My mother's child

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My mother's child is an autobiographical novel by Florian Burkhardt about his childhood and youth. The book was published on April 25, 2017 by Wörterseh-Verlag. It rose to number 12 on the Swiss bestseller list and received wide coverage in the Swiss media landscape.

content

In 1973, Florian was not yet born, the Burkhardt family had an accident on the way to skiing in an overtaking maneuver on an icy road. The car slides into the guardrail, is torn in two and Florian's brother Andreas does not survive the accident. Florian's father, plagued by feelings of guilt, seeks and finds support in religion. Florian's mother becomes pregnant with Florian shortly afterwards. Even at birth (1974) he was burdened with a heavy burden. He is supposed to fill the gap left by his late brother.

This is followed by classic overprotection by the mother, who is traumatized by the accidental death of one of her children. Florian is celebrated as the prince and savior. The mother puts all her focus and energy on the newborn son. Fearful of losing another child, the mother tries to protect Florian from all the influences of a dangerous world. Riding a bike, listening to the radio and watching television are prohibited. As a 14-year-old Florian still plays with smaller children, as his mother is afraid that his peers could seduce him into consuming alcohol or other drugs . Everything is done so that nothing can happen to Florian.

Although he wants to attend the arts and crafts school, Florian ends up at the urging of his parents in a Catholic boarding school for boys, where he is to be trained as a primary school teacher. Florian spends five years there until, with his diploma in his pocket, he hurries up and away at the age of 21 and begins his own life - and breaks off all contact with his parents.

Until he moved, Florian could never be open about his homosexuality . He says: “I come from another time. You should report it to the boarding school if you suspected that someone might be gay. Homosexuality was a taboo subject. Nobody was gay. " His father still says today that for him his son's homosexuality is incompatible with the Christian faith.

Florian grew up strictly controlled and overprotected and had hardly any experience until the age of 21. His childhood and adolescence had felt like a life in a cage, always monitored and directed by an overprotective mother. "We were not compatible," he says today about his ultra-conservative parents.

The older brother, who survived the accident, tried to take things pragmatically. The Catholic father cultivated a guilt complex as the cause of the accident . The marriage was broken. The trauma and the question of guilt stayed like a veil over the family.

In 1993 Florian discovered the new, exotic sport of snowboarding while still at boarding school . From this point on, its rapid rise began. He turned professional during his training. As a multiple sponsored snowboarder, he was celebrated as the “new wilder”. At the age of 19 he founded “Board Generation”, the first snowboard magazine, which quickly became the snowboard magazine with the highest circulation in German-speaking Europe. After completing his training, he moved to Graubünden in 1995 to devote himself entirely to snowboarding. But it soon becomes too tight for him in the mountains. He bought the never allowed television, in which he discovered Hollywood for himself, packed his bags and left “narrow Switzerland” for Los Angeles .

Emergence

The idea for the book came from the Berlin literary agent Matthias Landwehr, after he had seen the documentary film Electroboy about the life of Florian Burkhardt. When asked why he actually wrote the book, Burkhardt replied: “To tell my own experiences as a child of my parents, after they have been interpreted so often from the outside”. The book launch took place on May 30, 2017 at the “Kaufleuten” in Zurich.

continuation

In February 2018, Wörterseh published a sequel to the novel as announced under the title The Weight of Freedom .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Electroboy Florian Burkhardt: "Many families are hardened" Interview by Susanne Holz at luzernerzeitung.ch from May 20, 2017
  2. ↑ «Your love became a prison» Interview by Tina Schöni at zueriost.ch on May 4, 2017
  3. ↑ Florian Burkhardt: Reasons for the rise and fall of the Electroboy contribution in the show glanz & gloria on Swiss television on July 27, 2017
  4. ↑ Florian Burkhardt: My mother's child - Kaufleuten Zurich announcement at werliestwo.ch
  5. ↑ «I thought the hatred of my parents was rising » Interview by Maja Zivadinovic at schweizer-illustrierte.ch from April 24, 2017