Prices for fiction and non -fiction book – book fair in Leipzig: Best neutral

For book prices, it is usually more interesting to ask who was closer to the short choice but went out empty. At the Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair in the Belletistics division, these were the new novels of the very well -known authors Christian Kracht (“Air”) and Wolf Haas (“Wackelkontakt”). It was clear that they would not be praised, they were only on the shortlist to increase the start of the start, so that the list of prominence was better noted.

It was also not surprising that Cemile Sahin (“command ajax”) and Esther Dischereit (“a bunch of dollar”) did not get him – you could also say that her books are too good. A daring Kurdish crime story in exile in Dutch and the complex research of the “torn biographies and identities of Jewish people after the Shoah and in the diaspora”, as it was formulated in this newspaper: Such books are written in the shortlist to make them more interesting and to give the impression of a certain profoundness.

After all, the least exciting book was received: “Peninsula” by Kristine Bilkau. A mother-daughter story, written from a mother perspective, is still the most original thing about it. Otherwise, the daughters usually count. Unlike in the classic mother-son relationship, which is already encouraged by all comedic clichés, the mother-daughter relationship promises more excitement. Or do you know a mother-daughter relationship that would call you harmonious? In »Peninsula« the adult daughter is in a life crisis and is resumed by her mother. The mother, who used to be a single parent, considered whether she is not in a life crisis. She lives on a North Frisian Peninsula, the daughter is an environmental technician. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” wrote that this “connection between protection and control”, which can also be understood in an ecological perspective, is a leitmotif of the novel-however, it is quite simple, almost uninterested and interested in interest. That should probably look sober. Make big feelings smaller and smaller so that you don’t get too dizzy on the famous roller coaster, which is already advisable in German lessons. But here that makes you rather tired, you want a North Frisian gust of wind to be refreshed.

The price of Bilkau was a “harmony mechanical decision” compared to the competition, told me the literary scholar and “ND” author Vincent Sauer when we were around at a party on Thursday evening. He reported how he bought a copy of “Air” after a reading by Christian Kracht and then wanted it to be signed by the author. The latter asked him which dedication he should write in the front. “It is best to neutral,” said Sauer. This seemed to be expected to be expected: “I am a Swiss.” You have to imagine the jury’s decision against “Air” for “Peninsula”. Or as Stereo totally sung: “Without height, without depth, exactly neutral”.

If you could live in today’s Russia, a lot would have been won. Instead, violence in language, thinking and acting wins. Like on bad television, which has become real and attacks people. That is why the book prize in the Subject Book for Irina Rastorgueva and her essay band »Pop-up propaganda. Epicrise of Russian self -poisoning «fully okay.