Richard Kämmerlings

What was the present just a moment ago is already history. Richard Kämmerlings was born in 1969. Until he moved to Die Welt, he was a literary critic and the young voice of literary criticism at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung whose training was based on the American narrative cosmos. This is his history of German-language literature since 1989. And anything hot off the brain that appeared to be reacting to life in the reunited country has now been made the subject of first literary assessments and summary surveys.
Kämmerlings’ short literary history, like so many recent books on theory and debate, is an autobiographical work of non-fiction. Just as other authors write about themselves and their dying mother, sick father or family life in the hope of capturing a tiny bit of the general picture in their personal view, this critic writes a most wonderfully subjective history of German literature. This is a process that is as unassailable as it is close to life. It is undoubtedly one of the more welcome influences of New Journalism and pop literature, which are also past their prime.

Iris Radisch: „Kinder, wie die Zeit vergeht!“
© Die ZEIT, 24 February 2011