Insurrection

»This story began in New York, continued in Vienna and ended with the Austrian government fleeing abroad.« This is the first sentence of Michael Scharang’s new novel, Insurrection. What follows is not the revolution but 21 chapters, funny, polemic and challenging, that talk about nothing less than the possibility of a better and fairer world.

Maximilian Spatz, attending physician in Brooklyn, doesn’t hesitate for even a second when he is offered one year of paid leave. The next day, he is already on a plane to Vienna. That’s where he meets Anna Berg, a sales assistant at a large fashion store; moreover, she is a member of the works council. The two of them fall in love and in order to be closer to Anna, Maximilian takes a job as a window dresser. When Anna calls a works assembly after a wage cut, but no one attends due to the pressure put on them by the management, it’s Maximilian who manages to arouse the fighting spirit of the team with a trick. They go on strike, which eventually turns into a massive party – more and more people join the celebrations. This is contagious: labour conflicts occur all over the country and soon the revolutionary movement gives the impression that it is powerful and a threat to government.

»Definitely a must-read.« Karl-Markus Gauß, Süddeutsche Zeitung

»Scharang is one of [Austria’s] great, powerfully eloquent, strident, idiosyncratic authors.« Wolfgang Huber-Lang, APA

»Scharang outlines the difference between the working class and the upper classes as accurately as hardly anyone else can these days.« Susanne Zobl, News

»A masterpiece.« Elfriede Jelinek on The Comedy of Aging