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FOREIGN
HANSER
RIGHTS
Martin Mosebach
Als das Reisen noch geholfen hat.
Von Büchern und Orten
Read Away. On books and places
496 pages. Harcover
Publication date: September 26, 2011
From Shanghai to the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, from Mozart to
Robert Gernhardt, from antiquity to Frankfurt’s futuristic bankscape – Martin
Mosebach shows us some unusual routes off the beaten track, whether we are
reading about the world or travelling it.
E S SAYS
What’s better, reading or travelling? Is it better to take a closer look at the familiar places just
around the corner or open our minds to more exotic destinations? Martin Mosebach is well
versed in both, and here he weaves a startling, rich and varied tapestry of experience from
his meanderings. His studies of destinations both distant and local lead him to Cairo and the
Shio-Mgvime Monastery in Georgia as well as in-depth analysis of Heimito von Doderer’s
art of archery. Mosebach considers whether Germany can still be regarded as a civilised
nation despite the inflationary influx of foreign terminology and contemplates the ghastliness
of modern sport. The mark of this writer’s virtuosity is his unique ability to discover
significance within trivialities, whether he’s at home reading a novel or off on his travels to
Havana, Korea or Sarajevo.
Martin Mosebach’s skill as an essayist has won him as much acclaim as his accomplishments
as a novelist. His secret is to present even the most familiar things from an entirely new perspective.
Read Away is the definitive guide book for the literate traveller.
Martin Mosebach
was born in 1951, and lives in his native Frankfurt. His awards include the Heimito von
Doderer Prize, the Literature Prize of the Bavarian Academy of Arts, the Kleist Prize and the
Georg Büchner Prize (2007). His recent publications with Hanser are Der Mond und das
Mädchen (novel, 2007) Stadt der wilden Hunde (Nachrichten aus dem alltäglichen Indien,
2008) and, most recently, the novel Was davor geschah (2010).
Sales to Foreign Countries
Was davor geschah: France (Grasset), Netherlands (Ailantus), USA/UK (Seagull Press)