The Comedy of Aging

An Egyptian goes to Austria to study mechanical engineering. Before the term begins, he takes an internship at a steelmill. While there, he gets to know a young Austrian and the two become fast friends. They both approach the question of religious belief with reason; the prevailing order seems so unreasonable to them that they would both prefer to make it disappear.

But as neither of them is ever presented with such an opportunity, they turn their attention to other pursuits. They go to Egypt to start a farm in the middle of the desert. When they turn 60, both decide to host a celebration. However, each detects clear signs that the other is conspiring against him.
The Egyptian accuses the Austrian of driving his son away from him. Instead of fulfilling his life-long dream of founding a socialist academy in the desert, the son fled the country. The Austrian in turn blames the Egyptian of intentionally driving his son to the Austrian's US haven to steal his young girlfriend from him, thus robbing him of his joie de vie.
What was once a close friendship becomes bitter hatred. At an airport restaurant under surveillance by the secret service, the aging men summon their last strength for a confrontation that culminates in a grotesque banquet and, after a retreat to the Egyptian’s house in the desert, ends – quite literally – in a sandstorm.

»A masterpiece.« Elfriede Jelinek

»And so the story gradually unfolds of an amazing project and a curious estrangement, told with a rigorous sense of form and with gentle irony. Densely atmospheric scenes, whether in the desert sands or in the street canyons of Manhattan, alternate with essayistic passages, though these reflective moments seem to make his prose lighter, not heavier. And the book also reflects on a question addressed all too rarely by contemporary literature – whether a better world is possible; it does so with all the melancholy doubts that are the privilege of age, but also with an enduring and passionate desire to change things, something of which the youth of today can only dream.« Die Zeit

»In this touching novel, which is far removed from theoretical concepts, the author is not trying to convince the reader of his ideas, to prove or declare anything. The Comedy of Aging is a book about impending losses and consolations, about language and music, about humility and relinquishing promises of great things. […] And with gentle irony the novel also describes an idyll that bravely defies rampant global capitalism which, like a sandstorm, is threatening to engulf humanity.« Der Spiegel