A text about love, fantasies and reality.
The fact that Hermann Peter Piwitt lets a woman tell the story, in the first person, is sure to come as something of a surprising device. But a successful one! Perhaps because it allows the author to observe himself and his fellow males from an ironically comical perspective. After a rather passionless marriage which has come to an end after her husband is killed in an accident (not necessarily a happy end, to be exact), everything seems different. Henrik, an author, has entered the life of the narrator.
The two people, who can no longer be described as young, have now at last been given their big chance to realize their fantasies outside the realms of everyday life, satisfy their unfulfilled wishes, experience the full intensity of existence. They savour every moment, giving themselves up to one another completely. Looking back, the narrator will say »As we lost ourselves in each other, everyday life disappeared«. If only Henrik had not had this strange wish for her to »prove her love«, as he calls it. He insists upon it obstinately. But could he bear the consequences if his wish were ever to be fulfilled?
Once more, Piwitt shows himself a keen observer and an expert narrator of human entanglements and quiet moments. »Mercy« is a melancholy, sometimes tragicomic novella about longing, deception and self-deception.
Piwitt’s prose is intoxicating.
Ralf Stiftel, Westfälischer Anzeiger
The Author
Hermann Peter Piwitt, born in 1935, grew up in Frankfurt am Main, studied sociology, philosophy and literary studies and was an editor at Rowohlt Verlag. His first work was published in 1965, and he has since then continued to write a large number of much-discussed novels, short stories and essays. Piwitt now lives in Hamburg.
Published by Wallstein
The Years Among Them (2006)
The Pomegranate (2007)
Gardens in March (2008)
Homeland, Beautiful Stranger (2010)
