Once in the world. And then like this

On the road from Vienna to Paris lies the village from which Arnold Stadler's hero comes. He was born here, without knowing why. One day he is served his last playmate, the beloved piglet Frederic, in a sausage soup. Now he knows: Those who live here will escape to friendlier places as soon as they can. But neither in the southern United States nor as a priest seminarian in Rome do they want him. He goes to Freiburg and makes a living as a eulogist. Back home, the farm is sold, sealing the loss of his homeland and the end of childhood dreams once and for all. If one does not lose their mind, they begin to write poetry.

"If there are no people for life, then there are still sentences." This is the guiding principle of a poetics of disappearance on tiptoes – of individual people as well as an entire world and its language. "Once in the world. And then like this" pays tribute to that.

In 1984, Arnold Stadler began his trilogy. "Ich war einmal" was published in 1989, followed by "Feuerland" in 1992, and in 1994, ten years after the initial conception, the trilogy was completed with "Mein Hund, meine Sau, mein Leben." Now, with "Once in the World. And then like this," the three novels are being released in one volume, fundamentally revised and expanded with the chapter "History of My Birthmark," 20 years after "Ich war einmal" and 25 years after the beginning.