[ book tip by Literatur Schweiz ] «Seventeen Sentences» (Siebzehn Sätze) is the sub-title to Michael Fehr’s first book, and in fact this unusual piece of writing does only contain seventeen sentences, long sentences, which are developed in the manner of a musical theme and variations (the word ‹Satz› in German can mean both sentence and musical composition). Within this structure we meet diverse groups and individuals, who have only one thing in common: they are all «on the verge of salvation» and, moreover, all «at the same point in time».
Michael Fehr tells a modern Christmas Story, in which the telling is itself the subject. He takes us from one scene to another, to Joseph and Mary, who surprises a farmer in the stable. A male-voice choir strikes up a song in the bar of the inn. A king on his camel follows a shooting star. We meet a music group in a TV studio, a family at their meal, a woman who plays the organ and many more: they are all straining together in hope and anticipation, whilst the cathedral bells in the capital city are already ringing out.
Michael Fehr’s Seventeen Sentences are moulded, indeed borne along by, an individualistic and extraordinarily daring use of language. It twists and turns, wrestles with itself and with the evanescent nature of story-telling. Patiently, word by word, line by line, Fehr circles round his scenes and characters; again and again, he discovers unusual ways of getting inside his stories, which we seem to know intimately, but which we re-discover here anew.
(Martin Zingg, translated by Max Easterman, Rosie Goldsmith)
 
Recommended for translation by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, www.12swissbooks.ch

[ Favourite quote ] «mit einem Ruck hatte er sofort die lützele
also lottrige
lodelige
also lose
sperzige
also widerspenstige
also schwergängige
gierige
also quietschende Stalltüre aufgeschlagen»

[ book info ] Fehr, Michael: Kurz vor der Erlösung. (original language: German) On the Verge of Salvation. Der Gesunde Menschenversand, Luzern, 2013 . ISBN: 978-3-905825-51-0.