On the slope (novel)

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On the slope is a novel by the Swiss writer Markus Werner . Two strangers with diametrically opposed attitudes towards life and love meet in it. While the narrator, a young divorce lawyer, praises his bachelor existence and rapidly changing relationships with women, his counterpart, a classical philologist, makes diatribes against the zeitgeist and defends love and marital fidelity. In the end it turns out that both have more in common than originally assumed. The novel was published by S. Fischer Verlag in July 2004 and was very well received by both readers and literary critics. In October 2013, a film adaptation by Markus Imboden was released in cinemas.

content

Thomas Clarin is in his 30s, bachelor and lawyer specializing in divorce law. On the Friday before Pentecost, he goes to his holiday home in Ticino to write a paper on the history of Swiss divorce law over the weekend. That same evening he met a stranger on the restaurant terrace of the Hotel Bellevue in Montagnola , with whom a strange fascination would draw him over the next two days. The man is a good 15 years older than Clarin, a classical philologist and makes a heavy, massive impression, not only in terms of his physique. When he hears Clarin's name, he flinches and pretends to be Thomas Loos.

Over wine, the two men start a conversation and reveal completely opposite worldviews. While Clarin takes life lightly, or as he states, no more difficult than necessary, Loos is bitter and indulges in tirades about the zeitgeist from cell phones to phosphorescent cycling shorts to men's underpants without intervention. He counters the ruthless speed of the modern age, the rapid causation in all areas of life: "Only hesitation is humane." Cheap empty phrases about interpersonal relationships from investment to job profile cause Loos a rash on his left forearm, as he also demonstrates to Clarin, when he speaks of the "optimal maturity" of a more mature woman named Valerie, with whom Clarin had a relationship limited to sexuality.

In general, both men have opposing views on love, marriage and fidelity. Clarin does not believe in marriage, which is why his job as a divorce lawyer encourages him every day. His urge for rapidly changing relationships with women, including accepting adultery at any time, he attributes to the immutability of human genes. In contrast, Loos insists that marriage was a home for him. He reports on the twelve-year-old harmonious relationship with his wife Bettina, whose abrupt end he has not got over to this day. In response to Clarin's inquiries, Loos reports that his wife died a year ago in a swimming accident in the nearby Cademario . In the local spa hotel she recovered from a brain tumor operation. Clarin too feels compelled to tell about Valerie, who must have stayed in the same spa hotel at the same time as Bettina. Also a year ago, he separated from her in all sobriety, because her relationship with him threatened to become more emotional and thus more complicated. Loos' comments to Clarin are becoming more and more biting and subliminally threatening, without the latter being able to classify them in terms of content. Clarin feels increasingly uncomfortable in the presence of the bulky man who accompanies him to his holiday home on both evenings of their get-together. On both nights Clarin slept badly and woke up hungover. There is no thought of his planned work.

After Loos' sudden departure on Pentecost Sunday, Clarin decides to research his story. But neither a “Thomas Loos” has been reported in the Hotel Bellevue , nor is his wife Bettina or a fatal swimming accident known in the spa hotel. There Clarin meets Eva, a friend of his breathing therapist, with whom Clarin had a brief affair after Valerie. Only then reveals the connections to Clarin. There was a small, insignificant bathing accident in the hotel at the time, but Valerie had it. Eva tells Clarin about Felix Bendel, Valerie's husband, who loved his wife beyond measure. Nevertheless, Valerie enjoyed the momentary attraction of the affair with Clarin. She has separated from Felix, whom she did not want to expose her to cheating. Even after Clarin's separation from her, she had not returned to him, had not gotten over to leaving Felix to this day, and still lived alone. It is only through the details that Eva is able to tell about Valerie that Clarin understands afterwards how similar this is to the descriptions of Loos' Bettina. All evidence suggests that Thomas Loos was the Felix Bendel who appeared under a false name before Clarin.

Back at his vacation home, Clarin's thoughts still revolve around Loos. He cannot get rid of the impression that it is sneaking around the house, with or without a dagger. Clarin writes down the weekend's encounter.

interpretation

Duel of the concepts of life

According to Pia Reinacher, Markus Werner juxtaposed two concepts of life in his novel with a pedagogical intention: Clarin, the caricature of a superficial and fashionable womanizer, stands for the poor relationships of a generation that is equally driven by progress as it runs after success and with growing mentality Suffer impoverishment. Loos, on the other hand, the moralist, critic of the zeitgeist and misanthropist embodies the disappointed leftist who laments the collapse of social norms, but can only maintain his traditional worldview himself at the expense of self-deception and a lie - his ideal married life.

Martin Ebel saw the two characters inevitably related to one another: while Clarin took something of the enormous weight of Loos, whose Baroque Capuchin sermons made bearable, Loos, conversely, complained Clarin's unbearable lightness of being, earthed the zeitgeist Luftikus. The title already contains Werner's human conditio : life leads inexorably downwards. Although it gives you great views like those in the Hotel Bellevue , there is always a risk of slipping, the danger of falling.

The blindness of men

The two sentences that Clarin writes at the end repeat the beginning of the novel: “Everything is turning. And everything revolves around him . ”The novel thus forms a circular argument . Not only formally, it always begins anew at the end, according to Oliver Sill this also reflects the thoughts of Clarin, who remains caught in his view of things and, like Sisyphus , remains forever doomed to “roll the stone of doubt and self-doubt up the mountain . "

Throughout the entire novel, Clarin remained blind to the signs of others, which was attested to by both Eva and Loos: “He doesn't know a damn thing, mumbled Loos.” Until the end, Clarin remains unsuspecting towards the stranger to whom he has revealed his love affair. It does not fit with Clarin's view of the world that his behavior could lead to consequences for others. In this way, he doggedly defends his positive self-image despite all signals to the contrary. But not only Clarin is characterized by blindness. Loos was also "a blind pig" towards his wife. Again and again he breaks through his tirades that although he was a loving husband who offered his wife security and security, he lacked the spontaneity and passion that Bettina longed for, that his love overwhelmed her. To this day he does not understand his wife's wish: "She said, she often wished in vain that I would not always understand her."

The woman herself, around whom the stories of both men and later also Eva's report revolve, Valerie alias Bettina does not appear in the novel. She remains a picture puzzle in the drawings of the husband's love, the lover's sexual pleasure, the girlfriend's compassion.

reception

On the slope , it was almost exclusively received very positively in the German-language feature pages. Martin Ebel praised: "Markus Werner's new novel is again a miracle in terms of economy, language awareness, creative art and wealth of allusions". "The balance between the two heroes" was "wonderfully successful". Ebel drew the conclusion: "Literature of this rank is very rare". For Oliver Pfohlmann "Werner's style proves to be an effective, calculated form of taming the banality of evil that is being negotiated here," and he was reminded of Dostoevsky .

Gunhild Kübler read “a masterful novel about the capriciousness of the human heart”, and she particularly praised “Werner's sympathy direction, which awakens understanding and compassion for the actors and keeps them in the balance.” From Pia Reinacher's point of view, Markus Werner had his latest Roman “climbed a new peak […]. The condensation and lightness, the unfathomable and at the same time crystal clear of Werner's narrative style exerts a magical attraction ”, with the main characters“ one loves and suffers [...] to the last page. ”For Lothar Müller the dialogue between the two protagonists was“ not uncomfortable essayistic course ”, which is driven into“ maximum tension ”at the end. With the novel "one can spend a stimulating weekend in spite of its occasional overconstruction".

Often the reviews were compared to a crime novel. So working on the slope for Helmut Böttiger "by all means of mystery stories [...]. The striking thing, however, is that it is ultimately not a crime novel at all. ”In the“ brilliant prose etudes ”,“ the comic and the existential cannot be separated from each other, they are interwoven beyond recognition. ”Nicole Henneberg also read in the novel "Suspense" and "criminalistic furor", "a monstrous story of passionate love and a longing for death that rolls up oppressively slowly". Peter Mohr read a "Kammerspiel in indirect speech", which "transforms itself from the initially gently trickling narrative trickle into an exuberant literary surge."

One of the few critical voices belonged to Andreas Isenschmid , who complained: “There are books that you want to read twice - that's a stroke of luck. And there are books that you have to read twice ”, as is the case with Am Hang ,“ [u] m to fully enjoy this ex post sparkling punchline ”, which Isenschmid, despite technical care,“ is more like a mountain-born mouse " happened. Andreas Nentwich saw similarly in the novel “a simulation game that only reconciles with the artificiality of a narrative that follows time-critical reflections rather than on the second reading, when its full refinement becomes apparent,” he said a genuine narrative impulse ”. Nevertheless, he came to the conclusion that "Markus Werner succeeded in defending poetry [...] with virtuosity."

For the Swiss couple therapist Klaus Heer , the success of the novel can also be traced back to the fact that Loos “sings the praises of loyalty in a verbose manner”. The book carries “the features of our restorative time”, in which one looks for private harmony in times of economic crisis. In the end, however, “the ideal of loyalty […] also bursts with Loos' story. What remains is uncertainty, the feeling of happiness after a reading frenzy and the consolation that you are not alone with your problems. ”Therefore, he also recommended the novel“ as a psychological advisor ”.

By September 2006 the hardback edition had been sold 122,000 times, the paperback edition another 110,000 times. The novel has been adapted for the stage several times, for example by Rainer Hofmann and Anina La Roche at the Stadttheater Bern (premiere on January 19, 2006), by Henner Russius, Brigitta Soraperra and Daniel Rohr at the Stadelhofen Theater in Zurich (premiere on January 27, 2006 ), as well as by Annette Frier at the Cologne Theater im Bauturm (premiere on February 8, 2008). In 2006 SWR produced a radio play based on an adaptation by Uta-Maria Heim . Bruno Ganz , Ingo Hülsmann , Christiane Leuchtmann and Leslie Malton spoke under the direction of Eberhard Klasse . In October 2013, the film adaptation Am Hang by the Swiss director Markus Imboden was released . The leading roles were played by Henry Hübchen , Max Simonischek and Martina Gedeck .

expenditure

literature

  • Martin Ebel (Ed.): “Hesitation alone is humane.” On the work of Markus Werner. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-596-16908-9 .
  • Phillipp Haack: Life as a "balance disorder", experiences of being a stranger in Markus Werner's novels (= SchriftBilder , Volume 7). Igel, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-86815-596-9 (Dissertation University of Flensburg 2015, 337 pages).
  • Oliver Sill: Customs - Sex - Scandal. Love in literature since Goethe . Aisthesis, Bielefeld 2009, ISBN 978-3-89528-755-8 , pp. 160-169.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Pia Reinacher: Better dead than betrayed . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . of August 14, 2004. Reprinted in: Martin Ebel (Ed.): “Hesitation alone is humane.” On the work of Markus Werner. Pp. 300-304.
  2. ^ A b Martin Ebel: Hesitation alone is humane . In: Tages-Anzeiger . of July 24, 2004. Reprinted in: Martin Ebel (Ed.): “Hesitation alone is humane.” On the work of Markus Werner. Pp. 295-299.
  3. ↑ Werner: On the slope. 2004, p. 5.
  4. ↑ Sill: Customs - Sex - Scandal. Love in literature since Goethe. Pp. 161-162.
  5. ↑ Werner: On the slope. 2004, p. 157.
  6. ↑ Werner: On the slope. 2004, p. 87.
  7. ↑ Werner: On the slope. 2004, p. 111.
  8. ↑ See Sill: Sitte - Sex - Scandal. Love in literature since Goethe. Pp. 166-168.
  9. ↑ On the slope for pearl divers .
  10. ↑ Oliver Pfohlmann: Bred the quirky . In: the daily newspaper . of August 16, 2004. Reprinted in: Martin Ebel (Ed.): “Hesitation alone is humane.” On the work of Markus Werner. Pp. 305-307.
  11. ↑ Gunhild Kübler : When love and passion lose their magic . In: NZZ am Sonntag . dated July 25, 2004.
  12. ↑ Lothar Müller: When everything turns . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. dated October 4, 2004.
  13. ↑ Helmut Böttiger : The Poetry of the Abyss . In: The world . dated August 7, 2004.
  14. ↑ Nicole Henneberg: Don Juan in free fall ( memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . dated February 9, 2005.
  15. ↑ Peter Mohr: Mosaic of lies, truths and allusions . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . dated August 21, 2004.
  16. ↑ Andreas Isenschmid : Two men, a lot of wine and a woman . In: The time . dated September 16, 2004.
  17. ↑ Andreas Nentwich: Loos or the triumph of the lost post . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. of August 3, 2004. Reprint ( memento of June 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on lyrikwelt.de.
  18. ↑ Urs Bruderer: Consolation and Advice ( Memento from February 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ). In: The weekly newspaper . dated September 23, 2004. Accessed February 28, 2005.
  19. ↑ Helvetic bestsellers . In: NZZ am Sonntag . dated September 3, 2006.
  20. ↑ Markus Werner: On the slope . Edited by Rainer Hofmann and Anina La Roche, reading sample (PDF; 129 kB) at Deutsches Theaterverlag .
  21. ↑ Markus Werner: On the slope . Edited by Henner Russius, Brigitta Soraperra and Daniel Rohr, reading sample (PDF; 149 kB) at Deutsches Theaterverlag .
  22. ↑ Am Hang ( Memento from July 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at the Theater im Bauturm. Accessed July 27, 2010.
  23. ↑ On the slope at SWR2 RadioART.
  24. ↑ Martin Walder: With love on the slope. Markus Werner's subtle relationship thriller will be filmed with a top-class cast. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . dated May 3, 2012, accessed May 4, 2012.