we don't sleep
we don't sleep is a fictional novel by Kathrin Röggla that was published in 2004 and has already been performed several times as a play. The novel is based on 25 longer and 15 shorter conversations between the author and many different employees in the management consultancy industry . Röggla condensed and alienated these interviews in the novel. The book depicts the world of work in the New Economy .
genre
Political novel, social novel , documentary novel
content
The setting of the novel is a mass. There are the following six figures at the fair: an intern, an online editor, a key account manager , an IT supporter, a senior advisor and a partner. With the exception of the online editor, they are all employees of a management consultancy. The book consists of 33 chapters in which the views and life plans of these protagonists are clarified in the form of interview fragments. People's lives are characterized by a very high workload, collective lack of sleep and stimulants in the form of alcohol, tablets and coffee. Towards the end of the fair, an unknown person commits suicide. This brings about a turning point in the novel and the characters begin to rethink.
characters
Silke Mertens, key account manager, 37: She works in the company's mid-level staff. Your tasks are to communicate, make phone calls and prepare meetings . She represents the contact person between the company and major customers. She is a career changer from the publishing industry, where her job was cut by a management consultancy.
Nicole Damaschke, intern, 24: She is ambitious, works free of charge and is determined to find a good job. However, she lacks relationships and professional experience. She sees the behavior of her colleagues more and more critically as the book progresses.
Andrea Bülow, online editor, 42: As a journalist, she claims to keep her distance from the consulting industry . She has a tense relationship with the key account manager. She also takes pills when she is overworked and has a drinking problem.
Sven, IT supporter, 34: He sees himself as an interface coordinator and his job is to help with the marketing of IT products. However, he is mostly degraded to an IT supporter, which annoys him.
Oliver Hannes Bender, Senior Associate, 32: He is very ambitious, works a lot and expects as much from his colleagues as he does from himself. His job is to assess people and to terminate them if necessary. He needs the stress. When he's not working, he looks for alternative stress in the form of car accidents or complicated tax cases.
Mr. Gehringer, partner, 48: He is the only one who is married and has children. He works a lot, has a lot of responsibility and has had physical problems before, namely the loss of his voice. He has completely internalized the corporate culture , everything is seen from an economic and efficient point of view.
style
The novel is characterized by the lower case, which is typical for Kathrin Röggla. The lower case supports the impression of being driven in the novel. Furthermore, the collagen-like composite interview fragments are specific. The interviewer's questions are not mentioned, which creates gaps in the text and gives the impression that the characters speak directly, as in the drama . However, this impression is canceled again by reproducing the actors in indirect speech and in the third person singular subjunctive in order to alienate them. Another aesthetic effect is the technical language used by the management consultants, which runs through the novel as a motif. It is a mixture of German and English, mastering which you become part of the corporate culture, but further differentiate yourself from others.
Social criticism
The author refrains from any direct criticism, but in the conversations she condenses many problems in the world of work in the New Economy, from sleep deprivation to alcohol addiction, pill addiction to the inability to have relationships. The arrangement of the chapters on increasingly psychological topics in response to a disaster clarify the critical situation. The book shows how work no longer creates identity, but how it leads to a loss of identity, since nothing remains but it. The protagonists have become zombies . The fact that the characters speak of themselves in the third person and that their linguistic styles can hardly be distinguished from one another shows how much they have become estranged and how their subjectivity is drowned in a monotony.
Reviews
we don't sleep was received very differently.
Paul Jandl (NZZ) sees the novel as “a brilliant study of defining sensitivities”, in which the New Economy and its accompanying phenomena are reflected. He particularly praises the aesthetic means that Röggla uses.
Katrin Hillgruber (FR) also praised the linguistic effort, such as the use of the subjunctive, the frequently occurring advisory jargon and the repetitions. However, she notes critically that the novel would therefore be more effective as a radio play.
Holger Noltze (FaZ) misses depth in the characters. Stephan Schlak (SZ) sees the topic of the world of work in the New Economy as no longer relevant, as it was a phenomenon of the 1990s. The chapters are not linked and Rögglas' criticism, if she wanted to make one, is not clear. Nevertheless, her writing style is “clever, creative and original”.
Productions
Kathrin Röggla wrote a stage and radio play version of the book. The play premiered in April 2004 in Düsseldorf . The radio play was produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk . The six people were spoken to by the actor Hanns Zischler and Kathrin Röggla themselves.
literature
- Christian Kremer: Milieu and performativity: German contemporary prose by John von Düffel, Georg M. Oswald and Kathrin Röggla. Tectum-Verlag, Marburg 2008.
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Kremer (2008): p. 114
- ↑ a b c d Book review in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, last accessed on January 14, 2015
- ↑ a b book review ( memento from March 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) in the Frankfurter Rundschau, last accessed on January 14, 2015
- ↑ cf. Kremer (2008): p. 115ff.
- ↑ cf. Kremer (2008): pp. 120f.
- ↑ Book review ( memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) in fluter, magazine of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, last accessed on January 14, 2015
- ↑ a b Book review of the Literaturhaus Wien, last accessed on January 14, 2015
- ↑ Book review in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, last accessed on January 14, 2015