After the Rushdie experience, I was in need of a good palate cleansing. Usually I turn to crime! However, Daniel Kehlmann of Measuring The World fame was winking at me from the midst of the all things Germanic TBR. Yes, a good clean comic read would hit the spot quite nicely.
First things first, however. The title. Is it grammatically correct to translate “Ich und Kaminski” as Me and Kaminski? Certainly it sounds better than I and Kaminski. Changing the sequence to the grammatically correct Kaminski and I would insert a formality into the title that doesn’t exist. Lynne Truss, where are you when I need you?
Manuel Kaminski is an ailing recluse. Once mentored by Matisse, he almost made it into the major league of 2oth century artists. However, his time came and went and he retired to his mansion in the mountains.
Sebastian Zollner is a failing art critic. Strike that, he’s a failing human being. Delusional as to his talents. Desperate to make a name for himself. He decides that with Kaminski on death’s door, he’ll write a biography of the man in preparation for the interest that will inevitably follow once the obituaries have been published. He has little skill, tact or understanding yet he strikes lucky and uncovers a little known fact that he hopes will render his biography sensational.
The scene is set and the satire that follows is sometimes obvious. How low will a journalist go in pursuit of his career? How luvey-duvey and sychophantic can the art world be? Did Kaminski ever have talent or was his failing eyesight a ploy to engender interest in his second-rate talent?
Me and Kaminski is an early Kehlmann, translated to capitalise on the resounding success of Measuring The World. While it’s not in the same league, it is indicative of the Kehlmann greatness that follows. Roll with the punches and there are a number of scenes that are quite laconic. The female subsidiary characters are angry, colourful and entertaining. Spend the first half despising the journalist and then gleefully spend the second observing him being played for the fool that he is.
Lizzy's Literary Life (Volume One) 
Hello Lizzy – thanks for that review. I feel pretty much the same as you – I was initially disappointed, after the gem that is Measuring the World, but it was an enjoyable read. I couldn’t help thinking of William Golding’s The Paper Men as I was reading, and I ultimately think the Golding is better; but the Kehlmann grew on me. He never overplayed the potential for OTT situations and there were some moments of magic, and times when I laughed out loud. He has a seductive style of writing, I think, and as you say, there were hints of what was to come in Measuring the World; but I’m glad I read Measuring first, as I might not have come back to Kehlmann if this had been my first experience of him. He does make some lovely digs at and observations of journalists, biographers, the art world, celebrity, etc – but I felt as a novel it never quite took off in the way I had hoped. Where Golding creates a mounting tension that embroils the reader in the relationship between artist (writer) and stalker, Kehlmann never quite achieved that for me. It is a gentler book, and that in itself is fine, but I never quite believed in it all – I don’t mean in a factual sense, just never quite felt able to roll with the punches, as you put it, without standing back a bit and wondering whether it was all going anywhere. Nevertheless, an enjoyable read, genuinely funny, at times genuinely sad, and vaguely thought-provoking.
Hello and welcome evie! Glad you found me. Does this mean we can continue with our sporadic German reads? Perhaps we’ll entice a few others to join in.
I hadn’t even heard of The Paper Men. You make it sound intriguing so I’ll keep my eye out for it now.
Lizzy – I know your German reads are exactly that, books originally written in German – but just wanted to mention a truly wonderful novel I read recently, The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald. It is about a short period in the (also short) life of Friedrich von Hardenburg, better known as Novalis, the German Romantic writer. It blew me away, partly because it was such a revelation – I wasn’t expecting Fitzgerald to write like this at all – and partly because it seems so authentically German. And mainly because it is just exquisitely written! The novels it kept making me think of were Effi Briest and Measuring the World, Beware of Pity (it’s much better than that novel) and even the Joseph Roth we read – books by German writers, in other words – I will re-read it at some point, and pay closer attention to how she achieves that; perhaps she sometimes uses German sentence structure, I’m not sure. A complete delight and very sad at the same time. Very highly recommended, though it may not fit into any of your lists! Are you doing colours, perhaps…?!
PS – also meant to say – The Paper Men is also about an artist (well, a writer in this case) being pursued by a would-be biographer (well, a budding academic in this case) around bits of Europe, except that it’s written from the point of view of the writer rather than the biographer. The parallels are therefore obvious, but the writing different, though a similar mixture of the surreal and the more meaningful, in terms of self-discovery. I personally think the Golding is better, but I am enjoying discovering Kehlmann’s work very much.
Evie
I can stretch the meaning of German reads to be anything German related. Translated from German, set in Germany … or Austria … or Switzerland. I’m really not fussy.
I read “The Blue Flower” last year. My review is here.
Have you got time for a Berlin-themed read in June? I go to Berlin in July so I’m going to be getting myself (even more) in the mood. I have three Berlin novels in the TBR – I’d like to read them all, of course. They are: Hans Fallada, Alone In Berlin; Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumpers and an English-language Berlin-themed original; The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite.
Julia Franck German-book-prize winning “The Blind Side of the Heart”, also set in Berlin, is published in June too.
… or we could read Goethe’s “The Sufferings of the Young Werther” …. because I’m also visiting Frankfurt.
I will have a think – have almost no time to read at the moment, as have heaps upon heaps of marking, and more to come once exams start…and am moving house in mid-June…but in theory I’d love to! Will have a look. I spent a couple of days in Berlin about three weeks ago – my first visit, looking almost entirely at art – lovely.
Lizzy – I would be happy to read Lily Aphrodite – two of your list are too expensive for me at the moment, I really shouldn’t be buying any more books AT ALL for a while! But that one does look appealing, and I have a colleague who works on woman in early 20C Germany, so it would feed nicely into discussions with her. Or I am happy to read Young Werther, as I already have a copy of that. Having recently made my trip to Berlin, it would be great to read a Berlin-themed book, though. All the books you mention look good, and I am no doubt open to persuasion…though not the hardback, I haven’t even allowed myself the new AS Byatt in hardback (though that may change!), as I need to keep a careful eye on finances at the moment. (That is just a statement I make in public to give the impression that I am being careful, it bears little relation to how I actually live my life!!)
PS – the other one I particularly like the look of is The Wall Jumper. But let’s definitely read something!
Let’s read Lily Aphrodite then as I don’t wish to be a bad influence and I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to get a copy from the library! BTW my copy of The Wall Jumper is a library book too.
I still have two of the Orange shortlist to read which puts Lily #3 in my TBR. I should be able to read it during the first week in June.
OK, that sounds good. I will check the library…but don’t hold out huge hopes!
Just to say that I am nearly half way through Lilly Aphrodite, though only managing about 30 pages a day at the moment. I am about to move house, and will investigate the library in my new town – yours sounds really good! My current one is OK, but doesn’t run to much in the way of modern (let alone contemporary) overseas fiction.
I’m hoping to finish Lilly at the weekend. Will post up a review mid-week.
Excellent – thanks!