Goethe Book Club: "The Pine Islands" by Marion Poschmann

Meet to discuss works from contemporary German-speaking authors in Goethe Pop Up’s Goethe Book Club, hosted by Chris Walker. Each selection can be read in its English translation or original German; the discussion will be in English.   On Tuesday, July 20th at 6:00 pm CDT they will discuss Marion Poschmann’s The Pine Islands (2017, German title: “Die Kieferninseln”).      
 
About the book:
Gilbert Silvester, a lecturer and researcher on beard fashions in film, is in shock. The previous night he dreamt that his wife was cheating on him. In one sudden, irrational act he leaves her, gets on the first available plane, and flies to Japan in order to get some distance. Once there he comes across the travelogues of the classical poet Bashō. Suddenly Gilbert has a goal: like all wandering monks he too wants to see the moon over the pine islands. On the tradition-steeped pilgrims’ route he’ll be able to lose himself in nature and leave his inner turmoil behind. But before he even begins he meets the student Yosa, himself on the way with a completely different kind of guide: the Complete Manual of Suicide. Will Gilbert be able to talk Yosa out of his plan? And what metamorphoses will Gilbert the coffee drinker go through himself in the Land of Tea…?   A novel of masterful lightness: profound, humorous, exciting, heartfelt. In the tea country of Japan, light and shadow mix; the Freudian superego and the dark gods of Shintōism. And the age-old question is asked anew: Is life, in the end, a dream?      
 
About the author:
Marion Poschmann was born in Essen in 1969. She studied German and Slavic Studies and currently lives in Berlin. She has received numerous prizes for her poetry and prose; The Pine Islands won the Klopstock Prize 2018 and was placed on the shortlists for both the German Book Prize (2017) and the Man Booker International Prize (2019).   Copyright: Courtesy of Profile Books