Emperor calls for

The living are solely concerned with life, while death only matters to the dead. Were it not for the lively obituary for the deceased. And so there is much to tell about this supposedly departed Kaspar Kaiser, who left us at the age of thirty-two, the protagonist of Thomas Heimgartner's "Nekrovelle." By profession, Kaspar was an industrious writer of obituaries, those widely read biographies of the deceased, where their flaws are transformed into magnificent virtues. His life – from the boastful only child to the fickle student, who loses his parents early, and finally to the passive recluse in the Reuss city of Lucerne – is rich in stories. With a successful leap into love with Sara and a furious somersault away from marriage, he merrily flows down the river of life – "nekrovellistic," indeed – until Kaspar's supposed end in distant Nepal. Thomas Heimgartner's abruptly bold yet amusing narrative style does not lead to slander. Rather, it provides an almost ideal guide for future "obituarists": Just place your own obituary in the newspaper, and you will already have the lingering reading pleasure with your morning coffee. Severin Perrig.