The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Eurotrash by Christian Kracht translated by Daniel Bowles (Serpent's Tail),

I was wondering whether to read Faserland first as it seems the experience is richer if you have. Goodreads has the two classified as part of a series. But I don’t think it has been translated into English? Odd choice if so.

I asked this question to Meike two years or so ago, as we have the same problem in Dutch of Faserland not being translated. Her answer was that you can definitely read Eurotrash without having read Faserland, but that it would be much funnier if you read Faserland before.

I was wondering the same thing! in searching, it looks like someone at Bard College translated the first book into English (plus made notes on the experience of translating it) for their thesis, but I don’t see any available published english translations…?

a couple friends have stated that they jumped right in & greatly enjoyed it, so I guess I’ll do the same… but hopefully with being longlisted & etc some eyes get on it & more translations in english (& dutch!) will be published someday soon!!

seems many of this author’s books haven’t been translated into english, which is a shame as looks like Faserland was the author’s debut & “is considered to have triggered the new wave of German pop literature. It is the swan song of the generation of the 80s, whose characteristics are so carefully described in the book that it has been called the "cult novel of a generation.” Critics often compare the book to those of the American author Bret Easton Ellis.” so seems like someone who needs to be translated!!

I don't recall any lack of backstory when reading this, there is some allusion to earlier trips, but nothing that would stand in the way of enjoying the book on itself in my view.

Dine German critics actually accused the first book of actual plagiarism of BEE

No, you don't necessarily need to read Faserland, as Ruben said, it just enhances the experiences - as does knowing Kracht's whole catalogue, because Eurotrash is full of easter eggs.

Here's some tea on Faserland though: Faserland was Kracht's debut and the founding document of a whole literary movement called Popliteratur, which, you guessed it, stands in the tradition of Beat literature, but is strongly rooted in literary journalism (Kracht himself was a journalist). Today, Popliteratur is a major area of study in German literature and part of the canon. The media and literary scholars have been speculating since publication whether the unnamed protagonist in Faserland is Kracht himself, so that the protagonist of Eurotrash is the guy who wrote Faserland who is not identical with the protagonist of Faserland or the author Kracht is part of the whole game. There are a ton of such bits and pieces in the text - I just love Kracht for his wittiness!

I explain more references to Faserland and Kracht lore here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

As for the "plagiarism" - good luck finding a serious scholar upholding this position. But BEE is important to Kracht, there are even texts he and his pal Eckhart Nickel published when they were students directly referring to BEE (just consult my book about Eurotrash *cough cough*). The word "Eurotrash" is mentioned numerous times in "American Psycho".

Other clues in the multi-level game that is "Eurotrash": Consult Kracht's travel journalism as well as Graham Greene and Eckhart Nickel, think about autobiography as a mode of reading, chase the literary / artsy clues in the text (Kracht has graduated in film), and pay attention for mirrors / mise en abyme.

Good luck! :-)

Meike - so lovely to have you posting to the group.

Thanks so much for the insights (although with any German book your review is anyway always my first port of call).

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Meike - so lovely to have you posting to the group.

Thanks so much for the insights (although with any German book your review is anyway always my first port of call)."

Thank you for your kind words, Gumble, I really appreciate it!

Now we need an English translation of your book.

Meike wrote: "No, you don't necessarily need to read Faserland, as Ruben said, it just enhances the experiences - as does knowing Kracht's whole catalogue, because Eurotrash is full of easter eggs.

Here's some..."

Thanks for this! and welcome back

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Now we need an English translation of your book."

I'm working on turning my nerdy literary study into a bestseller, Gumble, so I can sell the foreign rights to the highest bidder! :-)

Robert wrote: "Meike wrote: "No, you don't necessarily need to read Faserland, as Ruben said, it just enhances the experiences - as does knowing Kracht's whole catalogue, because Eurotrash is full of easter eggs...."

Thaaaaanks, Robert!

yes, thank you, Meike!

also, curious if you have any insight as to why this book was translated into english before the first one?

Great to see you back here Meike

victoria wrote: "yes, thank you, Meike!

also, curious if you have any insight as to why this book was translated into english before the first one?"

I think that Kracht gained traction in the English-speaking world with his later works, so some of his novels haven't been translated into English yet (but into other languages; Kracht has been translated into 30+ languages), among them my personal favorite, 1979, but also Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten which, IMHO, plays an important role for his upcoming novel Air (which is amazing).

I also assume that Faserland might be not as accessible to foreign readers as, let's say, Imperium: A Fiction of the South Seas or The Dead, because it plays on some very German sensibilities (but I guess non-German-language readers would be a better judge of that than me).

Hugh wrote: "Great to see you back here Meike"

Thanks, Hugh!

thank you for the insightful reply, Meike!! looks like so far Kracht’s works (the last two you mention + Eurotrash) have all been translated into english by only one person: Daniel Bowles. hopefully they are supported further after this longlist selection & others, to continue to translate more, including 1979!

For all you German readers out there, Saarbrücker Zeitung (newspaper in my home state of Saarland) has published an article today about why Kracht is so fascinating, feat. my colleague Johannes Birgfeld and yours truly:

https://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/s...

Meike wrote: "For all you German readers out there, Saarbrücker Zeitung (newspaper in my home state of Saarland) has published an article today about why Kracht is so fascinating, feat. my colleague Johannes Bir..."

Thanks - and great to see! Google can do the translation for me but it seems paywalled.

What I'm finding fascinating is my own reaction to the auto-fictional element.

The narrator is a dislikeable author who pretends to be ashamed of his family's past, but in reality is, the reader can tell, actually quite proud of it and, in particular, convinced that it's his ultra-privileged well-connected family which makes his story interesting to us.

The social mobility campaigner in me has zero interest and wants to throw the book across the room.

Except it's Christian Kracht the actual author's book I'm reading, not the fictional construct in the novel, who may or may not be him, and he is self-aware of his failings (I think/hope!).

If this was an auto-biography I'd give it zero stars

And actually if this was pure fiction, it wouldn't be objectionable but would be uninteresting.

But as self-satirical auto-fiction it works.

Not sure if I've explained it well but that's how it's making me feel.

That's so interesting, Paul, because ist gives me a flashback to the Faserland discussion in German-speaking countries: Kracht (the real author) comes from a wealthy, influential family, attended international schools, the whole thing - and because many critics, the press and literary judges tend to condemn "the rich" (although they themselves hold lots of cultural capital in their historical apartments with wooden floors in Berlin-Mitte), his existence and art were initially deemed a provocation. He will also not apologize for who he is, which is, IMHO, very valid (and you know I'm, much like you, a working-class kid and first gen college student), he even leaned into it in his public performances and in an intertextual web of autofictional texts, like his appearance in Livealbum.

But honestly, just because your daddy is rich doesn't mean your life's a beach either (if you want to get really sad and angry, google Kracht's Frankfurt Lectures in Poetry). Today, the discussion is a lot more layered, scientists, critics and prize judges have overcome their initial irritation and have seen how much more these novels have to offer, how complex and deep they are. And here's an anecdote: When I recently did and interview with Finn Job, he pointed out that Annie Erneaux has won a Nobel prize with literature that conforms to expectations: A woman fighting her way up. But where's her book about being a wealthy, internationally celebrated writer and member of the cultural elite? That this book does not exist has reasons. Finn is right: To write this book, to own that would be a real feat, and it would cover another field of reality than the whole "I had it hard and overcome obstacles" lit (and I say that as an avid reader of people like Édouard Louis).

And of course:
The protagonist of "Faserland" is not the real Christian Kracht.
The protagonist of "Eurotrash" is not the real Christian Kracht.
The public persona "Christian Kracht" with his meticulously planned performances is not the real Christian Kracht.
We have no idea who the real Christian Kracht is, and I love the mystery.

Not criticizing your stance, just adding context from the German-speaking world that feels connected to your impression!

Thanks - really helpful

Meike wrote: "We have no idea who the real Christian Kracht is, and I love the mystery."

I love that!!!- and yes that sense came through.

I am just reading this.

Really helpful comments.

I do rush though Meike there was a translation of your book as I feel it would add so much to the richness of my experience - I am on book 9/13 and this is the first where I feel I am missing too much of the cultural context for the book.

I can read German, but the article is stubbornly paywalled for me. :(

the one thing you can see in the article is that Kracht has a new book and Meike is a privileged early reader :) Is it good?

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I am just reading this.

Really helpful comments.

I do rush though Meike there was a translation of your book as I feel it would add so much to the richness of my experience - I am on book 9/13 ..."

It would be a real dream to have my thoughts published in translation for English speakers to read - I'll try to get at least a journal article in an international publication for comparative lit or German-language lit!

Ruben wrote: "the one thing you can see in the article is that Kracht has a new book and Meike is a privileged early reader :) Is it good?"

No, Ruben, it is EXCELLENT! :-) It rivals my favorite Kracht, 1979.

Meike wrote: "It would be a real dream to have my thoughts published in translation for English speakers to read - I'll try to get at least a journal article in an international publication for comparative lit or German-language lit!"

What's your book in the German original? I seem to have missed the memo...

(I just looked you up on GR, and see you wrote a book based on Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel - I love that movie, and its version of Cinderella!)

Erin wrote: "Meike wrote: "It would be a real dream to have my thoughts published in translation for English speakers to read - I'll try to get at least a journal article in an international publication for com..."

Erin, that must be the wrong Meike that you looked up, I'm not an Aschenbrödel expert! :-) Here's my book: Travels With My Mother: Christian Krachts "Eurotrash" im Spiegel von Nickels und Greenes "Travels With My Aunt".

Meike wrote: "Erin wrote: "Meike wrote: "It would be a real dream to have my thoughts published in translation for English speakers to read - I'll try to get at least a journal article in an international public..."

Okay, I just typed in the name from the Saarbrücker Zeitung, which is indeed spelled differently than you spell it here - they seem to have misspelled your name? (It's paywalled but I can see the caption under the photo, it was there: "Johannes Birgfeld und Maike Stein reden über den Schriftsteller Christian Kracht.") I noticed it but thought there must be some reason for the difference. There must be another author with a very similar name!

I did think it a bit odd that if you were publishing books of literary criticism, that you'd otherwise written a ton of children's books, seemingly mostly retellings of movies/tv shows! :D

Erin wrote: "Meike wrote: "Erin wrote: "Meike wrote: "It would be a real dream to have my thoughts published in translation for English speakers to read - I'll try to get at least a journal article in an intern..."

Ahhhh, I see! Fortunately, it was only the online guy who misspelt my name under the photo, in the text and in the whole print version it's correct! :-) (For the name nerds out there: The name is indeed "Maike" in most cases.)

I am really liking this. It’s funny and clever.

Which if I'm honest, my social mobility protestations aside, is my issue.

As - and it's mostly US novels, "funny and clever" is as much of a red flag for me as "rich with plot and character"!

@Gumble: Yayy!!
@Paul: Then the whole pop lit canon is not for you, Paul - it's an antithesis to the heavy, socially inclined and politically instructive postwar lit in Germany (Grass et al).

There's now an excellent two page (!) article about "Air" in Die Zeit, which also talks about "Faserland" and "Eurotrash" - it's more or less a love letter to Kracht, written by the main editor for literature in Germany's biggest weekly paper:
https://www.zeit.de/2025/10/air-chris...

Despite its short length , this is definitely a NSFP book

But that’s the fun of a varied longlist - we all have our pet loves and pet hates.

(Not Suitable For Paul)

Meike wrote: "@Paul: Then the whole pop lit canon is not for you, Paul - it's an antithesis to the heavy, socially inclined and politically instructive postwar lit in Germany (Grass et al)."

Yes that canon is definitely not for me.

But if Grass turns out to have an unpublished novel found in his papers and being translated let me know.

Humour is only allowed in books if of the Thomas Bernhard variety. Or my Barbie joke on another thread which seems to have had a tumbleweed reaction!

It’s always a bad sign when you have to explain your own “jokes”

Paul wrote: "Meike wrote: "@Paul: Then the whole pop lit canon is not for you, Paul - it's an antithesis to the heavy, socially inclined and politically instructive postwar lit in Germany (Grass et al)."

Yes t..."

Yeah, my bad on that joke. It seemed stupid to laugh about it after you explained it to me though!

I’m still chuckling about it. It will last me till April.

This has caused a sibling rift - I loved it

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just finished this and loved it! A quite insane roadtrip through time, family history fuelled by anger, drugs and dirty money in a plastic bag, I'm in!