Robert Menasse Books

In March 2010, Robert Menasse went to Brussels to begin researching a novel about the European Union. Instead of producing a work of fiction, however, his extended stay in Brussels resulted in The European Courier, a text in which he examines the European community from its beginnings in the transnational "Montanunion" (European Coal and Steel Community, 1951) to the current "financial crisis" of the European Union. In the course of his analysis, Menasse focuses on the institutional structures and forces that work to advance--or obstruct--the European project and its goal of a truly postnational European democracy. Given the internal tensions among the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council, Menasse argues that what is frequently misunderstood as a financial crisis is, in fact, a political one. As Menasse claims in The European Courier, "Either the Europe of nation-states will perish or the project of transcending the nation-states will."

"A deliciously vicious - and timely - satire about the E.U. and the meaning of Europe today" - Frederick Studemann, Financial TimesBrussels. A panorama of tragic heroes, manipulative losers, involuntary accomplices. In his new novel, Robert Menasse spans a narrative arc between the times, the nations, the inevitable and the irony of fate, between petty bureaucracy and big emotions.As the fiftieth anniversary of the European Commission approaches, the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with planning and organising a fitting celebration. The project will serve the wider purpose of revamping the Commission's image at a time of waning public support. When Fenia Xenopoulou's Austrian P.A. Martin Susman suggests putting Auschwitz at the centre of the jubilee, she is thrilled. But she has neglected to take the other E.U. institutions into account.Inspector Brunfaut is in a tricky situation too: his murder case has been suppressed at the highest level. Luckily, he's friends with the I.T. whizz at Brussels' Police H.Q., who gains access to secret files in the public prosecutor's office. Matek, the Polish hitman, knows nothing of this. But he does know that he shot the wrong guy, and for Matek, who would rather have become a priest, this is serious. And what about the pig farmers who take to the streets of the city to protest about existing trade restrictions blocking the export of pigs' ears to China . . .?The Capital is a sharp satire, a philosophical essay, a crime story, a comedy of manners, a wild pig chase, but at its heart it has the most powerful pro-European message: no-one should forget the circumstances that gave rise to the European project in the first place.

Paints a portrait of the post-'68 generation and a society 'that cannot even sell a bottle of mineral water without viewing the goods from an erotic angle'.

Robert Menasse, who was born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1954, speaks with the voice of the generation known as Nachgeborene ("those born after"). Although fortunate to have escaped the persecution and exile his parents endured, Menasse's stories constantly refract the suffering of the past through the ironic distance of a feeling observer. His critically humorous voice uncovers surprising truths about himself and the past. As the author of over twenty books, which include critical essays on contemporary cultural topics as well as novels and short stories, Menasse's fame as a major figure in contemporary Austrian literature is firmly established. He has received many prestigious literary prizes and divides his time between Vienna and Amsterdam.

»Einen Dichter einzuladen, eine Poetikvorlesung zu halten, ist etwa so sinnvoll, wie einen Kannibalen als Ernährungsberater zu engagieren. Am Ende nagt er an Ihren Knochen, in diesem Fall an den Resten Ihres geistigen Stützapparats«, warnte Robert Menasse zu Beginn seiner Poetikvorlesungen im Frühjahr 2005 im legendären Adorno-Hörsaal, in dem »schon lange nicht mehr so wortgewaltig gegen den Kapitalismus gewettert und zum Umsturz aufgerufen wurde«, wie die Süddeutsche Zeitung schrieb. Das Publikum dankte es ihm mit »donnerndem Applaus und stehenden Ovationen«.

In seinem Roman Selige Zeiten, brüchige Welt erzählt Robert Menasse von der fixen Idee des tragikomischen Gelehrten Leo Singer, ein Buch zu schreiben, das die Welt ein letztes Mal umfassend erklärt. Um dieses Buch zustande zu bringen, schreckte Singer auch vor Gewaltverbrechen nicht zurück - und scheiterte dennoch. Robert Menasse hat dieses Buch für seinen Romanhelden geschrieben, die Phänomenologie der Entgeisterung, eine Erzählung, die die Erzähltechniken Hegels noch einmal ernst nimmt.

… es kommt darauf an, sie wieder zu interpretieren! Wie kann man die Realität begreifen, wenn schon ihre Begriffe nicht mehr begriffen werden? Das Eigentümliche an großen Begriffen wie „Demokratie“, „Arbeit“, „Religion“, „Kultur“ oder „Europa“ ist, daß sie einer permanenten Banalisierung unterworfen sind: sie wurden zu bloßen Worten, die jeder im Munde führt, die aber nichts mehr bedeuten. Robert Menasse unternimmt dagegen eine permanente Revolution der Begriffe und zeigt: die Welt steht auf dem Kopf, wenn wir die Begriffe wieder auf die Füße stellen. Die Begriffe haben Recht – wir wissen es nicht, aber wir verwenden sie…