German Book Prize: Martina Hefter: Freedom from Vertigo

20 years ago, the German Book Trade Association gave itself and the prize-hungry cultural public a gift: after the Nobel Prize winner for literature was announced and before the start of the industry’s mega-event, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the German Book Prize was awarded every year. Behind this total title lies the best novel of the year. At least that is the opinion of a jury that consists not only of critics, but also, as the industry is concerned, of booksellers. The winning novel will almost inevitably become a bestseller. The prize is endowed with 25,000 euros and the Deutsche Bank Foundation is a partner.

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This year the prize goes to Martina Hefter for “Hey, good morning, how are you?”. Her industry biography is unusual: Hefter’s debut novel “Young Dogs” was published more than 20 years ago. Others followed, none of them very successful. Stapler changes tray. She becomes a poet, her poems have no airs and graces, break down genre barriers, become scenic, think essay-like. She is also a dancer and earns her money through performances. The Allgäu native has lived in Leipzig for many years, where she also studied at the German Literature Institute. She didn’t write longer narrative prose for 18 years.

Until this summer, “Hey, good morning, how are you?” was published by Klett-Cotta, a novel with a chat window title of almost baroque length about the shameful topic of “love scamming”. Behind this foreign word lies a relatively insidious Internet fraud: perpetrators, often poor men from the global south, create fake profiles on online platforms, deceive lonely women into believing they are in love, and put them off about meeting people in the real world At some point, money so that communication doesn’t break down, a family member can pay for a vital operation, etc.

Hefter’s novel is about the artist Juno, who looks after her husband Jupiter. He has multiple sclerosis and is in a wheelchair. There is a close connection to Hefter’s life: she is married to the poet Jan Kuhlbrodt, who suffers from MS. At night, Juno indulges in the love-scamming discourse. But she turns the tables and plays games with the alleged fraudsters. That’s a bit of freedom, in language, in storytelling, in feeling perhaps? But then she starts chatting with Benu, who quickly understands that Juno sees through his scam, that no financial support can be expected from her, but that he still stays in touch with her. This is how the rules of the game shift…

Now you can always complain categorically after award ceremonies: Clemens Meyer, this year’s favorite on the award shortlist, has written a book with his Karl May epic “The Projectors” that is even more global and will certainly be translated. Ronya Othmann’s novel “Seventy-Four” is more explicitly political; it is about the genocide of the Yazidis in 2014 by IS. Maren Kame’s book “Hasenprose” is linguistically more experimental. But such bickering is pointless. Hefter’s novel with the long title has already been awarded the Grand Prize of the German Literature Fund and the Wiesbaden Literature Prize. He is also nominated for the Bavarian Book Prize 2024.

But none of that has to interest you: Hefter’s novel is an excellent text about the impassability and complexity of what is now called care work. It’s about love, romantic needs, physical decay, the small chat window and the big world. And she talks about all of this in clear language without any whiny attitude. A book that is intended to find many thousands of readers because it helps educate minds was honored this year. And you can’t expect more from the industry.

Martina Hefter: Hey good morning, how are you? Velcro cotta, 224 p., br., 22 €.

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