Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: New German-Language Writing since the Turn of the Millennium
- 1 Ulrike Draesner, Mitgift: On Bodies and Beauty
- 2 Vladimir Vertlib, Das besondere Gedächtnis der Rosa Masur: Performing Jewishness in the New Germany
- 3 Terézia Mora, Alle Tage: Transnational Traumas
- 4 Juli Zeh, Spieltrieb: Contemporary Nihilism
- 5 Daniel Kehlmann, Die Vermessung der Welt: Measuring Celebrity through the Ages
- 6 Clemens Meyer, Als wir träumten: Fighting “Like a Man” in Leipzig’s East
- 7 Saša Stanišić, Wie der Soldat das Grammofon repariert: Reinscribing Bosnia, or: Sad Things, Positively
- 8 Ilija Trojanow, Der Weltensammler: Separate Bodies, or: An Account of Intercultural Failure
- 9 Sibylle Berg, Die Fahrt: Literature, Germanness, and Globalization
- 10 Julia Franck, Die Mittagsfrau: Historia Matria and Matrilineal Narrative
- 11 Alina Bronsky, Scherbenpark: Global Ghetto Girl
- 12 Karen Duve, Taxi: Of Alpha Males, Apes, Altenberg, and Driving in the City
- 13 Yadé Kara, Cafe Cyprus: New Territory?
- 14 Sven Regener, Der kleine Bruder: Reinventing Kreuzberg
- 15 Kathrin Schmidt, Du stirbst nicht: A Woman’s Quest for Agency
- Appendices Samples of Contemporary German-Language Novels in Translation
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
B - Clemens Meyer, Als wir träumten: Little Racer
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: New German-Language Writing since the Turn of the Millennium
- 1 Ulrike Draesner, Mitgift: On Bodies and Beauty
- 2 Vladimir Vertlib, Das besondere Gedächtnis der Rosa Masur: Performing Jewishness in the New Germany
- 3 Terézia Mora, Alle Tage: Transnational Traumas
- 4 Juli Zeh, Spieltrieb: Contemporary Nihilism
- 5 Daniel Kehlmann, Die Vermessung der Welt: Measuring Celebrity through the Ages
- 6 Clemens Meyer, Als wir träumten: Fighting “Like a Man” in Leipzig’s East
- 7 Saša Stanišić, Wie der Soldat das Grammofon repariert: Reinscribing Bosnia, or: Sad Things, Positively
- 8 Ilija Trojanow, Der Weltensammler: Separate Bodies, or: An Account of Intercultural Failure
- 9 Sibylle Berg, Die Fahrt: Literature, Germanness, and Globalization
- 10 Julia Franck, Die Mittagsfrau: Historia Matria and Matrilineal Narrative
- 11 Alina Bronsky, Scherbenpark: Global Ghetto Girl
- 12 Karen Duve, Taxi: Of Alpha Males, Apes, Altenberg, and Driving in the City
- 13 Yadé Kara, Cafe Cyprus: New Territory?
- 14 Sven Regener, Der kleine Bruder: Reinventing Kreuzberg
- 15 Kathrin Schmidt, Du stirbst nicht: A Woman’s Quest for Agency
- Appendices Samples of Contemporary German-Language Novels in Translation
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
Summary
Little Racer
Round One
We were right nearby when it happened. We were out drinking in the Pilz, Rico, Mark, and I. I don’t know why we were drinking in the Pilz that night; we didn’t drink there often, even though the beer was cheap. We usually went to the Grüne Aue or to see Goldie at the Traktorist, but maybe we had some kind of sense that something was up that night, and we’d been drinking in Pitbull’s cellar beforehand, and sometimes when you’ve had a few you see the whole truth before you and sometimes even a tiny piece of the future, but if we’d seen what was going to happen we’d have gone looking for Walter, all around our part of town, all around the whole city, and if we’d found him we’d have locked him in Pitbull’s cellar, even if Pitbull hadn’t wanted us to — he lived down there, after all — or we’d have taken him to Leipzig-Southeast police station and asked the cops to cuff him to the radiator, he knew that well enough, he’d have leaned his head against the wall and maybe slept a bit.
But we didn’t sense anything, and we didn’t see anything, Rico, Mark, and I; we were out drinking in the Pilz. Paul was supposed to come but he didn’t, he must have had another row with his mother. Pitbull had had a row with his mother too, she’d gone at him with a bottle because we’d made so much noise drinking, and now Pitbull was lying in his cellar having a rest.
“I don’t get it,” said Rico. “Paul’s old lady’s a control freak, she has to plan everything. When he’s allowed out, when he comes back. She should just leave him alone. She should get herself a proper man instead.”
“Would you do her?” asked Mark. “I mean, just for a shag …”
“Leave it out,” I said, “It’s his mother, for God’s sake!”
“She’s not bad, Danny, she’s not even forty. Maybe a bit dried up, she needs a young lad to get her juices flowing, know what I mean, she’s hot for it, you should see how she looks at me …”
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- Emerging German-Language Novelists of the Twenty-First Century , pp. 255 - 260Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011