Jesus of Texas

The novel Jesus von Texas (English original title Vernon God Little ) is the first work of the writer DBC Pierre . The media- and socially critical satire tells the consequences of a high school rampage from the perspective of a young person .

Pierre's debut novel was first published in 2003 by the British Faber and Faber publishing house. The German translation published in 2004 comes from Karsten Kredel .

action

In the small American town of Martirio, the “barbecue sauce capital of Texas”, a school massacre shakes the public. The adolescent Jesus Navarro shoots sixteen of his classmates in physics class and then himself. The anger of the population and the greed for sensation in the media quickly turn to his only friend, Vernon Gregory Little. Initially only suspected of complicity, Vernon quickly becomes an accomplice in the eyes of the residents of Martirio through an unfortunate chain of circumstances and the conscious involvement of the gossip reporter Eulalio Ledesma. Vernon decides to flee to Mexico and also makes it to Acapulco, where he is arrested during a staged meeting. In a media-effective process, Vernon, although innocent, is sentenced to death. The process has features of a farce. The statements of the witnesses partly contradict each other and in no way appear credible. Although Vernon's defense attorney can refute some of the testimony, his client is sentenced to death. Eulalio Ledesma, who has meanwhile risen to become a media mogul, turns death row into a reality show with votes on the next execution. After his election as the next death row inmate, Vernon manages with his last calls to set an extremely happy chain of events in motion that ensures a (seemingly) real happy ending .

Awards

“Vernon God Little” was named best novel by the jury of the British Booker Prize in 2003 and also won the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Award for Comic Fiction.

filming

In October 2012 the Guardian announced that in 2013 a film adaptation of "Jesus von Texas" would be made by the German director Werner Herzog with Andrew Birkin as the scriptwriter. According to Spiegel, Herzog is taking over the work of Bernd Eichinger , who, according to Spiegel, had planned a film adaptation of "Jesus von Texas", but died of a heart attack in January 2011 before the project was realized.

expenditure

• Vernon God Little , Faber & Faber, London 2003. ISBN 978-0-5712-1642-0
• Jesus von Texas , German Karsten Kredel, Aufbau Verlag, Berlin 2004. ISBN 978-3-7466-2150-0
• Jesus von Texas , radio play, Der Audio Verlag, Berlin 2004. ISBN 3-89813-356-7

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ http://www.convilleandwalsh.com/index.php/titles/title/vernon-god-little/
3. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/oct/22/werner-herzog-vernon-god-little
4. ↑ "Jesus of Texas": Herzog takes over the last Eichinger project. In: Spiegel Online . October 22, 2012, accessed June 10, 2018 .