The city of dreaming books

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The City of Dreaming Books is a fantasy - novel by Walter Moers in 2004, which as previously The 13½ Lives of Captain Blue Bear , ensel and krete and Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures in the fictional kingdom Zamonien plays. The main character and narrator in the novel is the Zamonian poet Hildegunst von Mythenmetz, who tells of his beginnings as a budding poet, in particular of his adventures in the book town of Buchhaim and the catacombs below.

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Part One: Danzelot's Legacy

The budding poet Hildegunst von Mythenmetz received an ingenious literary text from his dying “godfather” Danzelot von Silbendrechsler, together with the task of finding its unknown author. For this purpose the young Lindwurm should go to Buchhaim, the city of dreaming books.

Once in Buchhaim, Mythenmetz learns that beneath the city there are labyrinthine catacombs full of forgotten libraries, which are the basis of Buchhaim's wealth. In the catacombs, bookhunters fight fierce battles for valuable printed matter. There are also rumors about the Shadow King , supposedly a sinister and cruel creature that rules over everything in the catacombs.

In search of the author of the manuscript , Mythenmetz visits various antiquarian bookshops and ends up with Phistomefel Smeik, antiquarian and literary connoisseur. Smeik initially showed great interest in the manuscript, but eventually revealed himself to be the enemy of good literature. The manuscript poses a threat to Smeik and his business principles because it shows how good literature can be, and Smeik wants to sell his mediocre mass-produced goods. To get rid of Hildegunst von Mythenmetz, Smeik stuns him with the help of a poisonous book and puts him in a labyrinth under his second-hand bookshop. Mythenmetz gets lost there deeper and deeper in its corridors and finally ends up in the catacombs of Buchhaim.

Second part: the catacombs of Buchhaim

Mythenmetz on his wrong ways through the catacombs encounters a multitude of living beings that are at home in the catacombs. So he has to beware of hostile beings such as a giant spider-like creature, the Spinxxxxe, and the book hunters. For a while, Mythenmetz found protection with the Buchlingen, friendly Cyclops who nourish themselves by reading books.

Ultimately, Mythenmetz even meets the Shadow King himself. As it turns out, the Shadow King is originally the mysterious author of the ingenious literary text that Mythenmetz received from his poet. Before he became the Shadow King, he was a simple person who moved to Buchhaim to find a publisher for his texts. Like Mythenmetz, he fell into the hands of Smeik and was transformed by Smeik through alchemy into a huge, strong and almost immortal monster made of paper that can only survive in the catacombs. If it tried to get to the light of day it would start to burn immediately. For a while, the shadow king becomes the teacher of the budding poet Mythenmetz and teaches him the basics to eventually feel the orm, a mysterious poetic inspiration. After Mythenmetz has spent some time with the Shadow King, he can persuade him to find a way back to Buchhaim with him and to get revenge on Smeik.

Once up in Smeik's laboratory, the Shadow King confronts Smeik with his misdeeds. The Shadow King now sacrifices himself in order to pursue his revenge and to destroy the library of Smeik, the cause of all evil: He stands at the window and exposes himself one last time to the sunlight, which he has missed very much and which he needs, to feel the orm. When it ignites itself, it first sets fire to Smeik's laboratory and library. A large part of Buchhaim burns with the Shadow King and Smeik. Mythenmetz escapes and watches the Buchhaim fire from a safe distance outside of Buchhaim. While looking at the stars in the sky and the dreaming books awakened in front of him in the burning city, he experiences the Orm for the first time, the basis for his career as a future poet and source of inspiration for the entire story at hand, The City of Dreaming Books .

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Author and narrator

As in one of the earlier Zamonien books ( Ensel and Krete ), Moers pretends to act exclusively as the German translator of a work by the Zamonian poeta laureatus Hildegunst von Mythenmetz . According to Moers' construction, the novel represents only the first two chapters of the 25-volume, over 10,000-page travel memories of a sentimental dinosaur from the pen of the poet prince of the Lindwurmfeste. The claim to be a work from the language of the fictional cosmos (only) translating is a common topos of fantastic literature; also used it for example Umberto Eco in his novel The Name of the Rose or William Goldman with the bride princess .

Allusions to literature and the literary business

The city of dreaming books contains an abundance of allegorical and parodic allusions to literature and the literary business. The novel begins at the Lindwurm Festival, in which an idealistic ideal of the author who lives only for his art is cultivated. In stark contrast to this is the hustle and bustle in Buchhaim, which is primarily characterized by consumerism and greed for profit. In contrast to this stands the idealism of the booklings who only collect books but do not want to make a profit from their valuable books.

In the catacombs of Buchhaim Mythenmetz encounters various forms of existence that allude to books, reading and literature in different ways: First of all, there are the booklings, friendly, dwarfish cyclops , for whom reading books is like eating. According to the story, their names are the names of famous Zamonian writers; in fact, many author names are anagrams of well-known German poets such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Hölderlin or Annette von Droste-Hülshoff . Other forms of existence are the living books and the shadow king or homunoloss, who turns out to be a human being who has been transformed into a giant being made of paper through alchemy.

With the story of Orm, the comprehensive force that inspires Zamon poets to outstanding literary achievements, Moers alludes to the cult of the brilliant author from the 18th century.

Position in literary history

Classification in the work of the author

In an interview that was published after the publication of the Rumo , Moers said the following about his plans for the city ​​of dreaming books, which was emerging at the time :

“While working on the first novel, I got the fixed idea for a series of books in which the real hero should not be the protagonists, but the place where the plot takes place. Different genres and forms of literature should be tried out on this slide: the first was a fantastic baroque novel, the second a fairy tale parody, 'Rumo' is an adventure novel, the next book will be based on horror and horror literature, the next but one on science fiction when I get that far. "

Literary influences and literary genre

The literary genre of the novel cannot be clearly determined. In addition to the labels fantasy and pop literature , Moers himself said that horror and horror literature was his main inspiration for the city ​​of dreaming books . The figure of the shadow king is z. B. probably inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from 1818, here too part of the book is portrayed from the perspective of the "monster", of Frankenstein's creature, just as the shadow king tells his story in The City of Dreaming Books .

reception

The city of dreaming books was among the 15 best-selling fiction titles on the Spiegel bestseller list for a total of 21 weeks . Overall, the book was received very positively by critics and rated as the best book in the Zamonien series to date. Among other things, the imaginative design of the novel and its comedy are praised.

The city of dreaming books was awarded two literary prizes in 2005, the special prize of the jury of young readers and the fantastic prize of the city of Wetzlar .

The book has been translated into a variety of languages ​​including English, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Hungarian, and Korean. In 2005, HörbucHHamburg published an audio book with the unabridged text for the novel and with Dirk Bach as the narrator. In 2017 and 2018 a two-volume graphic novel version of Die Stadt der Träumende Bücher was published , which Walter Moers created together with the illustrator Florian Biege , the first part was awarded the German Fantastic Prize for the best German comic in October 2018 .

Sequels

In 2011 the sequel The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books was published , which describes Hildegunst von Mythenmetz's return to Buchhaim. In addition, a third part entitled The Castle of Dreaming Books was announced for autumn 2014, but then postponed several times, ultimately for an indefinite period, with a publication still being planned.

literature

Text output

Graphic novel

  • The city of dreaming books. Together with Florian Biege (Illustrator), Volume 1, Knaus, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-8135-0501-6 .
  • The city of dreaming books. Together with Florian Biege (Illustrator), Volume 2, Knaus, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-8135-0502-3 .

Audio book

Secondary literature

  • Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent. V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 .
  • Katja Pawlik: From Atlantis to Zamonia, from Menippos to Moers: Walter Moers' Zamonia novels in the context of Menippi satire . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-8260-5899-8 .
  • Mareike Wegner: "Knowledge is night!" Parodic procedures in Walter Moers' Zamonien novels and in "Wilde Reise durch die Nacht" . Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8498-1137-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose . dtv, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-423-10551-8 , p. 7-12 .
  2. ↑ Tim-Florian Goslar: The cultural landscapes of Zamoniens in the city of dreaming books . In: Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent . V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 , p. 267 .
  3. ^ Maren J. Conrad: Of dead authors and living books. Allegories and parodies of post-structuralist literary theory in the catacombs of the city of dreaming books . In: Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent . V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 , p. 267 .
  4. ↑ Mareike Wegner: "Knowledge is Night!" Parodistic procedures in Walter Moers' Zamonien novels and in "Wilde Reise durch die Nacht . Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8498-1137-2 , p. 156-165 .
  5. ↑ Tim-Florian Goslar: The cultural landscapes of Zamoniens in the city of dreaming books . In: Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent . V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 , p. 275 .
  6. ↑ Interview im Falter, edition 17/03 of April 23, 2003 ( Memento of January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Daniel Schäbler: Frankenstein and the consequences. On the poetics of the monstrous in Walter Moers . In: Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent . V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 , p. 139 .
  8. ↑ Der Spiegel 39/2004 - 7/2005
  9. ↑ Andreas Platthaus: Born to poetry, ordered to read: A sensitive Lindwurm: Walter Moers enchants with his new novel from Zamonien . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . October 11, 2004.
  10. ↑ Gerrit Lembke: "This is where the story begins." Moers' Zamonien novels. Surveying a fictional continent . In: Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent . V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 , p. 30 .
  11. ↑ Gerrit Lembke: "This is where the story begins." Moers' Zamonien novels. Surveying a fictional continent . In: Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent . V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 , p. 40 .
  12. ↑ The winners of the German Fantastic Prize 2018. In: Homepage of the German Fantastic Prize. Retrieved October 25, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Walter Moers: I really exist! In: Zamonien.de. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .