Christmas at the Lindwurm Festival

Christmas at the Lindwurm Festival (subtitled with or Why I hate Hamoulimepp ) is a letter novel by Walter Moers that was published in November 2018 and, like its predecessors, is set on the fictional continent of Zamonia . Like Princess Insomnia & the Nightmare Nightmare , it was illustrated by Lydia Rode . It consists of a letter from Hildegunst von Mythenmetz to the Eydeeten Hachmed Ben Kibitzer about Hamoulimepp, which is similar to our Christmas party . Moers claims to have only translated the letter written by Hildegunst von Mythenmetz from Zamon, Hachmed Ben Kibitzer is also known from the Buchhaim novels .

content

In the letter, the author describes the three-day festival of Hamoulimepp, which is held at the end of the year, and its two eponymous characters, Hamouli and Mepp. The customs, which are very popular in his homeland, the Lindwurmfestival, are largely hated by Mythenmetz and are presented critically in his letter. In addition, he repeatedly digresses into descriptions of the dragon tradition and way of life.

At the time he wrote the letter, Hildegunst von Mythenmetz was on the island of Eydernorn for a cure and was thus able to escape the annual Hamoulimepp traditions that he describes to his friend Hachmed Ben Kibitzer. The festival is based on the two characters Hamouli and Mepp, who differ greatly in their appearance depending on tradition. Mepp is always subordinate to the Hamouli and serves to frighten the children and to chastise them with the rod. The festival culminates with the handing over of the gifts from Hamouli to the good children.

According to the author, his trust was shaken when his poet Danzelot von Silbendrechsler revealed to him that the legend is not true and that the gifts were bought and given away by adults. That is why it is still difficult for him to put trust in myths, such as the gigantic diamond that is said to be hidden in the heart of the Lindwurmfest. He also questions the educational value behind not teaching children the value of the gifts their parents have bought and earned, and the tradition of wrapping gifts in the eggs of rocky vultures, which leads to the decimation of the species.

As a continuation of the tradition, the Hamoulimeppwurm was introduced, which, embodied by several adult Lindworms, goes singing from door to door in order to be invited to every house for an alcoholic drink. In the legend, however, the worm comes into the house with Hamouli and Mepp through the chimney to bring the presents made together with the Hamouli-meppworms. These live inside the Lindwurmfest and, according to Mythenmetz, were only invented to close the logic gap that no one could make so many gifts on their own.

Another important point of tradition is the open-air theater piece, which is performed with music on a terrace of the Lindwurm festivals. He describes it as boring, too long and of poor musical and literary quality.

However, he does not demonize all of Hamoulimepp's traditions, in particular he highlights four points that he personally likes very much. First of all, there is the tradition of writing poetry on the houses of lindworm festival snails, and also the tradition of clearing books, in which everyone puts books in front of the door that they have sorted out, creating a free book bazaar that encompasses the entire city. He also emphasizes the food, which is particularly unusual and lavish at the festival, and the big fireworks at the end, which are carried out with sand dust rockets.

The book ends with a short farewell greeting.

style

For the first time Moers' Zamonienromane is not an (auto) biographical novel or a fairy tale , but a letter novel . The book has no direct plot or development of the story, but it describes different facets of the festival and traditions of the Lindworms.

Compared to Moers' other works, the text itself is only sparsely illustrated, but 16 colored taxonomic tables have been added to it, which are referred to in the text. In the first edition, the book also contains a seven-page extract from the book Der Bücherdrache, which has been announced for spring 2019 .

background

On March 5, 2018, Walter Moers announced the publication of the book, with which he (to the displeasure of his fans) postponed the long-announced projects The Castle of Dreaming Books , the third part of the Buchhaim series, and The Island of 1000 Lighthouses .

literature

Text output

• Christmas at the Lindwurm Festival . Penguin, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3328600718 . Hardback edition.

Audio book

• Christmas at the Lindwurm Festival . der Hörverlag, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3844530612 , read by Andreas Fröhlich .

Web links

• Author's website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Walter Moers ' Facebook page , post from March 5, 2018.