The Observer’s Dream

Wilhelm Genazino never used to leave his apartment without a pencil and paper. He jotted down anything he could put into words. For decades, Genazino meticulously collected and typed up his notes, terrified that one day he might not be able to write anymore. But »the notes whispered to him with charm and confidence, saying ‘tomorrow you will go on.« He never thought it possible »that these silly little notes would fight his huge fears and even conquer them now and then.« They represent a treasure of material in which life is as inseparable from fiction as ideas from dreams. This selection, edited by Jan Bürger and Friedhelm Marx, reveals Genazino as a man frantically searching for happiness, an incisive observer and a dazzling aphorist. »It’s a revelation when the pleasure of writing is felt down to the last detail.«