The Novel about a Novel Eugen Gomringer, the founder of concrete poetry, wrote in a letter to Michael Lentz: ‘For years, decades now, novels have seemed superfluous to me. Until your novel appeared that is. We don’t need to write any more books.’ Burkhard Müller, on the other hand, writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, said that Schattenfroh was a waste of time, while Andreas Platthaus in the FAZ considered the ‘longest reading time with the greatest effort ’ worthwhile, and recommended reading the book a second time as soon as you finish it. Andrea Köhler, however, expressed quite a different view in Die Zeit. Throwing up her hands, she can’t decide if it is brilliant, mad or just plain silly. This question is answered by Richard Kämmerlings in Die Welt, who admires the ‘great literary work’. As you can see, even practised readers are somewhat at a loss. Michael Lentz now attempts to remedy the situation by explaining his novel in his Ernst Jandl poetry lecture delivered in Vienna. Yes, that is indeed a bit conceited. But who’s surprised? Schattenfroh is as well.
