In my life, vacation means reading books. After the “Pinguin-Prinzip (Penguin Principle)” (Kotter) and the “”Die kreativen Zerstörern der deutschen Wirtschaft (Creative Demolishers of the German Economy)” I have now reached “Trilogie des laufenden Schwachsinns (Trilogy of Permanent Moronism)”. Presumably written in the late 1960ies, it went on to be the cult book of the 1970ies.
It is a fat and heavy paperback edited by the then “Kultverlag 2001”, consisting of three volumes: “Die Vollidioten (The Total Idiots)”, “Geht in Ordnung – sowieso — genau — (Will Do – Certainly – Exactly)” and “Die Mätresse des Bischofs (The Bishop’s Concubine)”. And then there are the “Commentaries on the Novel Trilogy”.
The book is not at all an easy reader. Yet it is great fun.
Here is what “Nordlicht” writes about it in Amazon:
During the last thirty years, I read the trilogy several times. Some books, after having first made me enthusiastic, seem stale and boring after such a long time. Not so the trilogy. The “Total Idiots” around amorous affairs in the Frankfurt of 1972 (Sorry!) is a comical masterpiece, time-related and yet classical. “Will Do…” seems a little unhappy at times, but “The Concubine…” is definitely one of the great German novels, not just of the 1970ies. As far as his mastery of language is concerned, it is hard to find Henscheid’s equal. Basically: six stars!
Well, there remains nothing for me to add. All I can do is tell you this is exactly how I feel about it, too. It blends perfectly with my nostalgic vacation in Greece.
If you also want to read “The Permanent Moronism”, here is an advice: Amazon currently offers some copies at a halfway reasonable price. That is not always the case.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
🙂 It seems I cannot desist – this Saturday, I am sitting in for our grand master of book review, HPK. But he will be back from his vacation next Saturday. Then he will continue to add his own reviews on this site!
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