Wolfgang Herrndorf Arbeit und Struktur - #4

Every now and then we will feature whole authors and much of their writings. As there is often a lot to write for us and for you to read we will do this in a series of posts covering a book each.

Wolfgang Herrndorf – An Author From My Hometown Berlin

Wolfgang Herrndorf Arbeit und Struktur is the print edition of a blog he wrote during the 3 year period of his illness. He is one of the authors who influenced me a lot during recent years. The sad thing is: He died from a brain tumor, which is part of Arbeit und Struktur. He used to be a writer for quite some time until he published his first successful book in 2012: Tschick.

I red it back then and nowadays pupils read it as well during school. I would have loved to read literature like that but we were reading the likes of Brecht and Goethe of course.

Actually I ended up reading all of his writings, which is why I am covering them for you in this first series of it’s kind.

Wolfgang Herrndorf Arbeit und Struktur – in the mind of an author

Wolfgang Herrndorf writes a diary that covers both him as an author and him as a desperately ill person. Both inevitably are entangled and that is what makes this diary so special. You are in the mind of an author, experience his thinking, his desperation, his emotions. Also you are right with someone, who has just been told to have little to no chance to survive. Doctors found a rare brain cancer – inoperable – in his head. He switches between desperation and motivation within days, hours, even minutes. He is unsure whether he has lost his mind already or if he is still himself. Sometimes he is frantic and ready to pull the trigger, sometimes he is full of productivity to finish his books before he dies. As readers we are able to get incredibly close to someone with his destiny. This creates a very rare and touching experience. His fiction books and short stories are great, but this is an extraordinary piece.

The picture above shows the spot where he chose to end his misery. He shot himself before he would lose the ability to decide on his destiny.