The ascent of the Eiger north face under stairs
The ascent of the north face of the Eiger under a staircase is the debut novel of journalist and author Max Scharnigg . The book was published in 2011 in the publishing house Hoffmann und Campe . It tells the story of the young journalist Nikol Nanz, who, out of distrust of his partner, retires under the staircase of his house entrance to work on a newspaper article about the first ascent of the Eiger north face . As a result, the personal story of Nikol Nanz develops parallel to the retelling of the historic summit storm. Scharnigg received the literature grant from the city of Munich for his novel in 2009 and was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2010 .
content
When the journalist Nikol Nanz returned home from the editorial office of his newspaper one day, he discovered a strange pair of men's shoes in front of his apartment door. When he also hears an unknown male voice through the door, he suspects that his partner "M." is cheating on him. Confused, Nanz turns on the landing on the second floor and wants to leave the house first. Instead, he simply hides under the cavity behind the hallway stairs on the ground floor of the apartment building. With the help of a chair and his coat, he makes himself practically invisible to the other residents of the house under the stairs. He spends several days there undisturbed and uses the time to write an article about the first ascent of the Eiger north face.
Eventually Nanz is discovered in his hiding place by a neighbor named Schmuskatz. The old man invites Nanz to dinner in his apartment. He turns out to be a former glacier photographer and passionate book collector. The meeting between Nanz and Schmuskatz is repeated, the two become friends and exchange ideas about their lives. After a night of partying, both of them, completely drunk, decide to discover the secret of someone else's shoes on the second floor. Armed with mountain gear, Nanz and Schmus set off to climb the stairwell, just as the group around Anderl Heckmair and Ludwig Vörg once conquered the north face of the Eiger.
On the way up, the drunken Nanz falls and wakes up in the morning in the stairwell. He goes to his editorial office and submits the newspaper article that has been created in his head. Then he returns home and ventures into his apartment. His partner "M." is waiting for him. She is reading a book that the old cuddly cat had previously picked out for Nikol Nanz from his library, which is arranged according to dedications. There is also a stuffed heron in the apartment that Nanz and Schmuskatz took with them when they climbed the stairs. "M." is happy and asks Nanz to kiss her.
reception
Der Spiegel described the title and the text of the novel as “stunner”. The jury of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize 2010, on the other hand, largely criticized the work harshly during the 34th Days of German-Language Literature . They criticized what they thought was an inconsistent narrative style and an inconsistent content.
Awards
- Literature grant from the City of Munich in 2009
- Nomination for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize 2010 (extract from the novel)
- Nomination for the silver pig prize of lit.COLOGNE 2011
Web links
literature
- Max Scharnigg: The ascent of the Eiger north face under stairs . Hoffmann and Campe Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-455-40313-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ List of the scholarship holders of the literature scholarship of the City of Munich on the website of the Munich Cultural Office, accessed on April 21, 2011
- ↑ Press release from Herder Verlag , accessed on April 21, 2011
- ^ Review on Spiegel Online , accessed April 21, 2011
- ↑ Summary of the jury's opinion on the Bachmann Prize website of ORF Carinthia , accessed on April 21, 2011
- ↑ Announcement of the laureate of lit.COLOGNE 2011 ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the news section of the festival website, accessed on April 21, 2011
