Read and discuss works by contemporary German authors in this series hosted by the Goethe-Institut. All books can be read in recent English translation or in the German original; discussion will be in English. Led by local German professor
Amanda Sheffer (The Catholic University of America), this book club focuses on contemporary fiction and will explore experiences and thoughts about the text.
Wolfgang Herrndorf’s Tschick (Why We Took the Car)
Winner of the German Youth Literature Prize and the Clemens Brentano Prize in 2011,
Tschick is a coming-of-age novel that has sold over 2 million copies in Germany alone. A road novel with parallels to Mark Twain’s
Huckleberry Finn, the story centers around two main teenage protagonists, Maik and Andrej (aka “Tschick”). The unlikely duo hits the road in summer to escape their families and social lives and end up in a series of episodes where they confront many different challenges. The novel was made into a film in 2016 by director Fatih Akin (
Gegen die Wand,
Auf der anderen Seite).
Deutschlandradio wrote: “Tschick is a beautiful, sad adventure novel from the mysterious German East that only has one disadvantage: that it’s over too quickly.”
Wolfgang Herrndorf (1965-2013) studied in Nürnberg and worked as an illustrator and author. In addition to
Tschick, he penned other novels and wrote for a satire magazine and, after his diagnosis of a brain tumor in 2010, for a digital journal in which he reported on his illness and experiences. His sequel to
Tschick was published posthumously as
Bilder deiner groβen Liebe.
In cooperation with the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at The Catholic University of America.
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