Christian Klippel

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Christian Klippel

Christian Klippel (born April 4, 1955 in Wittlich ) is a German writer . His best-known works are the novel 456 and the rest of today (1979, about the Bundeswehr ) and the pop novel Barfuß nach Palermo (written 1985, published 1999).

life and work

biography

Klippel grew up in Heidelberg . After completing his military service, he went to Paris in 1979 , where he finished work on his debut novel. A year in Corsica followed . It was here that his second novel Metro Babylon was written , which apart from a small excerpt remained unpublished. The next stops were New York, Heidelberg, Berlin , Palermo and Rome or Rocca di Papa , where he shared an apartment with his companion, the author Michael Kleeberg . In 1984 he moved to Amsterdam . There he finished the pop novel Barefoot to Palermo and began to study philosophy and theology . After a second year in Paris as an interpreter and translator and half a year as an intern at the Heidelberg Theater, he came to Hamburg at the end of 1986 and became an advertising copywriter.

Christian Klippel is the brother of the painter and radio play author Susanne Amatosero .

"456 and the rest of today"

Cover of the first edition of 456 and the rest of today (1979)

As a novelist, Klippel made his debut in 1979 with the Bundeswehr novel 456 and the rest of today , which was published by Weismann Verlag - Frauenbuchverlag . In it he describes how the regular soldier Stefan Hofmann, who was initially convinced of his service in the army, gradually turned into a pacifist . The book was printed in eight editions between 1979 and 1987 with a total number of approx. 20,000 copies, was particularly popular among conscripts at the time and was read as a plea for conscientious objection . The number '456' in the title stands for the number of days, due to the statutory duration of the basic military service of 15 months, which was valid from 1972 to 1990. Michael Kleeberg estimates that the novel “at that time certainly drove 10,000 conscripts to refuse”.

456 and the rest of today caused a minor scandal because Klippel had used the actual names of some of his superiors for his characters. The publisher was then sued by members of the armed forces in the media and had to change the name in a new edition. The Stern reported in its 7/1980 issue in a detailed article about this incident and made the book known. In 1981 a license was issued for the Bertelsmann Book Club , so that the book was sold almost 80,000 times.

Work on other novels

Afterwards Christian Klippel wrote, among other things, a novel about the trip to Italy of two German punks , which was originally supposed to appear as a top title in Jörg Schröder's March publishing house . The narrative is based on a journey that Klippel and a friend took as alleged palm readers in the early 1980s. In the documentary The March Act (1985), which was awarded an Adolf Grimme Prize in 1986 , there is a scene with Christian Klippel, filmed in the house of the potential publisher Schröder in Schlechtenwegen , in which the novel is discussed. Barefoot to Palermo - that is the title of the novel - was published by Editions Mathieu a good 15 years late . According to Michael Kleeberg, the novel , which was written in 1985, was “the first German pop novel”.

Klippel's next publications followed ten years after his debut. Together with Sven Böttcher he wrote the thrillers Störmer im Dreck ( 1989 ) and Mord between the lines (1991). He then published his collection of short stories Welch ein Tag (1995) as an advertisement for the Diebels brewery and, in addition to the aforementioned Barefoot to Palermo (1999), the children's books Schiff in the desert (2000) and Magda on Mars (2008). In 2016 and 2017, Klippel published the road novels “Hope costs extra” and “Damn beautiful life” in the Young Adult Fiction genre of the Stuttgart children's and youth book publisher Thienemann-Esslinger - the latter was one of the 10 best books of the summer in 2016 at WELT online.

Publications

Books

  • 456 and the rest of today. A novel about the Bundeswehr (Munich: Weismann, 1979)
  • (as Kristian Klippel, with Sven Böttcher) Störmer im Dreck (Hamburg: Kellner 1989)
  • (as Kristian Klippel, with Sven Böttcher) Murder Between the Lines (Zurich: Haffmans 1991)
  • What a day. Stories about the moments of happiness in life (Düsseldorf: ECON 1995)
  • Barefoot to Palermo. A picaresque novel (Heidelberg: Ed.Mathieu 1999)
  • Ship in the desert (Berlin, Munich: Altberliner 2000)
  • (read by Nadine Fahner) Ship in the desert. An audio book for children from 7 years of age (Daun: TechniSat Digital, Radioropa audio book 2006)
  • (as Nicki Fischer) Magda on Mars. Birthday party in space (Norderstedt: Books on Demand 2008)
  • Die Zauberkröte , musical theater piece for children with motifs by WA Mozart, (Eschach: CANTUS-Theaterverlag 2015)
  • Damn nice life road novel, book for young people (Stuttgart: Thienemann-Esslinger, 2016)
  • Hope costs extra road novel, book for young people (Stuttgart: Thienemann-Esslinger, 2017)

Other

literature

  • Gerhard Tomkowitz: From Uffzen and Oberlollis. in: Stern 7/1980, pp. 206-208.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ “We got to know Christian Klippel when his Italian novel was not yet written. One day he rushed unannounced in an old orange humpback Saab - cult vehicle! - on the yard. (...) We talked about Klippel's manuscript 'Metro Babylon', from which I later chose the text 'Es had Sense' for the 'Mammut'. ”- Jörg Schröder: The Origin of the March Act (4). In: tazblogs, February 2, 2007.
  2. ↑ a b Michael Kleeberg: We need practice and naivety. Christian Klippel's first German pop novel appears 20 years late. In: Die Welt , May 20, 2000.
  3. ↑ “In March the book never came out because we had planned too much. We wanted to land a bestseller with it, and the whole planning process ran out of breath first for me and then for the publisher. ”- Jörg Schröder: The Origin of the March File (3). In: tazblogs, January 30, 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Klippel, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klippel, Kristian; Fischer, Nicki
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 4th 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittlich