Florian Illies

There is always someone at the sanatorium. Lovis Corinth is recovering from his stroke in Tyrol, Sigmund Freud is trying to get rid of his rheumatism and depression in Marienbad, and Robert Musil’s doctor calls for his patient “to cease professional activity for at least another six months”. It is 1913 and everyone is exhausted. (…)
Florian Illies’ panorama of simultaneity is based on a profound knowledge of the cultural background and many relevant biographies. The author follows his protagonists from the fields of literature, science, music and art with the curiosity and pleasure of a social reporter. The chains of associations are daring, criss-crossing old Europe, especially Vienna, Berlin and Paris. Illies goes on an excursion to New York, to the first “Armory Show”, where Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude, Descending a Staircase” caused a scandal. Albert Schweizer for his part had a bucket of cold water under his desk into which he put his feet so that he would not fall asleep while he was reading.

Stefanie Peter: “Als alles möglich schien”
© Literaturen 4/12, winter 2012