Requiem for a dog

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Requiem for a dog is the title of a series of conversations that the publicist Sebastian Kleinschmidt had with Daniel Kehlmann in Berlin in February 2008 . The dialogue series was first published in print in 2008 by Matthes & Seitz Berlin in the Fröhliche Wissenschaft series shortly before the publication of Ruhm - A Novel in Nine Stories . The title refers to Kehlmann's late dog Nuschki, who became the starting point of the dialogue. Sebastian Kleinschmidt was editor-in-chief of Sinn und Form , a bi-monthly magazine for literature and culture.

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Sebastian Kleinschmidt and Daniel Kehlmann do not engage in the classic question-and-answer dialogue, but rather exchange ideas about problems and questions related to literary theory. Reference is made again and again to Die Vermessung der Welt and other works by Kehlmann, but the two mainly exchange their own experiences and views on literature and philosophy and incorporate numerous quotations and anecdotes. Topics of conversation include animals, gods, geniuses, counting and storytelling, humor, fiction and history, death, actors and theater, childhood, studies, the work of the writer and fame. Kehlmann says in the last chapter:

“It's not true that success spoils character. Success is good for character. It's bad for intelligence. Failure makes you smart and bitter. Success makes you friendly and stupid. One tends to perceive things less sharply, less attentively, through a veil of amiable complacency. "

- Daniel Kehlmann

Press reviews

“But the relaxed conversation, sometimes interspersed with biting humor, and the openness of the two authors do not require the reader to have all of this in mind as well. Rather, he benefits from the well-readness that connects 33-year-old Kehlmann and Kleinschmidt, who is 27 years older. "

- Spiegel Online

“This book is enlightening because here two creative intellectuals meet at eye level. In the Extempore the poetics of Kehlmann's work becomes clear, a constantly present knowledge that is in no way inferior to that of Sebastian Kleinschmidt. In the »Requiem for a Dog« you can learn about Kehlmann's life and his writing, about humility and hubris. "

- Neue Zürcher Zeitung

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Requiem for a Dog . Rowohlt Verlag; P. 136
  2. ↑ Quoted from spiegel.de
  3. ↑ Quoted from nzz.ch

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