The Teller of Love Stories
Die LiebesgeschichtenerzÀhlerin

friedrich christian delius liebesgeschichtenerzÀhlerin
Rowohlt
March 2016 / 208pp
Fiction

This book is outside of the five-year window for guaranteed assistance with English language translation. We suggest getting in touch with the relevant funding body for an informal conversation about the possibility of support. Please refer to to our  recommendations page for books that are currently covered by our funding guarantee.

Download this page as a PDF

review

The eponymous teller of love stories is fifty-year-old Marie von Schabow who is trying to decide which story to focus on for her next novel: the affair between the Dutch King William I and a Berlin dancer; the life, love and marriage of her father, Hans von Schabow; or her own life and love affair with her husband, Rheinhard. The love stories of the title thus encompass a range of different sorts of love. 

The book is set during the late 1960s and its historical context is carefully pinpointed. The novel spans Marie’s father’s action during the First World War, her own involvement with the Hitler Youth movement in the ‘30s and her marriage to Rheinhard during the Second World War, her experience in East Germany of occupation by the Russians and her eventual move to Frankfurt. There is a huge amount in this deceptively short novel which does not linger over distressing historical events and yet leaves us in no doubt about the terrible toll they exact on the individuals caught up in them. 

The fascinating historical subject matter, filtered through the eyes of the narrator, make this an intensely personal and moving account of suffering, endurance and love across generations.

about the author

Friedrich Christian Delius was born in Rome in 1943 and grew up in Hessen, Germany. He has lived in Berlin since 1963. His collected works have been published by Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag in an edition spanning eighteen volumes. Among others, Friedrich Christian Delius has received the Fontane Prize, the Joseph Breitbach Prize and in 2011 the Georg BĂŒchner Prize.

Previous works include:
Die linke Hand des Papstes (2013); Bildnis der Mutter als junge Frau (2006); Der Spaziergang von Rostock nach Syrakus (1995); Der Sonntag, an dem ich Weltmeister wurde (1994)

rights information

Translation rights available from:

Rowohlt.Berlin Verlag GmbH
c/o Rowohlt Verlag GmbH
Hamburger Str. 17
21465 Reinbek
Germany
Contact: Gertje Berger-Maaß
Tel: +49 (0) 40 / 72 72 - 222
Email: gertje.maass@rowohlt.de
www.rowohlt.de

Rowohlt.Berlin Verlag With offices in Reinbek near Hamburg and in Berlin, Rowohlt celebrated its 100th birthday in 2008. As in the beginning, the founder’s high standards continue to apply today: to publish easy-to-read literature of the highest quality. The publishing house with its various divisions – Rowohlt Verlag, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Wunderlich, Kindler, rotfuchs and Rowohlt Berlin – is part of the Holtzbrinck group. Rowohlt publishes both literary fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. Authors include Wolfgang Borchert, Daniel Kehlmann, Imre KertĂ©sz, Klaus and Erika Mann, Robert Musil, Eugen Ruge, David Safier and Martin Walser.

translation assistance

Applications should be made to the Goethe-Institut.

share this recommendation

Share this on twitter, facebook or via mail.

All recommendations from Spring 2016