Overview

East Germany, January 1990. Enrico Türmer, man of the theater, secret novelist, turns his back on art and signs on to work at a newly started newspaper. Freed from the compulsion to describe the world, he plunges into everyday life. Under the guidance of his Mephisto, the ever-present Clemens von Barrista, the former aesthete suddenly develops worldly ambitions even he didn’t know he had.

This upheaval in our hero’s life, mirrored in the vaster upheaval gripping Germany itself after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the birth pangs of a reunified nation, is captured in the letters Enrico writes to the three people he loves most: his sister, Vera; his childhood friend Johann; and Nicoletta, the unattainable woman of his dreams. As he discovers capitalism and reports on his adventures as a businessman, he peels away the layers of his previous existence, in the process creating the thing he has dreamed of for so long—the novel of his own life, in whose facets contemporary history is captured. Thus Enrico comes to embody all the questionable aspects not only of life in the old Germany, but of life in the Germany just taking form.

Once again Ingo Schulze proves himself a master storyteller, with an inimitable power to reconjure the complete insanity of this wildest time in postwar German history. As its comic chronicler, he unfurls a panorama of a world in transformation—and the birth of a new era.

ISBN-13

9780307265593

ISBN-10

0307265595

Weight

2.05 Pounds

Dimensions

6.45 x 1.40 x 9.55 In

List Price

$28.95

Edition

1st Edition

Format

Hardcover

Language

English

Pages

592 pages

Publisher

Knopf

Published On

2008-10-21



View All Offers

Sort by:

Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Used, Good
Seller details
BayStateBooks
★★★★☆

North Smithfield, RI, USA

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact including the dust jacket if origina...
$14.06

 Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026

Used, Good
Seller details
Bonita
★★★★☆

Santa Clarita, CA, USA

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
$40.99

 Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026


Bookstores.com relies on cookies to improve your experience.