Innehaben

Eugen Gomringer, the founder of Concrete Poetry, writes in a letter to Michael Lentz: "For years, decades, novels have been superfluous for me. Until your novel arrived just now. We don't need to write books anymore." Burkhard Müller, on the other hand, finds in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" that "Schattenfroh" only robs one of time. Andreas Platthaus in the F.A.Z. is different, for whom "the longest reading path and the greatest reading effort" are worthwhile, and one should begin the second reading immediately after the first. Andrea Köhler in the "Zeit" is different again. She capitulates and can't decide whether this is ingenious, insane or silly. Richard Kämmerlings has decided this question and admires the "great literary work" in the "Welt". We notice that there is a certain perplexity, even among experienced readers. Michael Lentz now remedies this by explaining his novel in his Ernst Jandl poetics lecture in Vienna. Yes, that is a bit megalomaniac. But who's surprised? After all, so is "Schattenfroh.