I'm off

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then I'll be gone - my journey on the Way of St. James is a travel report by the German entertainer Hape Kerkeling that was published as a book on May 22, 2006. It was number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list for 103 weeks from 2006 to 2008.

content

Kerkeling describes the experiences of his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 2001. The trigger for the decision to walk the Way of St. James was a sudden hearing loss and the removal of his gall bladder . He also worked on Shirley MacLaine's book The Way of St. James: A Spiritual Journey , in which the actress reports on her previous " reincarnations " and embellishes her journey with numerous experiences. The book and a hiking guide were his only readings on the pilgrimage.

Kerkeling chose the Camino Francés for his hike and, like all pilgrims, had to deal with the physical and psychological demands of such a trip. He not only got to know himself and his faith , - quote - "Buddhist with a Christian superstructure", better, but also met a wide variety of people whose characters he describes very vividly. In an amusing, chatty tone, Kerkeling describes his experiences, which in some places become profound, and reflects on the meaning of life. He did not seek contact with the “classic” Christian pilgrim, he assesses them as “incapable of learning” (quote: “They will end the journey as the same people as they began as ...” ). Instead, he is attracted by “eccentricities and exotic people”, among other things he has experiences with a South American woman willing to marry , a sex-loving fellow wanderer, philistines , church critics, esotericists and spiritualists .

Kerkeling describes the friendships he made with the Englishwoman Anne Butterfield and the New Zealander Sheelagh, which he thanks in the prologue of the book for the shared experiences. After previously unplanned but regular meetings, Kerkeling went together with these two women for the greater part of the rest of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, where they stayed for another five days at the end of the pilgrimage. Both of them received a silver bell from Kerkeling as a souvenir, and Kerkeling tells a personal anecdote about its meaning and unifying effect in the afterword . Anne Butterfield traveled the Way of St. James again in 2010 and described her experiences in the book I'm there again .

Stations of the journey

date place Distance (in km)
run remaining
0June 9, 2001 Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port - 769
June 10, 2001 Roncesvalles 25th 744
June 11, 2001 Zubiri 19th 723
June 12, 2001 Pamplona 22nd 701
June 14, 2001 Viana and Logroño 96 605
June 15, 2001 Navarrete and Nájera 29 576
June 17, 2001 Santo Domingo de la Calzada 21st 555
June 21, 2001 Castildelgado 23 -
June 22, 2001 Belorado , Tosantos and Villafranca 532
June 24, 2001 Burgos , Tardajos 52 480
June 25, 2001 Hornillos del Camino and Hontanas - -
June 26, 2001 Castrojeriz and Frómista - -
June 27, 2001 Carrión de los Condes - -
June 28, 2001 Calzadilla de la Cueza 398
June 29, 2001 Sahagún 96 -
June 30, 2001 Leon 302
0July 3, 2001 Astorga 52 250
0July 5, 2001 Rabanal 20th 230
0July 7, 2001 Foncebadón and El Acebo -
0July 8, 2001 El Acebo -
0July 9, 2001 Molinaseca , Ponferrada -
July 10, 2001 Villafranca del Bierzo -
July 11, 2001 Trabadelo and Vega de Valcarce 174
July 12, 2001 La Faba and O Cebreiro 30th 144
July 13, 2001 Triacastela -
July 15, 2001 Sarria and pension -
July 16, 2001 Portomarín 87
July 17, 2001 Palas de Rei 25th 62
July 18, 2001 Castañeda -
July 19, 2001 Rua -
July 20, 2001 Santiago de Compostela target

Recording by the audience

With more than four million copies sold, the book is considered to be the most successful German-language non-fiction book since Götter, Gräber und Schehre von CW Ceram and was at the top of the German bestseller lists for months after its publication in 2006. According to the publisher, it had sold around 3 million times by the end of 2007. In the same year a translation into Dutch was published, and in 2009 there was also an American edition. ARD has acquired the rights to film the book .

Media coverage

Kerkeling was a guest on various talk shows because of his book , and an author reading of selected parts of his book was broadcast on the TV station RTL in 2007.

Hape Kerkeling's travel companion Anne Butterfield set off on the Camino de Santiago from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela for a second time in 2010. Initially traveling by bike, she switched relatively quickly to pilgrimage on foot. In her book there are numerous reviews of the trip with Hape Kerkeling in 2001 and his book.

Effect on the number of pilgrims

The statistics of the pilgrims arriving in Santiago de Compostela show that the number of pilgrims on the Spanish Way of St. James increases linearly outside of the " Holy Years ". After the book was published, an above-average increase in the group of German pilgrims can be observed: in 2007 their number was 13,837. That was 71 percent more than in the previous year and corresponded to the increase in the seven previous years 1999–2006. In 2008, the increase in the number of German pilgrims was no longer quite as high at 14 percent, but was still well above the average increase of 9 percent. Although this phenomenon has not been scientifically investigated, it is commonly attributed to the book and referred to as the "Kerkeling Effect".

filming

The film adaptation of the book with Devid Striesow as Hape Kerkeling started in German cinemas on Christmas Eve 2015 . Martina Gedeck and Karoline Schuch also appear in the film as other pilgrims, as well as Katharina Thalbach as grandma Bertha and Annette Frier as Kerkeling's agent Dörte. It was directed by Julia von Heinz .

literature

  • Hape Kerkeling: I'll be gone then. My journey on the Camino de Santiago . Malik, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-89029-312-3 .
  • Hape Kerkeling: I'll be gone then. My journey on the Camino de Santiago . Piper, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-25175-4 .
  • Hape Kerkeling reads “I'll be gone then - My journey on the Camino de Santiago” . 6 CDs, slightly abbreviated audio book version. Roof Music, Bochum 2006, ISBN 3-938781-37-8 .
  • Hubert Knoblauch , Andreas Graff: Popular Spirituality or: Where is Hape Kerkeling? Essay on the spiritual - not religious - renaissance, which counteracts modern secularization, available in the sociology of religion department at the TU Berlin.
  • Detlef Lienau: Cheating on yourself. Why people go on a pilgrimage . Grünewald, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7867-2757-6 . With a detailed analysis of popular pilgrimage reports on religious and spiritual motives.
  • Anne Butterfield: I'm going back there. With God and Hape on the Camino de Santiago . Malik, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-89029-411-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Piper Verlag GmbH Publishing History: The Beautiful Present , accessed on January 30, 2011
  2. ↑ Hape Kerkeling: Ik ben er even niet - mijn voettocht naar Santiago de Compostela. Ten Have 2007
  3. ^ Hape Kerkeling: Pilgrim book "wanders" over the pond , accessed on January 30, 2011
  4. ↑ Hape Kerkeling: I'm off then: My journey along the Camino de Santiago . Also under the title: I'm off then: Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago . Translated by Shelley Frisch. New York. Free press. 2009. ISBN 9781416553878
  5. ↑ ARD filmed Hape Kerkeling's bestseller . In: Spiegel Online . October 25, 2008, accessed January 30, 2011.
  6. ↑ Anne Butterfield: I'm going back there. With God and Hape on the Way of St. James, Munich 2014, Piper Verlag, ISBN 978-3-492-40497-6
  7. ↑ Pilgrim statistics: The years 1989 to 2011 , accessed on January 30, 2011
  8. ↑ Pilgrim statistics: Nations ranking , accessed on January 30, 2011