In a series of encounters and relationships full of imagery, Schimmelpfennig explores our longings and darkness, our hustle and bustle, our desire to love and be loved. Based on Arthur Schnitzler's “Reigen” (Round Dance), the novel is always about both: that we come together and then go our separate ways, that we are connected and then lose each other again and again. Sex is part of this very tension. As in Schnitzler's story, there are ten scenes that tell of couples; one of the couple in each case is the link to the next scene, until the cycle closes at the end with the return to the first person. It is also about closure and opening, everyday life and longing, marriage and fleeting encounters. Schimmelpfennig plays with the structure of the round dance, loosening it up – and above all, he transfers it to our present: to the life of the urban middle class, to fluid gender roles, to a world in which everything, including our sexuality, is shaped by new (and old) media and, above all, by violence.
Roland Schimmelpfennig has previously adapted the Reigen material in his highly acclaimed play “Seventeen Sketches from Darkness”.
A new novel by Roland Schimmelpfennig, the playwright of the year 2024, who, with his passionate, yearning characters and powerful imagery, follows up on his successful debut “On a Clear, Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning of the 21st Century,” which was shortlisted for the Leipzig Book Prize.
"one of the best romance novels in a long time" - ZEIT , Iris Radisch
"[Schimmelpfennig is able] to make the longings and fractures of his characters tangible" - Spiegel, Andreas Bernard
"perhaps Schimmelpfennig's best book to date, because he gets so close to people" - rbb radio3, Barbara Behrendt
"Tough stuff, well worth reading." - Buchkultur, Sylvia Treudl
"takes an unvarnished look at current gender relations" - Bayern 2 Kulturleben, Christoph Leibold
