Wenn das Leben aus den Fugen gerät: Drei Romane voller Tiefe und Witz
What happens when life suddenly is no longer what it seemed to be? Simon Urban exposes the crumbling dream of prosperity in the German luxury resort in "German Glück." Rainer Imm tells in "Free Solo" about the high price of social ascent. And Lea Martin asks in "Tango in Istanbul" why we cling to what unsettles us. An evening that gets under your skin.
Simon Urban: „German Glück“
»German Glück« is a highly topical, sharp-witted social novel that could be the German "The White Lotus": Seven fates collide at a luxury resort in the German provinces. A burning Tesla in Mecklenburg marks the zero point: Roger Ross, freshly fired and without luggage, flees to the luxury resort "Eden" and radically reinvents himself. But the hotel is no refuge, but a lavish terminus for the illusions of our time. In "Eden," this crumbling fortress of West German prosperity, all guests apparently cling to a life that has long been history: a TV comedian burned by a shitstorm, a tobacco manager who lost his wife to climate activism, a twin couple living off their mother's pension, and a management assistant who wants to save the resort with her murderous plan. This fateful community dances on the brink. Bitterly sinister and wildly funny at the same time: a literary reckoning with the beautiful facade, in which the German soul books wellness and gets madness.
Simon Urban, born in 1975 in Hagen, studied German studies in Münster and attended the German Literature Institute in Leipzig. His novel "Plan D" (2011) has been translated into eleven languages, and his advertising film #heimkommen has garnered 70 million views, making it one of the most successful German virals ever. He wrote the narrative template for the ARD feature film "Exit" (2020). His novel "Wie alles begann und wer dabei umkam" received the Hamburg Literature Prize. He lives in Techau (East Holstein).
Rainer Imm: „Free Solo”
With Free Solo, Tübingen author and journalist Rainer Imm presents his sixth title – an impressive novel about social ascent from the confines of a social housing complex into the world of academics, about self-assertion, loss, and the feeling of being caught between worlds. In powerful language, Imm tells the story of a boy who comes from an environment shaped by toughness, loyalty, and an uncompromising sense of justice – and who decides to escape this setting. But the price is high: With ascent comes alienation, loss of identity, and the painful awareness of not wholly belonging anywhere. Free Solo is an existential balancing act, raw, intense, and deeply moving. The novel eschews simple answers – and is precisely why it resonates so closely with the reality of many people searching for their path between origin and future.
Rainer Imm lives and works in Tübingen. As a freelance author and journalist, he writes about social issues and personal life paths. His novels Niemandssohn and Stahlberg & Co. as well as the football anthology Bolzplatz – Das Buch have already been published by Omnino Verlag, and two crime novels by Silberburg-Verlag. With Free Solo, he presents his most personal novel to date.
Lea Martin: “Tango in Istanbul”
Istanbul is Karen's great dream. For years, she has been working towards this place, hoping to find an rebellious, resistant tango there. Just before her departure, she contacts Mustafa, a man who is part of her inner landscape. An on-off relationship, fueled by closeness and withdrawal, by longing and irritation. Against all reason, they embark on the journey together. Hardly arrived in Istanbul, the promise turns into an imposition. The city is loud, garish, and male-coded – there is no trace of tango. What follows is less a love story than a precise exploration of emotional dynamics: How does attachment arise? When does closeness tip into self-loss? And why do we cling to what unsettles us? In the movement through Istanbul – during tango, in conversations, in silence – Karen uncovers layer by layer of her own patterns.
Lea Joan Martin started with poetry and journalism. Her love for reality and the freedom of the individual word also characterizes her narratives and novels: "I write about situations where people are destabilized through an encounter or relationship and are forced to reorganize themselves. This can take on rather comical forms or be existential, hurtful, and irreversible."
Entrance from 18:30
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
