Will Christian Kracht make AH popular in Germany?

[oberdada]

The new book of German author Christian Kracht "Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten" is although it doesn't say so on the book, Alternate History.
POD is apperently, that Lenin did not enter a certain train waggon in 1917, but started a revolution in Switzerland instead.

His lat two novels Faserland (written as if Fatherland was a German word) and 1979 where quiete important in the late '90s.

I am looking forward to see it on the Spiegel bestseller list, followed by tons of other AH books in German.

 

[Max Sinister]

Moved and bumped.

 

[Landshark]

Isn't one of the main pillars of AH illegal in Germany?

 

[Max Sinister]

You mean "The Iron Dream"? It's available, although it was forbidden for some time.

 

[Ivan Druzhkov]

AH isn't popular in Germany? I thought that there was quite a bit of AH writing in Germany (or so Gavriel Rosenfeld said) that's been generally ignored in most surveys of AH due to the twin handicaps of being mostly in essay form and, you know, not English.

 

[Landshark]

You mean "The Iron Dream"? It's available, although it was forbidden for some time.

I was thinking of the entire Germany winning WW2 genre. I'd expect that to go down like a lead zeppelin with the German government.

 

[Max Sinister]

We have Fatherland, which didn't sell too bad apparently, and other AHs too. Including one by German author Christian von Ditfurth where nazi Germany gets nukes and destroys Minsk.

 

[oberdada]

I was thinking of the entire Germany winning WW2 genre. I'd expect that to go down like a lead zeppelin with the German government.

NOt really, although there might be a problem with AH-Naziwank-Utopian novels, since glorification of the Nazis is, as a matter of fact, illegal.

But since something like would also very likely a reason to get banned on AH.com, I don't see the problem

 

[freivolk]

I think alternate history is most popular in Nations which have a "good" History. Winning the major wars, developing a free and democratic society. What are the most popular genres in AH. "South win civil war" and "Nazi win WWII" where something bad happens to the USA or Britain.
If you have a "good" history, its fun to read "bad" AH. But german history is so "bad", its read like bad AH. (Here I have to say, that "Nazi win WWII" is popular in Germany too, because the overwhelming majority of the germans consider a Nazi-victory as a bad thing) We have a small increase of AH in Germany since the reunification in 1990, but not much. So I think Germany will need a very long "good" time to make AH popular.

 

[Susano]

The new book of German author Christian Kracht "Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten" is although it doesn't say so on the book, Alternate History.
POD is apperently, that Lenin did not enter a certain train waggon in 1917, but started a revolution in Switzerland instead.

See, and thats the friggen problem with all genres of speculative fiction (be it AH, fantasy or sci-fi) in Germany: It doesnt take itself any serious. How can you make good books if you dont even take yoruself serious?
That either ends in goofy books, or in attempts to "make it" more serious by injecting "real life topics" and what not. Im sure German sci-fi, fanatsy, AH could be much more successful if it understood itself as sufficiently serious, not needing to either drift into goofiness or heavy stuff.

 

[oberdada]

Well, now I have read the book, and it is definetly not "classical AH".
I got the same feeling as with "Faserland" and especially "1979", the entire thing feels unreal, though not in a bad way, but more like fantasy, although neither one of those books have a single Fantasy element.

I wouldn't exactly buy this book, but with around 150 pages it is short enough to be read in one of those department store like bookstores, where the staff does not desturbe you.

 

[Zyzzyva]

We have Fatherland, which didn't sell too bad apparently, and other AHs too. Including one by German author Christian von Ditfurth where nazi Germany gets nukes and destroys Minsk.

Is that the Robert Harris Fatherland? Xavi March, 1963, &c &c?

 

[Max Sinister]

Yes, that one. It's called "Vaterland" in German.

 

[Steffen]

We have Fatherland, which didn't sell too bad apparently, and other AHs too. Including one by German author Christian von Ditfurth where nazi Germany gets nukes and destroys Minsk.

21. Juni, quite fun to read. I was disappointed by Consul, interesting topic, but he made nothing out of it.

 

[Nebogipfel]

There was some kind of boomlet of German AH around 1980 - Carl Amery`s "An den Feuern der Leyermark", "Grand Orientale" (Thomas Mielke) and "Feuer der Nacht" by Thomas Ziegler.