The Family

At the end of this novel, narrator Andreas is 28 years old, living in in Frankfurt am Main, studying, among other things, theories of truth. Andreas Maier tells the story of how stumbling blocks in his own personal life made it possible for his protagonists to become involved in such esoteric studies.

In his characteristically ironic-comical and at the same time emotional style he tries to discover what inevitably brought them to concerning themselves with the difference between »truth« and »falsehoods«, or rather, »lies«.

The reasons can be found in childhood: conflicts with his older brother, five years his senior, and his conservative CDU-father: »Realpolitik« (his father is a district councillor) vs. an ethically »pure« »fundamentalism« (at barely fifteen years old, his brother founds the first Green party association in their town). The protagonist is twelve at the time, only beginning to learn how often his closest relatives dispute seemingly obvious truths. The schoolboy simply continues to watch the discussions from the outside, without getting involved, in social studies class, for example, or at the blockade in front of the army barracks and begins to see all of it as some kind of game.

Which proves to be poor preparation for university. Once he’s a student, the protagonist begins to understand that the public realm constantly butts up against falsehood, repression and collective rationalisations. In his new novel Andreas Maier’s characters confront the split that runs through the world: the conflict between individuals (the individual before god, before the truth) and society (incapable of communicating truth but nevertheless just as existent and absolute). And come to grips with the realisation that this dichotomy is likely irresolvable: we exist in both spheres.

»The title [of the series] Ortsumgehung [ring roads] was a masterstroke. It not only recalls the destruction of the natural landscape through the growth of civilization, but the fact that one always arrives at the goal in a roundabout fashion and often by skirting the familiar.« Florian Balke, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

»With every volume this at first glance conventional, seemingly harmless autobiographical project reveals itself instead to be a radical subversion of identity and the obliteration of one’s own background, and Andreas Maier the worthy heir of Thomas Bernhard.« Richard Kämmerlings, DIE WELT

»It was tough to teach oneself the new communicative ways of negotiating, which soon became all the rage in the West, when one belonged to the generation of ›the children of the silent children‹. The astonished, intractable tone of this impressive memoir shows us just how far the way to get there was.« Iris Radisch, DIE ZEIT

»Andreas Maier is working on one of the largest and greatest projects of German-language literature.« Paul Jandl, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

»The author begins again; pieces his origins together ›from scratch‹. […] He, the ›child of the silent children‹, notes: ›I’ve been writing post-war literature the whole time without realising it.‹ As soon as one reads the epilogue it becomes clear how intelligently he has done so.« Marlene Grunert, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

» ... nothing is safe from Maier’s debunking humour, no stone, be it ever so small, is left unturned.« Martin Krumbholz, Deutschlandfunk

»The fact that Maier is an exceptional writer has been known ever since the first volumes of his Ortsumgehung were published. His talent for comedy, however, receives little attention as of yet. His new novel is full of debunking humour.« Tino Dallmann, MDR

»Andreas Maier continues his spectacular family saga with a new installment […]« Ulf Heise, Freie Presse

»Maier’s literary skill consists of wrapping substantial questions in an amusing way. He looks at his protagonists maintaining a cool distance and exposes their (and his own) quirkiness mercilessly. Human abysses are lurking beneath the surface of the purported normality.« Profil

»Andreas Maier proceeds as ususal in short but brilliant novels that sparkle with intelligent attention to detail and slightly ironic tone. […] You just can’t get enough of it.« Ulrich Steinmetzger, Sächsische Zeitung

»How history can catch up with you; how someone can be ›writing post-war literature the whole time without realising it‹: That […] is what this impressively straightforward novel deals with.« Bettina Schulte, Badische Zeitung

»In The Family, Andreas Maier deals with the abysses within a small German family, shaped by injustice and the denial of the Nazi era. […] The laconic manner in which this is observed is what makes the author Andreas Maier exceptional.« Kultur Joker