The magazine (novel)

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The magazine is a work by Hellmuth Karasek . The satirical novel, which was published by Rowohlt Verlag in 1998 , can be read as a key novel in which the author processes his time with the news magazine Der Spiegel . The author was employed here from 1974 to 1996, including many years as head of the cultural department.

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The name of the protagonist Daniel Doppler goes back to a pseudonym with which Karasek signed his glosses in "Spiegel" and which he used for the publication of three tabloid comedies between 1984 and 1990. Doppler's employment and dismissal from “Magazin”, a (fictional) weekly news paper that appears in Hamburg, serve as the narrative framework for the novel. However, the figure only serves as a narrative, Doppler's career is only briefly outlined in between and does not really play a role in the novel: After studying in Munich and Vienna, he first went to a boarding school as a trainee lawyer. He has a son and a failed marriage and spends most of his time with his girlfriend Karoline, with whom he does not want to move in together. At the end of the novel, Karoline broke up with him because of his inability to make up his mind and is with the Austrian TV mogul Horvat. Doppler also experiences a break in his professional life, he is fired from the “Magazin”. The last time he left the office building, he was hit by a car and taken to a clinic.

In the foreground of the novel is the working method of the "magazine", which is described anecdotally. The most important figures include the editors-in-chief Lange and Bernhard B. Schwab, with length being replaced by Lenk towards the end of the novel, as well as the Ticino-based publisher Albert Kahn ( called “ Citizen Kahn ” by his editors ). In addition, some editors emerge in individual chapters or en passant, such as the Austria correspondent Prohaska, the society reporter Helene Gäbler, the culture editor Sabine Adler (who then marries Schwab and thus becomes the allure “Principessa”) or the science editor Kieper, who uses panic-mongering plays on the topic of AIDS and ensures high print runs.

The templates for some of the main characters can be easily identified. The figure Kahn certainly alludes to Rudolf Augstein , and the figures Längen and Schwab are certainly exaggerated portraits of the long-time “Spiegel” editors-in-chief Johannes K. Engel and Erich Böhme . Marie-Luise Scherer can be recognized as the template for Doppler's colleague Helene Gäbler .

There are also numerous allusions to people from contemporary history in the individual chapters. For example, there is talk of an interview that Doppler - meanwhile "mainly assigned to interviews", which he in the team with Roland Mayer, "who is now with the ' SZ ', page three" - with the "poet prince" Friedrich Freund led, the "almost Nobel Prize winner", who can easily be recognized as Günter Grass . The conversation with the “great writer” is described anecdotally (in Chapter 11): Since the recording device fails, the two interviewers then have to reconstruct the conversation material through a role-play.

In chapters 20 to 25 (without explicitly naming them or using the names ' Barschel ' or ' Engholm ', the media speaker identifiable with ' Pfeiffer ' is called 'Geiger' in the book) , the events of the Barschel affair are described the 1987 state election in Schleswig-Holstein and the role of the “magazine” in uncovering the affair.

"Das Magazin" and "Der Spiegel"

It is mentioned that in addition to the fictional “Magazin” in Hamburg, there are also competitors “ Stern ” and “Spiegel”. Nevertheless, the “Magazin” is, of course, above all a parody of the “Spiegel”. The novel naturally contains many allusions to the way the “mirror” works. For example, the “Magazin” appears “on Monday at every kiosk nationwide”. A comment on the richness of detail, especially in the political "Spiegel" stories, can be read from a comment by Editor-in-Chief Length:

“We give things a human touch by looking behind the scenes. And how do we do that? We do this by getting the latest data from the archive. What is the Italian Foreign Minister currently weighing? What is his favorite food? What is he drinking? Does he have problems with his party? What does our Chancellor weigh? More or less again? And then I call our Bonn residents and tell them to call the protocol! And asks the comrades what they did last night, the Chancellor and the Foreign Minister. "

The head of the cultural department Schöbel explains the story requirement of the "Spiegel":

“The important thing about a 'magazine' story is (...) its dramaturgy. Life is mostly boring, linear, monotonous. We bring in drama, twists and turns, processes, curves. "

A chapter is also devoted to Friday evening in the editorial office when the current issue is ready for printing (Chapter 14). There are also passages on the Monday conferences (in Chapter 23) and the cover picture conferences (Chapter 26).

criticism

The novel was received mostly negatively by the critics. There were some damning judgments, for example in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and “ Focus ”.

The contemporary reception is also reflected in Rainald Goetz's internet diary “Waste for Everyone”, which he kept from February 1998 to January 1999. Goetz is particularly interested in Karasek's reaction to the criticism, such as the announcement that Marcel Reich-Ranicki was positive about his book:

“He indicated that Reich-Ranicki had encouraged him, that the book would be good too, but he did not want to peddle it. He repeated this several times that he was by no means allowed to make public what Reich-Ranicki had communicated to him privately. That would be completely wrong, etc. At that moment, of course, that had already happened. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Herbert Riehl-Heyse : Hundred days of indulgences for Karasek. In: Spiegel Online, September 11, 1998.
  2. ↑ cf. Peter Bruges : A champion in shadow boxing . In: Der Spiegel . No. 38 , 1998, pp. 216 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek: The magazine. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, p. 101.
  4. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek: The magazine. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, p. 102.
  5. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek: The magazine. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, p. 101. One year after the novel was published, Grass actually received the Nobel Prize.
  6. ↑ See Hellmuth Karasek: Das Magazin. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, pp. 101-133.
  7. ↑ See Hellmuth Karasek: Das Magazin. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, p. 41, p. 195, p. 257, p. 289, p. 359, p. 394, p. 398.
  8. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek: The magazine. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, p. 14.
  9. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek: The magazine. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, p. 56.
  10. ↑ "'The form in which the mirror brings its news content to the reader', so it says in the Spiegel statute, 'is the story.'" Hans Magnus Enzensberger : The language of the mirror. (1957.) In: Details I / Consciousness Industry. Frankfurt./M .: Suhrkamp o. JS 84-85.
  11. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek: The magazine. Novel. (1998.) Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, p. 60.
  12. ↑ See Thomas Delekat: Confession in front of a mirror image. Doppler settles accounts with Karasek's critics. In: The world. November 26, 1998.
  13. ^ Rainald Goetz: Garbage for everyone. Novel of a year. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1999, p. 599.