The New Sorrows of Young W. / Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.
»The Catcher in the GDR-Rye« Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Edgar W., teenage dropout, unrequited lover, unrecognized genius – and dead – tells the story of his brief, spectacular life. It is the story of how he rebels against the petty rules of communist East Germany to live in an abandoned summer house, with just a tape recorder and a battered copy of Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther for company. Of his passionate love for the dark-eyed, unattainable kindergarten teacher Charlie. And of how, in a series of calamitous events (involving electricity...
Edgar W., teenage dropout, unrequited lover, unrecognized genius – and dead – tells the story of his brief, spectacular life. It is the story of how he rebels against the petty rules of communist East Germany to live in an abandoned summer house, with just a tape recorder and a battered copy of Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther for company. Of his passionate love for the dark-eyed, unattainable kindergarten teacher Charlie. And of how, in a series of calamitous events (involving electricity and a spray paint machine), he meets his untimely end.
Absurd, funny and touching, this cult German bestseller is both a satire on life in the GDR and a hymn to youthful freedom.
»The ›new‹ sorrows of young W. are the old ones: love, which hurts in the guise of jealousy, a disturbed relationship to society that is agonising in the form of thwarted ambition. In 1972, Werther also loves an engaged, then married, woman named Charlotte, whom he doesn’t call Lotte like his predecessor but ›Charlie‹.« Rolf Michaelis, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»The ›new‹ sorrows of young W. are the old ones: love, which hurts in the guise of jealousy, a disturbed relationship to society that is agonising in the form of thwarted ambition. In 1972, Werther also loves an engaged, then married, woman named Charlotte, whom he doesn’t call Lotte like his predecessor but ›Charlie‹.« Rolf Michaelis, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung