Origins

Botho Strauß gives us insights into previously undiscovered aspects of his life. His youth, the landscapes and settings of his childhood, the places where he grew up; memories of formative years and his relationship with his father. In short, Botho Strauß tells the story of his origins.
Botho Strauß was born in December 1944 in Naumburg. In the 1950s, when his father was in his sixties, they left all their worldly goods behind in a bid to escape to the West. They settled in Bad Ems where they began a new life.
»We left because we didn’t want you to be brought up as a Communist over there«.
In this startling book Botho Strauß has discovered a completely new side to writing, an entirely unaccustomed and
fresh rhythm: the resonance of memory, the affirmation of his origins. Youth is the optimistic time when your future
still lies ahead; in this memoir Strauß resurrects a present that lies in the distant past. His father is his particular focus, the paternal portrait clearly traced with realistic affection. Origins is the intense, rich and atmospheric work of a great raconteur.