Scotland and Other Stories

For every story that ends, another begins. In Scotland's Dundee, a female dancer watches how the nation becomes divides over the question of whether to leave the UK or not. In Hamburg, a radicalised animal rights activists goes missing. A Berlin punk entrepreneur finds serenity in music after being injured, and a young cameraman, tired of his job routine, becomes an adventurer. All of these characters are motived by a deep-rooted desire for recognition, but recognition wakens other desires.

This book exemplifies in a nutshell what the writer Ulf Erdmann Ziegler is known for: his photographic gaze, the quick rhythm of his storytelling, great empathy for his characters, while he does not avoid to look into their abysses. These stories are what the sketchbook would be for the painter. The improbable finds its place here, hyperbole, wit and sensibility. These short stories sketch an image of a restless world, a jigsaw puzzle of contemporary society.

»If these stories were a novel, it would at the very least be on the shortlist for the German Book Prize. Indeed, Ziegler’s prose is better than some of the ones currently there.« Gerrit Bartels, Der Tagesspiegel

»... written with lucid precision and sardonic humour – this is a crisp description of the interior as well as exterior lives of middle-aged Germans who, though they may have their worries, have not forgotten life.« Der Spiegel

»With these new stories Ulf Erdmann has managed to write something important.« Süddeutsche Zeitung

»[Ziegler] is not only a literary chameleon who can slip into any role at all with wonderful ease, in his work he connects gentle reserve with a discreet love for storytelling. He constructs his texts like an architect, he possesses the exacting eye of a photographer, and he paints his stories with the translucent sheen of a water-colourist.« Roman Bucheli, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

»Scotland and Other Stories: Ulf Erdmann Ziegler’s stories are among the best to have appeared all year.« Dierk Wolters, Frankfurter Neue Presse

The author’s gift lies in rooting out the hidden life-dramas of middle-class existence.« Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger

»This year there can’t be too many story collections that can compete with Ulf Erdmann Ziegler’s latest. The masterful light-handedness and absolute self-assurance Ziegler brings to his work springs up from nearly all 14 stories in Scotland and Other Stories.« Saarbrücker Zeitung

»Ulf Ermann Ziegler shines with [his] new stories.« Strandgut