LiteraturSchweiz

Reading tip

Roman Graf, Herr Blanc: Mister Blanc could be a recent ancestor of an inhabitant of Gottfried Keller’s Seldwyla, one of those who think they are particularly smart in how they go about life – and who thereby totally miss it. Mister Blanc shows us what inhumanities a person who is full of scruples himself can commit. It is only after the death of the three women with whom he could have been happy – his mother, his lover Heike and his wife Vreni – that he notices how important they would have been to him. Incapable of loving the living, he is outstanding in his veneration of the deceased. Only while defending their legacy life, unruliness, even mischievousness awake in him. In a desperate sarcasm towards himself and his missed life he shows a kind of humour in his old age, an unintentional humour which was completely lacking in his former life. Masterfully rhythmised phrases offer space for the quirkiness of the protagonist and at the same time go beyond those lines. (Daniel Rothenbühler, transl. by Anja Hälg)