[ Bogtip efter Literatur Schweiz ] «Hans ist anders als die andern. Das sind die andern auch. Es ist sein Anderssein, das anders ist.» (Hans is different from the others. And so are the others. It is his being different that is different.) This is how Eleonore Frey begins the report about the wild Hans. Hans is a nonconformist, there is no norm that fits him and he refuses any kind of order. There is, however, an attentive, even refined side in Hans. Every day he writes his observations into his journal, thereby denying the dutiful citizen their prejudice. They prefer to avoid someone like him, they don’t want to know who this bearded man really is.

The accurate prose on the one side and the wild person of Hans create a tandem with an invigorating tension. Eleonore Frey’s language has sloppy facets, Hans, in turn, reveals a subtlety expressed in his journal of truth. While she might romanticise her narrator from a distance, Hans won’t be caught by this, he is far too wild.

(Beat Mazenauer, trans. by Anja Hälg)

[ Favoritcitat ] «Man kann die Lösung nicht suchen. Nur, wenn man Glück hat, finden.»

[ Boginfo ] Frey, Eleonore: Muster aus Hans. . Pattern Made of Hans. Droschl, Graz, 2009 . ISBN: 978-3-85420-749-8.