Zamonia

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Zamonia is a continent invented by the writer Walter Moers , which is described for the first time in his novel The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear . The eight following novels by Moers - Ensel and Krete , Rumo & Die Wunder im Dunkeln , The City of Dreaming Books , The Schrecksenmeister , The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books , Princess Insomnia & the Nightmare Nightmare , Christmas at the Lindworm Festival and The Book Dragon - also play in Zamonien, which is why these works are summarized under the term Zamonia novels or Zamonia cycle . Moers populates its world with a multitude of creatures borrowed from world literature and their own forms of existence ( mythical creatures ) of all kinds.

The continent of Zamonia

In an interview, Walter Moers explained the importance of the continent of Zamonia for his novels.

“[…] [F] ure for me [was] already in the first book the real hero not the blue bear, but the continent of Zamonia. Its history - and that of its inhabitants - I would like to continue to tell in all possible directions. "

- Walter Moers

It goes without saying that the author is not particularly careful about the connections between the individual books.

“For example, I will start differently in terms of time, a 'sequel' of 'The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear' does not necessarily have to follow in chronological order. […] There are links between the books, but each one will stand on its own. One of the planned books [Rumo] is set practically at the same time as the first Zamonia novel, with a leading actor whom the blue bear meets in one of his first thirteen and a half lives. "

- Walter Moers

Moers executes this plan so far that there is no continuous, clear timeline. And again and again you can find information that contradicts a comment in another novel. Often there are also different spellings of names and designations. All novels have a complex amount of detail. Places, creatures and figures are introduced as required. Sometimes it is used, but often something new is added. In addition, the laws of physics are interpreted generously and, if necessary, circumvented or ignored.

geography

The exact location of Zamonia does not matter for the novels. In Die 13½ Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär , Zamonia is described as a later submerged continent in the middle of the Atlantic. Obviously in order to have the greatest possible freedom in the continuation of the Zamonien novels, Moers laid out his continent as a summary of all conceivable climatic zones and geographical structures. With every new novel, new places and landscapes are added.

On the first pages of Die 13½ Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär there are two maps that contradict each other:

  • According to a map of the world, Zamonia is located in today's Atlantic Ocean , grassland and small trolls to the north, large trolls to the northeast , Eurasia to the east, Africa south- east , the continent of Go to the south and America to the west .
  • A map Zamoniens contrast, following neighboring continents: in the northern grassland in southeastern Yhôll , southwest Nafklathu and west Urien .

Zamonia is located below the lower world , which plays a key role in Rumo & Die Wunder im Dunkeln . It is an underground cave system. In some of these caves there are cities or settlements; others are inhabited by dangerous forms of existence. The capital of the lower world is Hel. She is ruled by the mad King Gaunab 99th . In Zamonia, the lower world is largely unknown, while the inhabitants of the lower world have succumbed to the belief that the air of the upper world is corrosive and the sun would burn you. The cave system can only be reached through the exits in the three so-called “trap cities”: Wolperting, Snowflake and Nebelheim.

Zamonic forms of existence

Zamonia is populated by the strangest living things; the umbrella term is forms of existence . In The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär , the continent is declared a retreat for mythical creatures. There are only very few people in Zamonia because they were expelled from the continent after the "Zamonische inheritance temples", a power struggle with the Nattiffoffs. This succession temple began when a Nattifftoffe was pushed out of the window by people, breaking his ear - an allusion to the Prague window lintel .

A collection of these forms of existence can be found in the lexicon of the miracles, forms of existence and phenomena in Zamonia and its surroundings by Prof. Dr. Abdul Nachtigaller , which is mentioned regularly in the Zamonien novels and is often quoted or used as a reference work by Prof. Nachtigaller and other characters.

The novels

The novels that play within Zamonia can be roughly divided into 3 categories. First there are the (auto) biographical works. These works tell events that are real within the fictional world, and thus create a reality within the fandom. Thus, their writers and characters exist within Zamonia. Sometimes reference is made to them or to the books themselves. Although every book, with the exception of the Buchhaim works, can be seen as an individual work, in many places there are more or less obvious references to the other books and their characters. The second category are the epistolary novels (only one of which has currently been published), which have a similar effect and continue to serve fictional reality . The last form is the art fairy tale. These are all written by Mythenmetz as a fictional author and tell of events that are also fictional within the fandom, while the story itself or the book are real.

The following table illustrates this categorization:

title fictional author category annotation
The 13½ lives of Captain Bluebear Blue bear Autobiography  
Ensel and Krete Hildegunst von Mythenmetz Art fairy tale The book contains autobiographical sections in the mythmetzischen digressions . Blaubär is mentioned (not by name) as a lying gladiator (see The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär - My Life in Atlantis ). At the end Moers attaches half a biography of Mythenmetz, in which he claims to be the author.
Rumo & the wonders in the dark not specified biography Rumo appeared previously in The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear . Since this is not an autobiography and no fictional author is given, it can be assumed here that this book does not exist within Zamonia.
The city of dreaming books Hildegunst von Mythenmetz Autobiography It is given as part of a 25-volume autobiography. Professor Nachtigaller from The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär is mentioned as an author and scientist, and Mythenmetz's enmity with Laptantidel Latuda , a literary critic, whom he also mentions in Ensel and Krete , begins here .
The terrifying master Hildegunst von Mythenmetz Art fairy tale Moers claims to have shortened the book by extensive digressions.
The labyrinth of dreaming books Hildegunst von Mythenmetz Autobiography Continuation of The City of Dreaming Books
Princess Insomnia & the nightmare nightmare Hildegunst von Mythenmetz Art fairy tale  
Christmas at the Lindwurm Festival Hildegunst von Mythenmetz Epistle novel The letter is addressed to Hachmed Ben Kibitzer, whom Mythenmetz meets in Buchhaim (see The City of Dreaming Books ).
The book dragon Hildegunst von Mythenmetz Autobiography / Art Fairy Tales It is not made clear in the novel whether Mythenmetz experienced what happened or just dreamed it. He already meets the booklet Hildegunst Zwei in The City of Dreaming Books .

The 13½ lives of Captain Bluebear

The 13½ life of Captain Blaubär (subtitle: "Half the memories of a sea dog; with numerous illustrations and using the lexicon of the miracles, forms of existence and phenomena in Zamonia and its surroundings by Prof. Dr. Abdul Nachtigaller") is the first Zamon- Novel. Moers describes the life of his protagonist Käpt'n Blaubär and, in contrast to the Käpt'n Blaubär TV episodes in the show with the mouse, is clearly aimed at an adult audience. In the course of the book, Blue Bear travels through the entire continent of Zamonia with the aim of reaching Atlantis and settling there.

Ensel and Krete

Described by the author himself as a fairy tale parody, Ensel und Krete is an adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel with two Fhernhach children - extremely amiable and decent half-dwarfs - as heroes.

On the other hand, he is in the tradition of romantic art fairy tales; for Moers uses the figure of the Zamonian poet prince Hildegunst von Mythenmetz for the first time as the fictional author of the book that one is about to read. As in well-known works of romantic literature (cf. ETA Hoffmann's novel Kater Murr ), the actual author Walter Moers only acts as a mediator of the text - in this case as a “translator” from Zamonian. This not only translates, but also intervenes in the alleged original by adding explanations from the lexicon of miracles, forms of existence and phenomena of Zamonia and its surroundings by Professor Dr. Abdul Nachtigaller , some comments on the difficulty of translating and half of Hildegunst von Mythenmetz's biography have been added.

Mythenmetz, the actual "author" of the book, constantly comments on the events in his work himself, using the "Mythenmetzschen digression" method he invented. This allows him to interrupt the story and insert something else important (or trivial) instead.

Rumo & The Miracles in the Dark

Rumo & Die Wunder im Dunkeln describes the adventures of Wolpertinger Rumo, who had already played a supporting role in The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear .

Moers himself described the book as an adventure novel . In fact, many reminiscences of the adventure genre from various epochs can be discovered in it, such as medieval Aventiure trips and the heroic epic or classics such as Alexandre Dumas , Jules Verne and Karl May . But Rumo is also a romance novel at the same time. The plot is divided into two parts, which is reminiscent of the Arthurian double path : The first part ( Obenwelt ) is about the protagonist finding his home in order to acquire his education and his equipment as a hero. In the second part ( lower world ) this home is taken from him; there is a crisis ; Rumo has to prove himself as a hero and it is only in this way that he finds what defines his real destiny. Moers designed this second part in the tradition of journeys to the hereafter or journeys to hell (such as Visio Tnugdali or Dante's Divine Comedy ).

The city of dreaming books

The City of Dreaming Books is the second work in which Moers purports to act exclusively as the German translator of a work by the Zamonian poeta laureatus Hildegunst von Mythenmetz . According to Moers' construction, the novel only presents the first two chapters of the 25-volume, over 10,000-page “Travel Memories of a Sentimental Dinosaur” penned by the prince poet from the Lindwurmfeste, which told of Mythenmetz from a first-person perspective Events in his youth. The book is also said to be the first novel published by Mythenmetz in Zamonien.

The plot follows the model of the quest , which is common in fantasy and adventure novels : Mythenmetz receives an ingenious text from his dying “godfather” Danzelot von Silbendrechsler, together with the task of finding its unknown author. To this end, the young Lindwurm should go to the “City of Dreaming Books”, namely to Buchhaim, an allusion to the painter Lothar-Günther Buchheim .

When he arrived in Buchhaim, Mythenmetz was overwhelmed by the wealth of experiences he had and confused by the encounters with some locals. Little by little he learns that the whole city is tunnelled by a sombre system of extensive, labyrinthine catacombs overflowing with old books . There, the ruthless, bloodthirsty bookhunters fought bitterly for valuable print products - not only among themselves, but also with a people of Cyclops , the Buchlingen , who are said to eat books, as well as countless other, mostly extremely dangerous forms of existence. Above everything there is an incredibly cruel and merciless figure, the Shadow King .

As the owner of the ingenious manuscript , the Lindwurm soon finds himself in the midst of an opaque intrigue . Anesthetized with the help of a poisonous book, he is brought into the labyrinth and gets lost ever deeper in its corridors. In the midst of many dangerous adventures, Mythenmetz finally finds out the truth about the Buchlinge and the Shadow King. The second half of the book takes on the traits of an educational novel over longer passages , which describes how the young Hildegunst von Mythenmetz went to an apprenticeship in order to finally attain the orm, i.e. the ability to write perfect literature.

The terrifying master

This work, known as “Culinary Fairy Tale”, also comes from the pen of Hildegunst von Mythenmetz. It is conceived as a “culinary novel”. Mythenmetz wrote the novel as an adaptation of the novella “Echo das Krätze” by the legendary author Gofid Letterkerl in order to bring his work closer to the youth of Zamon. Mythenmetz writes that Letterkerl's style is "as bulky as a wardrobe". The hero of the story, a scratcher (not unlike a talking cat), makes an agreement with the terrifying master of the town of Sledwaya at the beginning of the book . In return for accommodation and fantastic Zamonian food, the Schrecksenmeister, a powerful alchemist, is allowed to harvest the fat of the rare scratch. Because the process of fat production goes hand in hand with death, the scab must find a way out or die by the next full moon. Throughout the book, parallels to the novella Spiegel das Kitten by Gottfried Keller (an anagram to Gofid Letterkerl ) can be found. The action takes place in the Zamon city of Sledwaya, while the location of Spiegel the kitten is called Seldwyla. The sorcerer Pineiss becomes the horror master Succubius Eißpin, the kitten Spiegel becomes a scraper named Echo.

The labyrinth of the dreaming books

The novel is a continuation of the novel "The City of Dreaming Books". He tells how Mythenmetz, who is now a celebrated author and completely spoiled by fame, returns to Buchhaim and meets some old friends there. Although he has no intention of entering the catacombs again, he lets himself be persuaded to take a guided tour of the labyrinth. There he is finally left alone, only with a piece of paper in his hand that says: "This is where the story begins." . With that the book ends.

The castle of the dreaming books

This novel should be the continuation of the novel "The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books". It was supposed to be released in autumn 2014, then was postponed to October 2015 and then indefinitely.

The island of a thousand lighthouses

It was announced as a replacement for The Castle of Dreaming Books for autumn 2016 , but has not yet been published. However, the first information about the book should be published soon. So far it is known that this novel will again be about Hildegunst von Mythenmetz. In a footnote, Walter Moers alluded to this book in his novel Christmas at the Lindworm Festival. A reading sample can be found in the hardback edition of Der Bücherdrache and contains a first letter from Mythenmetz to Hachmed Ben Kibitzer.

Princess Insomnia and the nightmare nightmare

A novel written by Walter Moers and illustrated by Lydia Rode . It was published by Knaus Verlag on August 28, 2017 . It's about Princess Dylia which is suffering from a mysterious illness that leads to weeks of insomnia, and one night the nightmare encountered Havarius Opal, who takes her on a trip to amígdala, the fear center in her brain, to try them in to drive insane.

Christmas at the Lindwurm Festival

This letter novel was published in November 2018 and illustrated again by Lydia Rode. It is about a letter that Hildegunst von Mythenmetz wrote to the Eydeeten Hachmed Ben Kibitzer. He describes the Hamoulimepp festival, which he views very critically. Many aspects of this Lindworm tradition and the way of life at the Lindwurmfest are explained by him.

The book dragon

The book dragon was released on March 25, 2019. In the novel, Hildegunst von Mythenmetz tells how he meets Hildegunst II, a Buchling named after him, in the catacombs. He tells him how, following a test of courage and an acceptance ritual for his classmates, he went in search of Nathaviel, the legendary book kite, and found him in the Orm Marsh in the catacombs of Buchhaim.

Important figures in the Zamonia novels

Captain Bluebear

Käpt'n Blaubär is the protagonist in Moers' first Zamonia novel The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär . He is a "sea dog". It is therefore in his nature to lie and exaggerate wherever possible. The captain belongs to the numerous breeds of the bears. A cunt bear typically has 27 lives. The first 13 lives of Käpt'n Blaubär were extremely eventful. He traveled all over Zamonia, had the most bizarre adventures and met many different ways of being. At the end of the book he lived "half a life in peace". The course of the further 13½ lives remains a secret.

Prof. Dr. Abdul Nightingale

In The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär , Prof. Dr. Nachtigaller introduced as the head of the elite night school . Bluebear spends one of his lives here and acquires a great deal of general and special knowledge from him. Nachtigaller is the author of the famous “Lexicon of wonders, forms of existence and phenomena in Zamonia and the surrounding area”. His motto is: Knowledge is night! , an allusion to his research on darkness, which roughly says that knowledge and darkness are mutually dependent and that, in his opinion, helps to immortality. He has, which is very unusual even for an Eydeeten, seven brains : one in place of the spleen , one in the usual place in the head, and four in protrusions from the head. Nobody knows where the seventh brain is. Like every Eydeet, he is infested with intelligence bacilli, which he transmits to his students during his class lectures, which gives Captain Bluebear, among others, his knowledge. Among other things, he invented the nightingale generator, the castle in the air, the nightingaleloscope and the nightingale's impossibility key. Some inventions, such as quicksand pants and aqua shoes, have ended up in the chamber of immature patents due to their questionable function, which is secured with the help of the castle in the air.

The zamomin

The zamomin is a chemical element that can think. It was created by the legendary alchemist Zoltep Zaan while trying to make the Philosopher's Stone. The result of this experiment could actually think, but only at the level of a sheep . Out of frustration, Zaan threw it into the quicksand of Unbiscant , creating the thinking quicksand.

Later, Prof. Dr. Nightingale this piece and tried to increase its intelligence through chemical procedures. His goal was to make the element smart enough that it could solve mankind's great problems. But he made a mistake and the Zamomin went insane. After Nachtigaller realized that the element had no interest in fulfilling its intended purpose, he threw it into the sea. The Zamomin, however, escaped from the sea floor with the help of his telepathic abilities and had the Moloch built, an ocean liner assembled from numerous captured ships by just as numerous willless slaves with the aim of becoming ruler of the world. Under dramatic circumstances it was destroyed by Bluebear with the help of Nachtigaller.

Another piece of Zamomin appears in the novel Rumo & The Miracles in the Dark . It was inside the sadistic General Ticktack, a mechanical being and commander of the Copper Guys . Zaan built it there, after which his creature ran amok. This variant of the zamomin was no less insane than the piece that commanded the Moloch. But it made whoever touched it invulnerable, not immortal. At the end of the book, Rumo tore it from Ticktack's body, after which it was sucked up by a Vrahok , a monstrous lower world creature. Then the Vrahok died, leaving the whereabouts of this piece unclear.

Zamomin plays important roles in the respective books.

Rumo

Rumo is a Zamonischer Wolpertinger, a variant of the Bavarian Wolpertinger . A Zamonian Wolpertinger can be imagined as an upright, human-sized dog with large teeth and small horns. Some Zamonian Wolpertingers explain their physique with their (controversial) descent from wolf and deer .

Rumo has white fur and terrifying teeth with many different teeth. Like all Wolpertingers he is a born fighter, although like every Wolpertinger he is particularly good at some martial arts . For example, he is excellent at fencing . The Wolpertinger's greatest talent is probably their incredible speed, which enables Rumo, for example in a scene from the novel "Rumo & Die Wunder im Dunkeln", not only to avoid a crossbow bolt that has been shot at him, but to catch it with his hand in flight. However, fighting isn't his only talent: he's an excellent carpenter, perhaps the best of his time.

Rumo made his first appearance in Die 13½ Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär , when he was rescued as a puppy by Blaubär from a farm that was almost squashed by a two-kilometer Bollogg. In this novel Rumo later also becomes the bodyguard of Volzotan Smeik and in this position can return the favor to his former life saver. He is supposed to bring Bluebear to the Moloch , but hands him over to the invisible people in the sewers of Atlantis.

Rumo is the main character in Walter Moers' third Zamonien novel, Rumo & Die Wunder im Dunkeln . It tells Rumo's life story (without the stay at Atlantis).

Fredda

A mountain hat and Blaubär's classmate in night school. Like all mountain hats, Fredda has a thick coat all over her body, is physically very strong and is excellent at climbing. When she arrived at the night school, Professor Nachtigaller first taught Fredda to read and write, since mountain hats cannot speak, only scream. Since then she has always carried a writing pad and pen with her and communicates with her classmates using notes.

Volzotan Smeik

Volzotan Smeik is a shark maggot from the Smeik family.

At the time, he was the leader of the first peaceful siege of Lindworm Hold. The besiegers, the so-called Huldlinge , flattered the lindworm festival residents until they allowed them entry. Inside the fortress, the apparently harmless besiegers began to attack the lindworms, as legendary treasures were suspected in the lindworm fortress. All previous sieges had been repulsed by the lindworms. Smeik had then united the frustrated mercenaries and had come to the fortress through the "peaceful siege". There he began a gruesome massacre in which a large number of the lindworms were killed. But the lindworms were able to fight back and killed all of the attackers except Smeik, who was able to escape.

In the meantime, Smeik was also Minister of War under the heavily indebted Ornian Little Prince Hussain Jenadepuer, who, when he confessed to his soldiers that he was broke, was lynched by them.

Later Smeik was carried off to the floating devil's rocks by the devil's cyclops . After several years spent in a dark mud hole, he meets Rumo, whom he teaches to speak and to know his skills. Rumo kills the devil cyclops and frees all prisoners before they can be eaten by the devil cyclops.

After meeting the four-brained Eydeeten Oztafan Kolibril, he separates from Rumo and decides to travel to Nebelheim and support Kolibril in his research there. Unfortunately, he does not manage to catch up with the hummingbird. The lighthouse where hummingbird takes its scientific measurements is empty. In Kolibril's diary his 32 days in Nebelheim are described, at the end of which he formulates a warning to the reader of his diary. This says that the fog that surrounds Nebelheim is a living, malignant being that hypnotizes the inhabitants of Nebelheim with gases. The only way to survive is to flee immediately. But before Smeik can do that, he is captured by the Nebelheimers and taken to Hel, the capital of the lower world. After his capture, he meets hummingbird, which was also kidnapped a few days earlier. After some time in a prison in Hel, he is rescued by Rumo.

Many years later, Smeik is the richest man in Atlantis and Rumo is his bodyguard. Smeik owns a third of the fur combs in Atlantis; he controls the Gebba game and the port. He owns much of the real estate in Atlantis. He is an honorary harbor master, chairman of the Gebba Association, honorary gladiator and treasurer of the Atlantic Choral Society. Smeik controls the lie duels; he builds up lying gladiators and destroys them again. He bets on them and increases his fortune. Bluebear becomes a lying gladiator, wins his first appearance and becomes Smeik's favorite. When Blue Bear is supposed to lose a fight at Smeik's request, he refuses and Smeik (allegedly) loses all of his fortune.

Ensel and Krete

Ensel and Krete von Hachen are two children of Fhernhachingen from the Zamon region of Fhernhachingen. They are the main characters in the Zamonian fairy tale Ensel und Krete by the author Hildegunst von Mythenmetz, which is about the two getting lost during their vacation in the Great Forest . There, on their desperate search for the way back to Bauming, they encounter various Zamonian forms of existence, such as B. a leaf wolf or a stud troll. The greatest danger in the forest, however, is a witch, who is actually a house. In the end she is defeated with the help of the crazy colorful bear Boris Boris.

Hildegunst von Mythenmetz

Hildegunst von Mythenmetz is a writing Lindwurm.

He is named by Walter Moers as the actual author of "Ensel und Krete", "Der Schrecksenmeister", "The City of Dreaming Books" and "The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books". The last two books mentioned are part of his 25-volume autobiography “Travel Memories of a Sentimental Dinosaur”, which was the first of his works to appear in print in Zamonien and of which “The City of Dreaming Books” is only the first two chapters. In the Schrecksenmeister the connections are even more complex, because Gofid Letterkerl is supposed to be the actual author and Mythenmetz states in an afterword that the original text has been adapted to the modern Zamonic language and that he has edited and expanded it slightly. In all of these books, Moers does not call himself an author, but merely a translator and illustrator.

Mythenmetz was born in the legendary Lindwurmfest, where he also spent his childhood. He owed his extensive literary education to his poet Danzelot von Silbendrechsler , a "Lindwurm veteran". The rest of Mythenmetz's life was very eventful: He achieved great fame very quickly, but was also almost broken several times by his popularity. In his lifetime he published more than 500 works.

He is the most celebrated and famous author of all of Zamonia, hypochondriac and inventor of numerous patented literary techniques, such as the " Mythenmetzschen digression ", which allows the author to insert comments in the middle of the text and literally digress , as well as the "Mythenmetzschen Event threat ”and the“ Mythenmetzschen uncertainty fomenting ”.

echo

Echo is a scratch, with a photographic, almost inexhaustible memory, which is not uncommon for scratches. In addition, scratchers speak and understand the languages ​​of all animals and have two livers. Echo is possibly the last of its kind. His mistress Floria von Eisenstadt spends her old age in Sledwaya until she dies of old age. In her youth she was the lover of Succubius Eißpin. However, she and Echo do not know that their partner is still alive. Eißpin signs a contract with Echo, which means that Eißpin Echo has to fatten up at the highest culinary level until the next full moon. When the deadline expires, Echo is to be killed; and Eißpin has the right to extract the alchemistically valuable scratch fat from Echo's body.

But Eisspin still has a plan. Echo should learn everything about alchemy and culinary arts. He lets him memorize the formula for extracting gold and lets him in on all of its secrets. His plan is to let Echo's knowledge flow into the scraping fat as well, so that he can become master of life and death. But after a few fights in Eißpins castle it collapses and because his knowledge has now become very valuable, the so-called Brooding Eggs send him help in the form of his friend Fyodor F. Fyodor, who saves his life in an apparently hopeless situation.

Succubius egg pin

Succubius Eißpin is the terrifying master of Sledwaya, the sickest city in Zamonia . A city horror master is usually responsible for the basic affairs of all horrors. Eisspin is often criticized because, as a horror master, he is an admirer of horror burning and other torture methods. Every week he sends an application for legalization of the terrible burning to the responsible Nattiftoffischen office in Atlantis. Despite his aversion to horrors, he is allowed to go and he can continue his sadistic experiments.

He's the best alchemist and cook ever. He really manages to turn various objects into gold and build a perpetual motion machine . He also almost manages to conquer death in order to resurrect his beloved Floria von Eisenstadt. But this plan comes between Echo, the highly gifted Kritten. He destroys Eißpinâ € ™ s castle in Sledwaya with the help of the Dread Oaks, the living houses of the Schrecksen formerly living in Sledwaya, with Izanuela Anazazi's (the last Schreckse Sledwaya) house as leader and lets Eßpin sink into the rubble.

Eißpin has the largest collection of fats, frozen death-sighs and stuffed evil creatures of Zamonia and he has a post-hypnotic contract with a snow-white widow , an absolutely deadly and death-addicted form of existence, who is locked in his basement. He is the author of a number of disgraceful works on alchemy, the inventor of the Eispinsch fright grill and a hobby painter of disasters.

Princess Dylia

Princess Dylia is the main character in the novel Princess Insomnia and the Nightmare Nightmare. Dylia suffers from a mysterious illness, which sometimes leads to sleep deprivation for weeks. As a result, her senses are extremely sharpened and she perceives things that remain invisible to the other castle residents. These include, for example, the Twilight Dwarfs, a dwarf race that only exists in the Twilight and is often a help on their journey. In addition, she loves to create and explore fantastic worlds, her own creativity and the beauty of unusual words in her extra time.

One night she receives a visit from the night mare Havarius Opal, who wants to drive her crazy. To do this, he takes her to the amygdala, the fear center in her brain.

Havarius opal

Havarius Opal is a nightmare and the antagonist in the novel Princess Insomnia and the Nightmare Nightmare. He visits the princess in one night with the aim of driving her mad and in the end to her death. Together they embark on a journey to the amygdala, the place in Dylia's brain that is responsible for her fear. He claims to be an expert in the nightmare business, but repeatedly shows strong weaknesses and ignorance. His true character is not apparent by the end of the book. He has to be rescued by the princess more often, but doesn't have the heart to let her die in the end. Partly this uncertainty seems fictitious, partly real.

At the end of the book, he is tricked by Dylia, which leads to his suicide.

Marketing Zamonia

Change of publisher

Walter Moers published at Eichborn until 2002 . There the Zamonia novels “The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear” and “Ensel und Krete” were published. Walter Moers has been publishing at Piper since 2003 . In an interview, he cited personal problems with the Eichborn publishing house management as the reason. Piper published the Zamonia novels "Rumo and the Miracles in the Dark", "The City of Dreaming Books" and "The Schrecksenmeister". "The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books" and Princess Insomnia are being published by Knaus (since 2018 Penguin). His latest works “Christmas at the Lindworm Festival” and “The Book Dragon” have been published by Penguin Verlag .

Audio books

Unabridged audio book recordings are available for all books. The audio books also switched from Eichborn-Lido to Hörverlag Hamburg. The first four novels were spoken by Dirk Bach ; Andreas Fröhlich has acted as a reader since Der Schrecksenmeister .

musical

"The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär - Probably the most fictitious musical in the world!" By Martin Lingnau and Heiko Wohlgemuth premiered in Cologne on October 26, 2006 and was supposed to move on to Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart in a tent, but played only until March 2007 in Cologne. All other guest performances have been canceled for financial reasons, wrote the marketing company FKP Scorpio . From December 26, 2008 to January 11, 2009 the musical was shown again in eight German cities.

Internet

After the success of Walter Moers' novel "The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär", Eichborn-Verlag founded the night school, which also appears in the novel, as an online community . When registering, you choose a name and a form of existence under which you will appear in the night school. In the course of the change of publishing house in 2003, the night school students founded the night school association and have been running the night school themselves ever since.

In addition, there has been a Zamonia Wiki on Fandom.com (formerly Wikia) since 2009 , in which terms and inhabitants of Zamonia are described in a lexicon-like manner.

filming

In November 2004 it was first mentioned that German Film Productions (GFP) wanted to make a film about the continent of Zamonia. The GFP media fund has owned the rights to the film adaptations of the Zamonien novels since November 17, 2004. However, instead of a film adaptation of an existing book, a new story was to be created for which Walter Moers would write the screenplay. Of course, allusions to the books and possible supporting roles of well-known characters are planned. The first shooting for the real film with computer animation elements was supposed to start at the end of 2006, but it cannot be said whether that really happened, as nothing has been heard from either the GFP or Walter Moers since 2005.

First editions

Secondary literature

  • Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane. Surveying a fictional continent. V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8997-1677-1 .
  • Walter Moers and Anja Dollinger Zamonien: A journey of discovery through a fantastic continent - From A for Anagrom Ataf to Z for Zamomin Albrecht Knaus Verlag 2012 ISBN 978-3-8135-0530-6 .
  • Katja Pawlik: From Atlantis to Zamonia, from Menippos to Moers: Walter Moers' Zamonia novels in the context of Menippi satire . Dissertation. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-8260-5899-8 .

Web links

  • Zamonien-Wiki , encyclopedia for the Zamonien cycle by Walter Moers
  • Zamlex supplementary wiki on "Prof. Dr. Nachtigallers "" Lexicon of the miracles in need of explanation, forms of existence and phenomena of Zamonia and its surroundings "
  • Night School - largest online community for zamonia

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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 978-3-89971-677-1 , p. 140 .
  2. ↑ a b Interview of Eichborn-Verlag with Walter Moers on the occasion of the publication of Ensel and Krete ( Memento from February 4, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Announcement of the publisher "The Castle of Dreaming Books". Retrieved March 21, 2017 .
  4. ^ Laboratory on zamonien.de
  5. ↑ Princess Insomnia & the nightmare nightmare. Retrieved August 26, 2017 .
  6. ↑ contribution to the eventimblog Lucy Diakovska and their role in the musical, October 22, 2008. Accessed June 14, 2016th
  7. ↑ Dream world in the dream factory: Walter Moers bestsellers are filmed , Der Spiegel November 17, 2004