Vincent (novel)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Tree Man", detail from the Garden of Earthly Delights , used for the English book cover
Triptych " The Garden of Earthly Delights ": right panel (inside)

Vincent is a novel by the American writer Joey Goebel , the English-language original was published as Torture the Artist in 2004 and a German translation by Hans M. Herzog and Matthias Jendis was published by Diogenes Verlag in 2005 .

content

Summary

It tells the story of the protagonist Vincent, a child prodigy whose talent is promoted by the organization "New Renaissance" and is to be used to undermine the flatness and stupidity that prevails in modern entertainment with high-quality works and thus lead to a renaissance , say rebirth, to help. In order to achieve this, Vincent is assigned the manager Harlan Eiffler by the organization "New Renaissance", who, based on the thesis that the artist is only inspired by isolation and suffering, manipulates Vincent's environment .

action

Foster Lipowitz is a rich, old but terminally ill media tycoon and is dying. Only now does he realize that he has showered the media and thus humanity with nonsensical and shallow entertainment. For the last few years of his life he has made up his mind to create 'real' entertainment again and to give people something sophisticated.

In order to implement this vision, he founded an academy for gifted children who are specially trained for various mass media sectors according to their talents. Lipowitz assumes that more people can be reached via the "new" mass media such as music, cinema and television than via the "classic" media such as painting. According to a further thesis by Lipowitz, "The Artist" can only create immortal, profound art if he is unhappy. The result is the "Project Suffering Artist", which is actually an experiment to substantiate Lipowitz's thesis.

Vincent was chosen from among the academy's many talented students for the "Suffering Artist Project" because he showed great potential in various areas and already had a depressive attitude. The project is kept secret from the public, as this idea is morally difficult to defend.

Harlan Eiffler, who is Vincent's manager and his "protector" at the same time, who cares for his professional success and his private misery at the same time, formulates it as follows in a letter he writes drunk to seven-year-old Vincent:

“We will give you what you need, but refuse what you want. We will make sure that everything you need for your happiness stays just out of your reach. Should you accidentally experience a feeling of happiness, then hold onto it with all your might. Enjoy it as long as you can, because it is guaranteed to be only a short pleasure. "

Vincent quickly turns out to be the best student and is "encouraged" accordingly. In turn, people who are important to Vincent will disappoint him or leave him. Vincent's dog initially dies, later his girlfriends are paid to leave him. However, the woman who causes him the most pain is his mother. She can no longer stand the pressure to lie to her son day after day, she knows about the goal of the New Renaissance and leaves him and his siblings. His manager Harlan quickly develops into Vincent's best friend and a kind of father figure for him, who is always at his side. Meanwhile, Vincent has had enough bad experiences to write scripts for sitcoms, some books, and lyrics. Vincent becomes more and more famous as he ages, but his success does not make up for the loss of his mother.

Only years later, at a party, Vincent meets his mother again, who tells him everything. For Vincent, his world collapses as it has been manipulated by Harlan for 16 years. The new head of New Renaissance, Drew Promps, learns that Vincent's mother told her son about the "Project of Suffering Artists". When she is found shot dead by Vincent in her apartment the next morning, it can be assumed that New Renaissance had her killed because she broke the contract that obliged her to keep the project confidential.

Now Vincent and Harlan are also in danger of being targeted by the organization if, for example, they testify to the police against New Renaissance.

Harlan justifies his actions with the fact that Vincent is a unique person. He suffers but leaves behind art for posterity that moves and impresses countless people. For this it is okay to let a single person suffer. Just when Harlan thinks Vincent has forgiven him, he catches him in bed with his wife. Harlan escapes and does not see them for several years.

At the end of the book he meets Vincent again, who now has a little daughter, and they forgive each other.

output

analysis

The book is divided into three parts of four chapters each. Part One describes Vincent's childhood when his mother abandoned him; the second part of the book deals with Vincent's youth, overshadowed by unhappy relationships; the third part deals with Vincent's adult life. The chapters bear the names of women who cause Vincent suffering in the respective chapters and who thus gave him inspiration for his work. Rachel, Harlan's childhood sweetheart, whose name is in the first chapter, never meets Vincent, but she has a great influence on his life and suffering. Rachel broke Harlan's heart in what was for him the greatest psychological pain he has ever experienced. Through this experience, Harlan believes it is the most effective way to inflict suffering on women on Vincent. In the last chapter Vincent found a female person with his daughter Norma Jean who does not hurt him.

interpretation

The book criticizes today's pop music, television, radio, and entertainment in general. In the book this is presented as shallow, undemanding and characterized by sex. It remains to be seen whether an artist can really do better when he is hurt and unhappy. Neither Harlan nor Vincent himself come to a final solution to the question of whether true art can only be created by a desperate and unhappy artist. The novel shows - especially through Foster Lipowitz and Harlan Eiffler - how much power and influence some people have and can exploit.

review

In the English-language criticism, the work was largely received positively, its excessive imagination in the description of the media excesses of the marketing of art and its courage for drastic representation praised:

  • "Whatever it is, Goebel's got the goods on it, and he's not afraid to dig deep into the vast vapidity under which we now live in order to deliver 'em". - "Whatever it may be, Goebel gets to the point and he is not afraid to dive deep into the great banality in which we now live in order to do it".
  • "Goebel takes his strange characters on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride through a world filled with a strange brew of cynicism, satire, humor and real affection, a bizarre combination of imagination, artifice and insanity. A cross between Boogie Nights, Taxi Driver and Quentin Tarantino's limbic brain, the storyline mixes the world of celebrity excess with the misinterpretation of true creativity, morphing into a strange amalgam of modern day success in an ever-growing retail market. If this is the future, and it may be, seat belts are required ". - “Goebel takes his strange characters on Mr. Kröterich's wild ride through a world that is filled with a bizarre brew of cynicism, satire and real affection, a bizarre combination of imagination, artificiality and madness. A cross between Boogie Nights , Taxi Driver and Quentin Tarantino's limbic system, the story is mixed with the world of starling excesses and the misinterpretation of true creativity, and fused together in a curious amalgamation of modern success in an ever-growing free market. If this is the future, and it may be, you need a seat belt ”.
  • "If Joey Goebel does indeed have his own professional torturer, then give that man a raise". - "If Joey Goebel actually has his own professional torturer, the man should be given a raise."

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / therealjohnhood.com
  2. ↑ http://www.curledup.com/torturet.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.tlchicken.com/view_story.php?ARTid=2778
  4. ^ Tequila & the Sunrise Gang: Moon of Kansas City. October 19, 2012, accessed November 14, 2019 .