The Erlöser AG
Erlöser AG is a socially critical novel by Björn Kern from 2007, published by CHBeck . In it, the author creates a future scenario in which active euthanasia is legal.
content
At a tumultuous federal press conference , the abolition of Section 216 of the Criminal Code is announced. Active euthanasia is therefore legal. Hendrik Miller, member of the ethics committee at the Berlin Charité , and the mad journalist Paul Kungebein meet at the conference . Together they found the "Miller Kungebein Agency" (popularly known as "Die Erlöser AG"), which is supposed to enable those who want to die a gentle death. The background of the event is a Berlin of the near future, in which the demographic change has come to a head. The entire western part of the city has become a district for the sick and the elderly.
The first patient is Elsa Lindström, who is almost a hundred years old. The demented woman had articulated her wish to die in a legally reliable manner. Another patient who suffers from locked-in syndrome, i.e. who can only articulate herself by moving her eyelid, is controversial . Her death calls the prosecutor on the scene and brings Paul Kungebein in custody . The allegations turn out to be unfounded. During the pre-trial detention, Paul Kungebein's father Victor, himself demented, ravaged the shared loft . Paul Kungebein is faced with the question of whether his own father should also become a patient of the “Erlöser AG”, although he can no longer articulate his will. The book has an open ending, in which Hendrik Miller's fantasies of omnipotence are caricatured, and a position for or against euthanasia remains open.
criticism
While the novel was awarded the Brothers Grimm Prize of the City of Hanau in 2007 , an excerpt from it, which Björn Kern read at the Klagenfurt competition for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize , led to a scandal between the jury members Iris Radisch and Karl Corino . The explicit descriptions of physical misery led to some polemical rejection. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said: "One of the few texts with a certain speed - and promptly [the jury] felt blackmailed by the clarity" (July 3, 2007). Contrary to Klagenfurt custom, Björn Kern got involved in the discussion and, as a former community service provider , emphasized that he was not exaggerating. In the October issue of the magazine “ Bücher ” it was stated: “With his appearance Björn Kern provided the only real moment of unrest this year at the most important German-language literary prize, the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition in Klagenfurt. The anger of experience meets the aesthetic ideas of form in the literature business. "
Press reviews
"With fine portraits, precise descriptions of the suffering of old and sick people and a close eye for a controversial topic, the author has written a harrowing novel that also touches his own life."
"A satirical future vision with Orwellian features."
"He describes the suffering of these neglected old people, these demented people, so vividly, so emotionally, he gets so close, with so much empathy that it almost takes your breath away while reading."
"Kern's grotesque provokes extreme feelings in the reader, especially in view of the fact that his story is well within the realm of the once possible."
"You could almost call this book a scandal."
"The young author uses tough words to formulate a warning to the morally defective affluent world to deal responsibly and realistically with the question of life and death."
“In general, the novel is completely free of false pathos or empty phrases of concern. Rather, he works out impressively with different narrative perspectives that there can be no solution in the discussion about active euthanasia and probably no solution either. "
filming
The novel was filmed for ZDF in 2011 under the title Come, beautiful death . Producer was Regina Ziegler , Director led Friedemann Fromm ; Anna Loos and Herbert Knaup play the leading roles .
Web links
- Product page at CHBeck
- Official website of Björn Kern
Individual evidence
- ↑ Press reviews at CHBeck ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ ZDF press release
