Kruso
Page 44
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my co-workers at the Klausner, Jörg Schieke, Anke Schmidt, Ramona Zynda, and Viktor Zynda for answering countless questions. For conversations and suggestions, I am grateful to Friedrich Christian Delius, Ralf Eichberg, Gerd Püschel, and Dirk Uhlig. Thank you to Friedrich Dethlefs of the West German Radio archives for providing me quickly and easily with historical recordings. Rebecca Elsäßer, Henriette Seibold, and Antje Wischmann offered valuable assistance with my research for the epilogue. I owe special thanks to Jesper Clemmensen, without whose helpfulness I would not have found the ‘Missing Department’.
The books Über die Ostsee in die Freiheit (Freedom Lies Across the Baltic) and Hinter dem Horizont liegt die Freiheit (Freedom Lies over the Horizon) by Christine Vogt-Müller and Bodo Müller, as well as Flugtrute Østersøen (Escape Route: Baltic Sea) by Jesper Clemmensen, provided me with much useful information. László F. Földényi’s thoughts on Perspektiven der Freiheit (Aspects of Freedom) in Europe after 1989 still gives me food for thought.
The poem ‘Melopee’ (Recitative) by the Flemish poet Paul van Ostaijen was quoted in Klaus Reichert’s translation. Various quotations from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe are in Anna Tuhten’s translation in the 1950 Reclam (Leipzig) edition. Antonin Artaud is cited in Elena Kapralik’s translation. Georg Trakl’s poems were taken from Franz Fühmann’s volume Vor Feuerschlünden. Erfahrungen mit Georg Trakls Gedicht (At the Burning Abyss. Experiencing the Georg Trakl Poems), Hinstorff Verlag, 1984. Lines from Edgar’s verse hoard that surface in the text come from the writings of Jürgen Becker, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gottfried Benn, and Peter Huchel. Individual sentences were also taken from Fyodor Dostoevsky, Marguerite Duras, Don DeLillo, Thomas More, and the Old Testament, as well as from news and weather reports on West German radio.
Translator’s note. All quotes listed in the acknowledgements are in my translations from the originals, except for the quote from Dostoevsky, which is from Constance Garnett’s translation of Crime and Punishment. Franz Fühmann’s book on Georg Trakl’s poetry will appear in English in 2017, translated by Isabel Coles for Seagull Books. I would like to thank Lutz Seiler, the Europäisches Übersetzer-Kollegium in Straelen, and Dr Renate Birkenhauer for their invaluable help with this translation.
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Title Page
Copyright Page
Epigraph
SMALL, UNFAMILIAR MOON
TRAKL
MATTHEW
WOLFSTRASSE
THE STATION HOTEL
THE ISLAND
ZUM KLAUSNER
THE ROOM
THE ONION
THE JOURNAL
KRUSO
TO THE SEA
THE BREAKFAST
THE CHRISTMAS PINE
WHY DO THE MOON AND THE MAN SLIDE?
THE AMPHIBIAN
VIOLA
THE ENDDORN HOTEL
THE CASTAWAYS I
TRAKL DECLAIMED
THE GRAIL
KAMIKAZE
A KIND OF SMALL BOWER
THE MAP OF TRUTH
CLANDESTINE QUARTERS
THE ROUTE ON DAYS OFF
THREE BEARS
LIPS
THE TRANSFORMATION
THE KRUSO ENERGY
THE CONCERT
THE SPRITE MARÉN
THE CASTAWAYS II
GRIT
DOSTOEVSKY
EARS
THE ROOT
ISLAND DAY
AMBER LEGEND
HIS FIRST ROOM
COLD HANDS
TCHAIKOVSKY
TRAVELLING THROUGH THE REGION OF LONGING
ROMMSTEDT
THE OLD LIFE
HIS OWN SOUND
THE BLOOD WILL COME LATER
PAN
THE MACHINE
EXODUS
WEST GERMAN RADIO
THE SEVEN SAMURAI
AUTUMN, AUTUMN
GOODNIGHT
NO VIOLENCE
THE BLACK BAND
FINAL ALLOCATION
FAIRYTALE OF LIFE
THE LAST ESSKAY
LOVE
WE WHO HAVE STAYED BEHIND
THE TASK OF THE EAST
TAKEN HOME
RESURRECTION
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS