First published 2020
Jenny Erpenbeck looks back at her life through a series of personal essays and reflections. She begins with her childhood in East Berlin, where her conscious life started alongside the socialist development of Leipziger Strasse. The collection traces her experience of being twenty-two when the Berlin Wall fell and follows her path through early adulthood. After exploring music, theater, and opera, she worked in a bakery before discovering writing as her calling. Erpenbeck examines her literary influences, including Thomas Bernhard, the Brothers Grimm, Kafka, and Thomas Mann. She reflects on the forces that shape her novels, particularly history, silence, and time. The book also contains sharp observations about contemporary politics in America and Europe. She questions why people still mourn Germans who died fleeing over the wall while ignoring refugees drowning in the Mediterranean. These essays offer readers insight into the mind of an acclaimed German writer and her journey from East Berlin schoolgirl to internationally recognized author.
Genres: essays, literary-criticism, literary-fiction, autobiography, memoir, biography-memoir, 21st-century, german-literature
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family, personal-journey
Setting: East Berlin, Leipzig, Mediterranean, America, Europe
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
186 pages · Paperback · New Directions