Tod in Turin

JAN BRANDT
TOD IN TURIN/ DEATH IN TURIN
300 pages
Spring 2015

“Yes. You want to read this. There are very few who can write about egocentricity the way Brandt does, so self-ironically.” Anne-Dore Krohn, RBB Kulturradio

“Full of material, with many facets, and lots of play with footnotes (...) You’re walking on thin ice from start to finish, while Brandt is obviously polishing it.” Judith von Sternburg, Kölner Stadtanzeiger

“This book is four books in one: a Germany book, an Italy book and one about the literature business in general. Then in a certain way, it’s also the ‘novel of a novel’. (...) Brandt reveals the deepest abysses of the literature business in a few magnificently satirical scenes. (...) Brandt's voice is distinguished by cynical humour. At the same time, however, he also provides a serious report on the current state of Italian culture. (…) Sometimes he also achieves existential drama.” Jan Wiele, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“Half fictional and full of references to famous predecessors in Italy and thoughts on literature in the late capitalist era, enriched with loads of facts.” Literaturkurier FAZ-online

“It has an ironically calm air about it. Not an angry reckoning with the literature business, but a blend of travel reports and satire. (...) ‘Death in Turin’ is part of the problem in the literature business which it deals with, but it is also its solution; very much worth reading.”
Gerrit Bartels, Tagesspiegel

“All world-famous German writers wrote about their Italian journeys” Jan Brandt

Autofiction, industry report, travelogue
Not a novel, not nine hundred pages long – a trip of self-discovery without return

Jan Brandt spends a weekend at the book fair in Turin. In his luggage, a copy of his novel Gegen die Welt, translated into Italian. In three days, he experiences more than he would normally in a month. The result – this book.

“I was in heaven. I saw the Alps from above, the snow covered mountaintops. I started out in Germany and landed in another world. I met my alter ego. I am a different person. I set off on a pilgrimage and missed my target by a year. I hovered over the precipice, but did not take the deciding step forward. I saw outrageously lightly clad women, but only on television. I photographed nudes and set off an alarm. I now know what unfuckable means, and ever since have wished I didn’t. I have cried tears of happiness, even if only briefly. And now that I am back, everything I experienced seems like a dream.”

Rights to Gegen die Welt sold to: Bompiani (Italian), Seagul Books (English World)