Hector's trip

Hector's Journey or the Search for Happiness is a novel by François Lelord that was published in 2002 under the title Le voyage d'Hector ou la recherche du bonheur by Éditions Odile Jacob and whose German translation by Ralf Pannowitsch was published in 2004 by Piper Verlag . It was on the Spiegel bestseller list for several weeks .

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Hector is a young psychiatrist and wants to be more concerned with happiness . In his own eyes and in the eyes of other people, he is a good psychiatrist who is good listener and interested in his patients. But he wants more, namely to make people happy. For this he undertakes a trip to different areas of the world. The book gives almost no names of the countries that occur, and only first names are mentioned of the people. Hector is believed to be from France since the author is French and the big city where the protagonist lives is Paris . During his travels, Hector takes small notes ("lessons") on happiness, which are listed below in the article.

Hector's journey first takes him to China , more precisely to Hong Kong , which is not specifically named, but is described with left-hand traffic, many mountains and high-rise buildings. There Hector meets his old school friend Édouard, with whom he goes to dinner and then visits a “bar”, where he meets the young student Ying Li. Although Hector has a friend at home named Clara, Ying Li accompanies Hector back to his hotel, where they spend the night. They both wake up happy in the morning. When Édouard asks his friend the next day if he liked Ying Li, Hector realizes that she is a prostitute and was organized by Édouard. When Ying Li realizes that Hector knows and is saddened by it, she becomes sad too. The following day, Hector travels to a mountain where he meets an old monk and talks to him about happiness. Hector is very impressed by the monk. He later meets with Ying Li again; however, it is not a very pleasant meeting as they are disturbed by Ying Li's pimps.

Then Hector flies to an African developing country . He visits his friend Jean-Michel, a doctor who has settled there to help people. He picks up Hector at the airport and even has a bodyguard with whom he has a homosexual relationship. At the hotel, Hector meets a man named Eduardo, who is from Colombia and is apparently in the country to do business on the black market and deal in drugs. On the following evening, Hector is invited to dinner by his colleague Marie-Louise, whom he met on the plane. On the way back to the hotel, the car in which Hector is sitting is kidnapped by men who have disguised themselves as police officers and set up a roadblock. However, the chief of the kidnappers releases Hector when he sees his notes on happiness and classifies him as harmless. At the same time, Hector can gain respect by dropping the name of his new acquaintance Eduardo, apparently an important person in organized crime. Released from captivity, Hector has a big party at Marie-Louise's and sleeps with Marie-Louise's cousin.

Hector is now flying to the “Most Land” ( “pays du plus” ), which means the United States of America . On the flight, an Afghan passenger named Djamila falls seriously ill, which is why Hector identifies himself as a doctor and offers medical help, even though he is "only" a psychiatrist. He speaks to the woman and takes her to First Class, where he looks after her and talks to her. Although Djamila is terminally ill, she can experience happiness, e.g. B. when she is happy that the war is over and that her nephews are spared military service. At the airport she is taken to a hospital.

When Hector arrives in Los Angeles , Agnès, a former friend, picks him up. In the house of Agnès and her husband Alan, he experiences a typical western family quarrel. Hector visits a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles , and discusses happiness with him. The professor is impressed by Hector and confirms that most of his empirical experiences are scientifically proven. He then takes special pictures of Hector's brain and explains the effects of different brain regions on happiness, fear and sadness.

Finally, Hector returns to Hong Kong to meet the monk again. This reads the list of happiness, which he likes very much. He also notices number 18, which Hector crossed out for fear of his girlfriend (it would be lucky to be able to love several women at once), and says that as a young man he also believed this. As a farewell he gives Hector a present, namely a slip of paper with the numbers of what he believes are the most important lessons.

At the end of the book, Édouard changes his job and works for an aid organization . Eduardo, on the other hand, triggers Ying Li through contacts with her pimp and she gets a job as a secretary at Édouard. Hector continues his job as a psychiatrist and marries his girlfriend Clara, with whom he has a child.

About the book

François Lelord writes in a very uncomplicated, almost child-like language and speaks directly to the reader. He does not give any annual data, apart from a wine from 1976. He also describes events such as the Chinese Revolution, imperialism , the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the actions of the US and NATO in Afghanistan in the war on terrorism , wealth and the American wasteful culture, the social differences in California and human personality weaknesses. However, many of these terms are not mentioned but circumscribed. The book is divided into chapters, each with a name but no number.

The list of luck

• Lesson # 1: Making comparisons is a good way to spoil your luck.
• Lesson # 2: Happiness often comes by surprise.
• Lesson # 3: Many people only see their happiness in the future.
• Lesson # 4: Many people think that happiness means being richer or more powerful.
• Lesson # 5: Sometimes happiness means not understanding something.
• Lesson 6: happiness, this is a good hike in the middle of beautiful unknown mountains.
• Lesson 7: It is a mistake to believe that happiness is the goal.
• Lesson # 8: Happiness is being with the people you love.
• Lesson 8b: Unhappiness is being apart from the people you love.
• Lesson # 9: Happiness is when the family lacks nothing.
• Lesson # 10: Happiness is when you have something you love to do.
• Lesson # 11: Happiness is having a house and a yard.
• Lesson # 12: Happiness is more difficult in a country ruled by bad people.
• Lesson # 13: Happiness is when you feel that you are useful to others.
• Lesson # 14: Happiness is when you are loved for who you are.
• Note: You are kinder to a smiling child (very important).
• Lesson # 15: Happiness is when you feel completely alive.
• Lesson 16: Happiness is when you party right.
• Question: Is happiness just a chemical reaction in the brain?
• Lesson 17: Happiness is thinking about the happiness of the people you love.
• (Lesson 18: happiness would be if you could love several women at the same time - underlined again immediately afterwards -)
• Lesson # 18: Happiness is when you don't place too much emphasis on other people's opinions.
• Lesson # 19: The sun and the sea are happiness for everyone.
• Lesson # 20: Happiness is a way of looking at things.
• Lesson 21: Rivalry is a bad poison for happiness.
• Lesson # 22: Women are more attentive to the happiness of others than men.
• Lesson # 23: Does Happiness Mean Caring for the Happiness of Others?
• (Consideration for another lesson: take time to contemplate the beauty of the world.)

The list is extended by Hector in the book "Hector and the Art of Confidence":

• Lesson # 29: Do what you do best as often as possible.
• Lesson # 30: From time to time, step outside of your scope and step aside.

filming

On August 5, 2014, the world premiere of the real- life filming Hector's Journey or the Search for Happiness took place at Zoo Palast Berlin. The director took Peter Chelsom , in the lead role of Hector 's Simon Pegg to see Rosamund Pike plays Clara . In other roles: Aaron Le as Young Monk.

German edition

• François Lelord: Hector's Journey or the Search for Happiness. Translated from the French by Ralf Pannowitsch. Piper, Munich et al. 2004, ISBN 3-492-04528-6 . Also available as an audio book from Hörbuch Hamburg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-162-6 .

literature

• Nadja Schulte: Reading key. François Lelord: Le Voyage d'Hector ou la recherche du bonheur . Reclam, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-15-015430-4 .

Follow-up works

• Hector and the secrets of love. Piper Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-492-24991-4 (French: Hector et les secrets de l'amour. ). Also as an audio book at Audiobook Hamburg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-163-3 .
• Hector and the discovery of time. Piper Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-492-04936-2 (French: Le nouveau voyage d'Hector: à la poursuite du temps qui passe. ). Also as an audio book at Audiobook Hamburg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-068-1 .
• Hector & Hector and the secrets of life. Piper Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-05167-5 (French: Petit Hector apprend la vie ). Also available as an audio book from Hörbuch Hamburg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-161-9 .
• Hector and the miracle of friendship. Piper Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-492-05166-8 . Also as an audio book at Audiobook Hamburg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-160-2 .
• Hector starts a new life. Piper Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-492-30641-6 (French: Hector veut changer de vie ). Also as an audio book at Audiobook Hamburg, 2015, ISBN 978-3-86952-256-2 .
• Hector and the Search for Paradise: Hector's First Journey. Piper Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-492-31035-2 (French: Le jeune homme qui voulait savoir si le Paradis existe ). Also as an audio book at Audiobook Hamburg, 2017, ISBN 978-3-86952-353-8 .
• Hector and the art of confidence . Piper Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-492-05628-1 (French: Hector et les lunettes roses pour aimer la vie ). Also as an audio book at Audiobook Hamburg, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86952-378-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hector's journey: World premiere at Zoo Palast Berlin. Retrieved August 15, 2014 .