A brilliant chronicle of the lives of two families in 20th century Germany and Russia. The futile hope for an existence beyond misery and slavery. Encompassing an entire century, reflecting an entire century.
Trutz is a 20th century novel, the one written by novelist Rainer Trutz and the one written by Waldemar Gejm, a professor for mathematics and linguistics at Moscow’s Lomonosov University who has developed a new field of research: the mnemonic...
A brilliant chronicle of the lives of two families in 20th century Germany and Russia. The futile hope for an existence beyond misery and slavery. Encompassing an entire century, reflecting an entire century.
Trutz is a 20th century novel, the one written by novelist Rainer Trutz and the one written by Waldemar Gejm, a professor for mathematics and linguistics at Moscow’s Lomonosov University who has developed a new field of research: the mnemonic technique, or in other words, the teaching of origins and the function of memory. Official party control of thought in state positions in the coming years, however, will become Trutz’s as well as Gejm’s downfall: having fled the Nazis for Russia, the German will run into trouble with the Party and be interred in a labour camp. The back-and-forth of comrade Stalin’s politics will also lead to Gejm’s deportation and eventual death. Only the two sons, Maykl Trutz and Rem Gejm, close friends from early childhood, survive and meet each other again decades later after the fall of the Wall. And yet, the very century that would not have to rely on state-sanctioned memory works unceasingly to extinguish memory.
»Trutz is, in the best sense of the term, an exciting history book.« Christoph Schröder, Süddeutsche Zeitung
»Hein has read widely and saunters through the Soviet decades as if he had lived through them himself, but never loses himself in his knowledge. That a novelist is able to remain in control while his characters experience all kind of turmoil may sound out-dated. And yet, this is precisely what makes Trutz a great novel as it passes into long-term memory.« Judith von Sternburg, Frankfurter Rundschau
»Once again, ever the passionate chronicler, Hein manages to mirror historical events in the lives of his protagonists while transforming harrowing ones like the book burning in May 1933 or the Hitler-Stalin Pact of August 1939 into personal hardships.« Katrin Hillgruber, Der Tagesspiegel
»Hein is – in spite of the novel’s theme – a sensual fabulist who does not shy from seeking out the dark corners of his family’s epic. The setting of his detail-rich novel couldn’t have been researched and recreated any better« Christian Buß, Spiegel Online
»Hein delivers his family saga with cool, documentary-like precision. He meticulously made his way through German and Russian files, as well as all the archives of denunciations and death sentences. He has read the biographies of the victims, and recounts fates that make us both sad and furious. Instead of literary pirouettes, Hein runs rampant with world history, his novel a harrowing chronicle of horror.« Reinhold Jaretzky, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk artour – Das Kulturmagazin des MDR
»With this historically wide-ranging novel Hein yet again continues effortlessly to virtuosity…This novel is tremendously gripping and touching.« Frankfurter Neue Presse
»This novel declares no winner in the battle between science and art. But it is both at the same time: a great example of storytelling and the result of painstaking scientific research.« U. Gellermann, rationalgalerie.de
»A great novel from German chronicler Christoph Hein which adds to his monumental lifework.« Welf Grombacher, Freie Presse
»Hein writes an unpretentious, artless, simple but never banal prose. He delivers the most painful blows with a casualness that takes your breath away.« Christian Eger, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
»With his grim novel Trutz Christoph Hein, one of the most important German writers working today, offers up a stunning and painful book. A precise and observant chronicler with a great feeling for society’s incongruities…a brilliantly researched book.« Rainer Kasselt, Sächsische Zeitung
»Trutz is, in the best sense of the term, an exciting history book.« Christoph Schröder, Süddeutsche Zeitung
»Hein has read widely and saunters through the Soviet decades as if he had lived through them himself, but never loses himself in his knowledge. That a novelist is able to remain in control while his characters experience all kind of turmoil may sound out-dated. And yet, this is precisely what makes Trutz a great novel as it passes into long-term...
Christoph Hein, born in 1944, lives in Berlin. He is the author of novels, novellas, short stories, plays, essays and children’s books. His most recent novels were on the Spiegel bestseller list for weeks. His most recent awards include the 2019 Prix du Meilleur livre étranger (for Glückskind mit Vater), the 2019 Samuel Bogumił Linde Prize and the 2017 Grimmelshausen Prize.
Christoph Hein, born in 1944, lives in Berlin. He is the author of novels, novellas, short stories, plays, essays and children’s books. His...
The cast of characters who sleep under the sofa in Jakob Borg’s room sure are a motley crew: there is Snout the donkey, who feels called to be a professor and loves nothing more than a good meal....
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The late 1950s in the divided Germany: as the son of a pastor, 14-year-old Daniel is barred from taking the Abitur, the secondary school leaving examination, in his East German hometown and so he...
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In the small town of Bad Guldenberg the world is still alright. At least until a group of underage immigrants is given accommodation in the Old Seglerheim. The people of Guldenberg agree: The...
He is considered the chronicler of German-German relationships, the precise dissector of a formerly divided nation which still hasn’t found its way back together completely, and as...
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Friedeward loves Wolfgang. And Wolfgang loves Friedeward. They are young, enjoying the summer vacation, cycle the long way to the sea, discuss all the subjects under the sun. They are happy when...
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What does Konstantin Boggosch, whom his mother described as »child of fortune«, owe to his father? In Christoph Hein’s new novel, which mobilises all the registers of his storytelling prowess and...
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Ten-year-old Ulla lives with her brothers Karel and Paul, the dog Strolch and her parents. The father is a sculptor, the mother a director and Ulla’s best friend, beautiful and always laughing....
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Leipzig 1968: Historian Dallow is released from prison after twenty-one months. His crime: He filled in as a piano player at a student cabaret and the text that he was asked to accompany with a...
Serbia (Radni Sto)
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Thomas was almost a child still at the time, but he remembers the events in sleepy bad Guldenberg in the summer of 1957 very well: how he started working for the gypsies and was punished for it by...
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»I have become invulnerable. I have bathed in dragon’s blood, and no linden leaf anywhere left me unprotected. I can never get out of this skin.« This is the conclusion of the...
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