Römische Tage

A summer in Rome. A young man arrives in the eternal city to shake off the present. He seeks his own path, feeling foreign times living within him. In Rome, he remembers. In Rome, he falls in love. In Rome, he mourns. He encounters extraordinary people and finds his purpose: to perceive everything, to leave nothing out. Roman days lead to the many beginnings and endings of our world and question what we will make of it tomorrow. The narrator moves into an apartment diagonally across from the Casa di Goethe, and the city becomes his beloved. Its stories unfold before his eyes: the murder of Caesar at Largo Argentina is as vivid to him as the scuffle of sunglasses vendors on the Corso. He immerses himself in a world full of contrasts: the lostness of young Italian women and the waning significance of the old intellectuals. Ancient and modern ideals, radiant palaces, exuberant parties, and fading art. Locals, migrants, believers, tourists, beggars. In between, trash, a lot of trash. And again and again, the stabbing in his chest that the doctors refuse to take seriously. Enthusiastic and melancholic, light-footed and moving, Simon Strauss tells why the present cannot exist without the past. The press on Simon Strauss: “The voice of a generation” - Maria Wallner, Die Presse. “Strauss has a beautiful, distinctive tone that embodies the contemporary without wanting to show off, yet also knows the sound of the fathers, coming from deep educational wells and sometimes despising himself for it, only to find great laconicism and simple sensuality.” - Florian Illies, Die Zeit. “Strauss is one of the greatest feuilletonistic talents of his generation, and as visually striking and imaginative as he writes here, he possesses a genuinely literary talent.” - Gregor Dotzauer, Tagesspiegel. “The power with which Simon Strauss presents linguistic images is captivating and exhilarating!” - ZDF aspekte.