Job's game

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Job's game is anovel cycle by the German writer Tobias O. Meißner . The protagonist Job Montag has to commit various atrocities in a grotesque game with the devil in order to achieve the required number of points to defeat the prince of hell.

According to Meißner, the project is set to run for 50 years and the number of volumes is not named. The first part of the series was published by Eichborn Verlag in 2002, Frauenmörder . The second part, titled Dream Dancer , was released in 2006 . The third part, Loser , was published in 2012 by Golkonda-Verlag , in which the first two volumes are also being reprinted.

action

The artist and practicing magician Job Montag got involved in a game against the devil called NuNdUuN. The aim is to fight and destroy various supernatural phenomena, known as “prognostics”. His successes are rewarded with points. Job needs 78 to win the game and replace NuNdUuN as ruler of the "Wiedenfließ", a hell-like parallel world. As Job learns in the course of the novel, the record, held by a Chinese peasant girl, is 17 points. With every Prognosticum defeated, Job's strength increases and so does his abilities.

Job's actions, however, are not based on purely noble motives. As a character an outspoken misanthrope who considers "killing to be a socio-historical basic constant in interpersonal behavioral patterns", Job's intention is to be found in a genetic fault in his metabolism, which makes him feel the suffering of the world on his own. Yet Job embodies the moral authority of the novel.

Job's game takes him all over the world: from Berlin in the 1990s a. a. to Colombia, the USA and rural Bavaria of the past. Job's connection to the Wiedenfließ is Aries, a succubus and Job's personal sex toy. She brings him the tasks and forwards Job's news to Wiedenfließ.

shape

The books are characterized by a variable writing style, which is in constant change from poetic formulations to biting humor and splatter-like . The situation is similar with the layout, which changes from page to page between simple typographical deviations, crossed out text passages or column arrangements. Meißner did something similar in his 1997 debut, Starfish Rules . Meißner insists that the books in this series should only be edited superficially .

reception

The literary reviews of Meißner's work were largely positive. Above all, the depiction of violence - including against children - and the constant change in style and typography were rated negatively.

Richard Kämmerlings wrote for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Meißner was already establishing himself with the first novel in this long-term series “ as an important voice in recent German literature ”. The depiction of violence, sometimes driven to the point of absurdity, is reminiscent of de Sade , but also of Burroughs or Easton Ellis, and thus becomes a “ test for sensitive readers ”. Meißner's concept of reinforcing his detailed depictions of violence " by contrasting flippant dialogue directing in Hollywood style " does not always work out completely. “ The experiments with typesetting and typography, a real inferno of the layout program ”, often just seemed silly.

In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Tobias Rüther called the transgression of pain limits in Job's game " well-calculated and seeking effects ", but criticized Meissner's inability to reconcile the frequent style changes between " antiquated pathos and puns full of neologisms and trivial cultural gayness ".

Marcel Dykiert described Meißner in a review on x-zine as "an author with such a talent for languages ​​that he definitely has what it takes to become a cult author ". He wrote of the novel that it was “ a nightmare from which one would actually like to wake up, but one falls under its spell. There is nothing pleasant or enjoyable in the book, but it is honest and, despite the fantastic background, simply true ”.

In the review forum literaturkritik.de, on the other hand, Ursula Homann wrote that the novel had little idea. “ Meissner's grotesque descriptions, in which he prefers to use vulgar and flippant language, do not offer any new perspectives and do not enrich the discussion about the Job problem in any way. “Whether the novel is really the suggested look in the mirror remains questionable.

Meißner himself describes Job's game as his “ freak ”, in which he captures “ all of his nightmares and visions of horror ” in order not to “ slowly but surely go insane with the misery of the world ”.

literature

  • Tobias O. Meißner: Job's game . Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt / M. (Volume 1 and 2), Golkonda Verlag, Berlin (from Volume 3 and new editions of Volume 1 and 2)
  1. Women murderer . 2002, ISBN 3-8218-0691-5 ; New edition published in March 2013, ISBN 978-3-942396-54-7
  2. Dream dancer . 2006, ISBN 3-8218-5789-7 ; New edition announced for summer 2013, ISBN 978-3-942396-55-4
  3. Loser . 2012, ISBN 978-3-942396-20-2
  4. World champion . 2018, ISBN 978-3-946503-24-8

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Interview with Tobias O. Meißner. In: literature shock . August 29, 2005. Retrieved August 21, 2010 .
  2. ^ Frank Böhmert: Job's game 3 ( Memento from January 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). April 28, 2010, accessed August 21, 2010.
  3. ↑ Richard Kämmerlings: Doorkeeper meets Terminator . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 19, 2002, No. 243 / page 42
  4. ^ Tobias Rüther (Süddeutsche Zeitung): Brands, Moden . October 4, 2002, accessed on August 21, 2010 at buecher.de .
  5. ↑ Marcel Dykiert (x-zine.de; archived version): Job's game . Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  6. ↑ Ursula Homann (literaturkritik.de): God hung himself up . January 1, 2003, accessed August 21, 2010.