Parole Text:Buch

A soldier returning from war meets a woman at the funfair and shoots a huge yellow stuffed bear for her. A married couple splits up for good while their daughter is sleeping in the room next door. A film producer punches a woman, who is a man, in the face. Elsewhere, twopeople are kissing high above the roofs of the city. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s Reigen (Round Dance), Schimmelpfennig asks: What are the forces that drive us to come togetherand then go our separate ways again? And why is there so much violence and pain? In a series of encounters and relationships full of imagery, the novel explores our longings and darkness, our hustle and bustle, our desire to love and be loved.

Roland Schimmelpfennig, born in 1967, is Germany’s most-performed contemporary dramatist. He worked as a journalist in Istanbul, going on to study directing. His first position as a director was at the Munich Kammerspiele. He has been working as a freelance writer since 1996.