While We Were Dreaming: Clemens Meyer

Product Information

I dunno, Danny, it really is a bit soft. I must have set it wrong. Look, you can set the power here, it must have been way too low...’ As walls fall and political systems collapse, a group of youngsters in Leipzig are pitched into a helter-skelter world of partying, violence, drugs, crime and techno music. Energetic, blunt and hard-charging, While We Were Dreaming skillfully captures with pathos and anger the sense of what happens when all the certainties of the grown-up world evaporate and the future is up for grabs. The story of German unification as it did not appear on your TV screen.

It’s an honour, and after all these years of writing, a wonderful recognition and appreciation that means a lot to me. Mindestens ebenso außergewöhnlich wie die Sprache, ist auch der Ablauf der Geschichte, da die Handlung nicht chronologisch geordnet ist, sondern immmer wieder einzelne Erlebnisse aus Daniels Leben beschrieben werden. This year’s 13-strong longlist contains three languages – Bulgarian, Catalan and Tamil – that have never appeared before. In total, the list comprises 11 languages with three writers – GauZ’, Zou Jingzhi and Amanda Svensson – whose work has appeared in English for the first time.

Der Autor Clemens Meyer wurde 1977 in Halle/Saale geboren, lebt jetzt aber in Leipzig. Dieser direkte Bezug vom Autor zu den Schauplätzen seines Romans versetzt ihn in die Lage, besonders authentisch von den damaligen Begebenheiten berichten zu können. Dieser Umstand spiegelt sich deutlich in seinem Werk wider, man wird regelrecht in die Handlung hineingezogen. The cumulative power of [the] well-constructed, pitiless and unflinching dispatches from the underbelly of society is remarkable…. Historical events often pass unnoticed by those living through them, unaware even of how much their lives have been changed. It is Meyer’s achievement to capture the profound effects those events had on the lives of those at the bottom of German society.’ Danny, Rico, Mark, 'Porno' Paul, Stefan ('Pitbull') and Little Walter live in Leipzig; and were thirteen years old in 1989 when the Berlin Wall was torn down. So we see them growing to adulthood in the turbulent years following the Reunification of Germany.

While we were Dreaming is every type of awful one can imagine: Dialogue, plot, characters – EVERYTHING. I will say it right now In dem Roman "Als wir träumten" von Clemens Meyer handelt es sich um die Zeit vor und nach der Wende in Leipzig-Ost, und die dort lebenden Menschen. All’ovest, Dani, andiamo all’Ovest […] Lei aprì il primo bottone della camicetta e slegò il fazzoletto […] Lo piegò con cura e me lo infilò nel taschino della camicia […] Slimani said the list was a “celebration of the power of language and of authors who wanted to push formal inquiry as far as possible”. The other key issue is sex and though it certainly plays a role here, it is surprisingly limited. Danny and Rico in particular will have a lot of casual sex, including with prostitutes. However regular girlfriends are very limited. Danny has two that he is interested in. One goes to West Germany with her parents and they do not keep in touch while the other goes down the slippery slope like the boys. If the others have girlfriends, they are not mentioned and one of the boys even maintains that he is impotent. However, they frequently steal and peruse porn magazines so we can assume that masturbation is frequent.While We Were Dreaming', written and published in German in 2007, recently translated beautifully into English by Katy Derbyshire, looks at the life of a group of young men from around twelve years old to early adulthood (eighteen/nineteen).