Captivating literature.

This book gives the genre of the novel a break. It goes beyond known boundaries, creating a format all of its own. A diary? Yes, but…. Almost every day between 2002 and 2008, Zschokke writes down everything that goes through his head and is worth recording: An appraisal of the world, time, literature, music, theatre, art: Complaints about his colleagues, travel reports, yes, even comments on political marginalia.
But all of this is not mere self-reflection, there is also a listener. Everything Zschokke writes is addressed to a partner, his friend Niels. So is this an epistolary novel in its modern form, the e-mail? Yes, but… When they were written, the mails were never intended for publication. That explains their freshness and spontaneity. The person writing them is an alert, interested, mockingly ironic and self-ironic contemporary. He asks a question, either of himself or his addressee, tries to find answers, rants and raves, takes everything back and finishes up with completely new conclusions. And new questions! There is an infectious curiosity throughout, and we begin to be amazed at the world ourselves, suddenly looking at things in a more lucid way. This book is a treasure trove, a marvellous thing.



We haven’t been knocked off our feet in such a charming way for a long time. Zschokke is a cunning Kannitverstan, who recognises the blindness and thoughtlessness in all of us.


Now available again
»Der dicke Dichter«

(The Fat Poet)
Novel
ca. 250 pages, hardback, dust cover

The Author
Matthias Zschokke, born in Berne in 1954, grew up in Aargau and Berne. Since 1980 he has been living in Berlin and working as an author and film-maker. In 1982 his first novel »Max« was published, for which he was awarded the Robert-Walser Prize. Matthias Zschokke has published numerous novels, plays and feature films. He has won renowned prizes including the Gerhart-Hauptmann Prize, the Solothurner Literature Prize and the Prix Femina étranger for the novel »Maurice mit Huhn«

(Maurice with Chicken).

Rights sold:
France: Edition Zoé