#the book was homo faber

[obishenshenobi]

For my last exam in German class (my mother tongue), we had to rewrite a part of a book in 90 minutes, keeping to the style of the author, but changing POV. I was done in 60 minutes and was the only one in the class who'd got an A on any of his assignments in two years of classes. So yes, you can definitely learn those things.

"I know your school didn't teach you how to write fanfic-" I know this is something said in response to Americans whining about their education system in response to racism, but my school English class actually did have us write an epilogue to a book we were reading as an assignment, so in a way my school did teach me how to write fanfic. I have no point to make with this point and I don't care to i just wanted to share a tidbit about my life

[lesewut]

[maxwellshimbo]

What is your url a reference to?

So in the days of ye olde internet the name I most often chose for my accounts was maxwellsdemon, a reference to Maxwell's Demon, a thought experiment by the physicist Maxwell about how a magic being could theoretically negate the second law of thermodynamics.

When I joined tumblr the name maxwellsdemon was not available. I choose my name because I identify with the himbo: I too thrive to be kind, stupid and (at least somewhat) strong. And I can magically sort particles by their temperature.

[writerfae]

“Top ten German books you should read”

and then they name some of the worst books I ever had to read in my life

[wulfhalls]

what’s the next book you’re planning on reading?

throwing around several options

[toastedcinnamonflakes]

Books around the world

A while ago, I made a post that I want to make a list of books from every country of the earth. The qualifications are rather simple: The author needs to be from that country and the novel needs to take place in that country. The books themselves don't need to be the best from that country, just something I've read. They need to exist in a language that I can understand (which, for me, are German, English, Norwegian and Swedish).

If you have any suggestions, please send them to me 😊 So, without further ado, here is the list! (Books that I've already read are bold, books I have picked out for the country but haven't read yet are not)

Abkhazia:

Afghanistan:

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia: The Gray House, Marjam Petrosyan

Australia: Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay

Austria: Liebelei, Arthur Schnitzler

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile: The House of Spirits, Isabella Allende

China: Beijng Comrades, Bei Tong

Colombia

Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia: Marble Skin, Slavenka Draculic

Cuba

Cyprus

Czech Republic: Valerie and her world of wonders, Vitêzslav Nezval

Denmark: Vintereventyr, Karen Blixen

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

East Timor

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

France: The End of Eddy, Eduard Louis

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany: Krabbat, Otfried Preußler

Ghana

Greece: Medea, Euripides (I would love to read a contemporary greek novel tbh, please recommend me one!)

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland: Moonstone - The Boy Who Never Was, Sjón

India: The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga

Indonesia

Iran: Reading Lolita in Teheran, Azar Nafisi

Iraq

Ireland: Skulduggery Pleasent, Derek Landy

Israel

Italy: Swimming to Elba, Silvia Avallone

Ivory Coast

Jamaica

Japan: Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

North Korea

North Macedonia

Norway: Vildskudd, Gudmund Vindland

Oman

Pakistan

Palestina

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland:

Portugal

Quatar

Romania

Russia: Demons, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Rwanda

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Somalia

South Africa

South Korea: The Vegetarian, Han Kang

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka: Die sieben Monde des Maali Almeida, Sheban Karunatilaka

Sudan

Suriname

Sweden: Herrn Arnes Penningar, Selma Lagerlöf

Switzerland: Homo Faber, Max Frisch

Syria

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

United Arab Emirates

Ukraine: Kult, Ljubko Deresch

United Kingdom: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

USA: The little Friend, Donna Tartt

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Venezuela

Vietnam

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

I am also including some parts of the world that are not independent countries, but that I want to have in this list:

Faroese Islands

Greenland: Blomsterdalen, Niviaq Korneliussen

Scotland: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, James Hogg

Wales: Fire and Hemlock, Dianna Wynne Jones

[endlich-allein]

This is kinda very specific, but is there a list somewhere of Till's favourite literary works? I know das parfurm by Patrick süskind is one of them (and might have inspired DRSG) but I don't recall any other mention right now 😅😅

Till has already talked about his favorite authors : "[...] When it comes to writers, I really like Charles Bukowski, he’s kinda like my hero. And William S. Burroughs, of course." (Kerrang! 2015)

He also collects the Deutsche Liebesgedichte, he has quite a few collections of these love poems.

He also mentioned among his favorite books :

- Cranes Fly Early by Chingiz Aitmatov

- Atomised by Michel Houellebecq

- The Threepenny Novel by Berlolt Brecht

- The Notebook by Agota Kristof

- Natura Morta by Josef Winkler

- Homo faber by Max Frisch

- American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

[alpaca-clouds]

You are not worse than big name writers

You know what? A few days ago I reblogged this one post and rebutted it in my TL. This one thing saying: "Hey, you are a worse writer than all the established writers, as you are writing your fanfics. But that is okay. You can just do something because you like to do it."

And that one really, really bugged me. Because while the post doesn't reference who they mean with established writers... either way, it rings untrue.

Let me explain: Literature as an industry and as an artistic medium has a lot of problems. Chiefly among them that it is gatekeepy as fuck and very much centered around the experience of cishet men (in the west mostly white cishet men). Meanwhile those white cishet men can at times churn out the most average bullshit, and they will still be celebrated for it.

I still remember one book that is at times considered part of the German literary canon. "Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse. Sure, it is an old book, but also... It is unstructured as fuck. The writer is very much not interested in the female characters. Generally most characters are underwritten. Oh, and there are sentences in this book, that are almost 200 words long. A single sentence. 200 words. Yes.

And if you really look at it, a lot of the "literary canon" works are similar. Often unstructured (because that's artistic, I guess), mostly desinterested in female characters, or really anything that does not center a white man.

Back then, I compared "Steppenwolf" in an essay for the class to "Homo Faber", which for the record is one of those literary works I kinda like, because the style spoke to me. But if you do not know about "Homo Faber": It is about a depressed guy travelling the world, and by happenstance meeting a girl young enough to be his daughter, falling for her, sleeping with her, she dies. Plot twist, she was not only young enough to be his daughter, she WAS his daughter. Dude dies of pancreatic cancer in the end. It is a book I really did enjoy in terms of the writing style. But... I mean, can you think of a plot more white, cishet male than that?

The literary "genre" (that does not want to be genre, because it stands above the genre literature) is for the most part just cishet dudes smelling their own farts in a very artistic way with stylistic devices and shit. Sure, there are great books in this genre, mostly by people who are not in fact cishet or ablebodied, but those are not the ones usually getting celebrated or put into the "canon". Because we cannot challenge the fucking patriarchy, can we now?

And if we go into genre literature, like... Talking about western publishing mostly, because that is what I know: Most big releases are still mostly cishet white people, writing about white cishet experiences. Like, maybe you might find something in there, that is a white, cis queer woman, but... That's usually the most you get.

Sure, there are a few releases by non-white, trans or disabled people, but those are still super rare compared to actual demographics within each country. And usually outside of smaller publishing houses... Well, let's put it like this: Books are not allowed to rock the boat too much, right?

I have been told - and I know that the same is true for a whole lot of other writers - that a black, queer, polyamorous, autistic character is "unrealistic" and "asking too much of the reader" in a fantasy book.

Meanwhile there is tons of average, if not outright bad books being published by white, cis writers, focusing on white, cis perspectives. I mean, it is kinda a meme to rant about Coleen Hoover or Sarah J. Maas, but... Let's face it. It is, what it is. Those are not exactly well written. And, to put it frankly: Most fanfics I have read on Ao3 were at least of the same quality, if not a lot better than those books.

So, like... No?

Is there tons of bad fics out there? Yes. Are fanfics a medium for new writers to first explore their writing? Yes. But are fanfics on average worse than published literature? I would very much argue, no.

And of course, it should be said that yeah, fanfics themselves still have a big, big issue with featuring white, western perspectives. While a lot of fic writers are queer, they are mostly white, cis queer women. And a lot of writers from more marginalized groups struggle to find their audience, which is definitely an issue.

But, like... Don't act as if getting a book published somehow says something about the quality.

[eternitas]

I am a firm believer, that even if you like literature and you're open to the classics and its variety there is always that ONE book, that is your personal nemesis

And not because "oh it has probmatic stuff!", but bc of something completely subjective and personal. Be it a stupid passage, a weird line, an absolutely insane thing, hell even just a spelling of a characters name you despise.

But it's this very personal thing that is just yours most likely. And no you dont need a real reason for disliking it. It can just be "the characters behavior is justified and well explored and it fits well into the narrative, but it annoyed me personally."

And I think being able to say and recognize that is ... Kinda nice? Idk man I am just here to say that I despise the writing style of "Homo Faber" specifically. Yes, its written that way for a reason, yes, its not written BADLY, no, i don't care about the weird incest and age gap thing, all that bothers me is its writing style and thats why I hate it. I can't say its a bad book, I don't understand why it's revered as such a classic, I think it's a bit overrated in that regard when the same guy wrote fucking "Andorra", but I also just dislike it. I hate how its written and I dont need more reason to declare it my nemesis.

And no. I don't need everyone else to dislike it too and condemn it to hell or get it banned. But it's my nemesis book.

[shipcestuous]

Regarding father/daughter relationships: there is a quite famous German book Homo Faber which is about a man who meets his daughter, but doesn't know they're related for most of the time. They begin an affair, even though it's not explicitly stated/he's deeply in denial. Interestingly I read it the first time in school and it wasn't a controversy at all, we just analysed it like any other book. Makes me kinda glad to not live in a country where various books are banned for stuff like containing gay penguins. (There's a movie as well, but I don't really remember that one, the book is kinda good though, I've just reread it)

I'm surprised this book and movie have not come up before! I've added it to my to-read shelf. New father/daughter canon, that's very exciting!

I remember reading Hamlet my senior year. Our teacher told us that there were incestuous interpretations of Hamlet's relationship with his mother. It's not canon, though, so I think it's interesting she told us that. I remember everyone laughing and making faces, while I'm just sitting there thinking, "Hell yes". I can't remember studying anything with canon consensual incest prior to that in school.

Thank you for telling us about this!

[lilolilyr]

ANSWER MY RIDDLES SIXTEEN (or not lol pls only answer all of them if you want to)

5. something in fiction that reads like poetry

28. a book you wish you could read as a beginner again

42. a book that made you want to scream by the time you got to the end

43. a book that you have read more than three times

50. a book that made you cry a LOT

54. a book with the best opening line

55. a book with a satisfying ending

60. a book that you think about at 3 am

66. a book that fucked you up

70. your favourite poetry collection

74. your favourite love triangle

80. a book that reminds you of a loved one

90. the longest book you've read

99. a book with a strong female protagonist

119. your favourite summer read

131. tag somebody with whom you would want to buddy read a book

Ohhhhhhh Dayum that sure is an ask xD I’ll try my best adsfghjkl

Ask meme

5 Ok already the first one i go completely Blank on? Wtf reads like poetry?? What Does That Even Mean 🙈

28 as a beginner like as someone who hasn’t read any books yet?? Or for the first time? I wish I could read LotR for the first time again. I remember I’ve even read all the songs and long tree descriptions and everything because I was so in the story I couldn’t miss a single word, and I’ve skipped most of them every time since, and usually just watch the movies instead anyway lmao

42 scream in a good or bad way? Bad way so many Deutschunterricht Bücher. Homo Faber in particular.

Good way most of the discworld books recently!

43 & 50 Sara, die kleine Prinzessin <3 used to borrow it each time I was at the local library as a kid

Oh and also Isola by Isabel Abedi! It’s been a while and I don’t really remember the plot all that well but I remember reading it a lot. Maybe I should give it another re-read!

54 “The wind howled, lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin” - Terry Pratchett: Wyrd Sisters

(Tbh it’s the only book I physically have on me atm and so the only first sentence I could check. But. I think it’s pretty good!)

55 If it hasn’t got a satisfying ending I don’t like itttt, honestly everything I’ve already answered could go here too…

60 the fucking house of night side stories haunt me

66 oh god oh fuck I don’t remember the name because halfway through I put it Behind the other books in my shelf in my childhood bedroom so I’d never have to look at it again but. It was about what if ‘ageing’ got a cure and everyone was basically suddenly immortal and obvs we don’t have the resources for that kind of population and wars and fucked up politics and killings and ghettos and oh my god

70 I actually tend to read poems either online and then it’s not a collection but more going through Google images of a particular author like K Le Guin, or checking out old poetry books from free book thingies where I maybe won’t like them all that much most of the time but they’re still kinda interesting? But couldn’t name a fav

74 love triangle or love angle? Poly 📐 from books I can’t think of anything canon or hc? And ‘love triangle’ ~oh who will she be end up with’ angles I just can’t stand. But most well written of these kinds of situations is definitely Panem because it’s not actually about the picking the boy but rather picking the kind of life Katniss wants to live

80 5 Freunde makes me think of my parents bc I have all their old books <3 and Lola makes me think of my sister because i used to read that series out loud for her

90 I know for sure I’ve read fanfics longer than any book I might’ve read!

99 hunger games. Oh, also anything from Trudi Canavan, especially the Age of the Five series. Many great women there and I love the witch best

119 what on earth is a summer read? XD but some other fav books of mine are

- Lies we Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, an interracial lesbian story set in the US during the segregation

- Dracula by Bram Stoker. Seriously if you haven’t read it yet do so it’s amazing. I love seeing all the Dracula daily memes now, when I read it years ago most ppl just knew some movies that have nothing to do with the original plot and the original is great!

- Erebos by Ursula Poznanski. That one just… I couldn’t put it down, it’s so thrilling and good.

131 I’m not sure I’d want to buddy read a book with anyone because if Dracula daily taught me anything, then that I am incapable of reading on a schedule xD I really tried to re-read it with the emails. But nope. But theoretically, on a we‘d-probably-vibe-with-the-same-stories-&-enjoy-chatting-about-them kind of way, I’d have a bookclub with you and @lavendelhummel @squishmittenficfan @purlturtle @mimi-mindless @die-schwanenkoenigin @wellsbering :)

And if you guys liked these qs, the ask meme is here, if you reblog it I’ll send some your way!

Thx so much for the ask Ela! <3

[mswhich]

This is the fic I was talking about the other day. I worked my ass off on this thing. I’ve been obsessed with the movie ever since I happened to catch it on HBO while babysitting as a teenager, and then I read the book and loved it just as much. I’ve been meaning to write a fic about it for ages and here it finally is.

[heartstringsduet]

the worst book you have ever read?

Thanks for asking! <3 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad. I'm sure it's totally relevant for literary studies. I'm sure it has depth and value?? But I had to read it for 2 uni classes and I have never struggled through a book more. It has also gotten to be the book me and my best friend just hate with a passion and that's why it sticks out. I'm sure I read worse though. Homo Faber by Max Frisch - about a father/daughter sexual relationship is another book for a class that I HATED.

[writerfae]

Holy trinity of books I had to read for German class in school that ruined my life:

Homo Faber

Das Parfüm

Der Prozess

[solongllondon]

Hey Anna✨💛

10, 12 and 19 for the book asks!

saraaa!! <3 thank youuu

10. do you have a guilty fav? i don't fully believe in the concept of guilty pleasures but there's certainly books I love that aren't like...all that great? all for the game comes to mind oops. like are they masterpieces? no. am i absolutely obsessed with them? yes.

12. did you enjoy any compulsory high school readings? i did, actually yes! I hated most of them ngl but I really did enjoy reading the perfume: the story of a murderer by Patrick Süskind, if only bc it's so fucking weird lmao. I also really did like reading Faust by Goethe bc my dad performed it on stage so reading it was kinda cool. also I like Goethe (except for the sorrows of young werther, that book can go choke) however, the worst book i had to read for school definitely goes to either Homo Faber by Max Frisch bc of the terrible misogyny and the incest and general grossness of the book or maybe Bahnwärter Thiel which is just the most boring nothing-ever-happens-st book, EVER.

19. most disliked popular books: i mean there's the obvious answers like 50 shades or colleen hoover i guess but i also do not care for the acotar series, at ALL. and despite my shadowhunters obsession i also dislike all of the mortal instrument books and their spinoffs, though that has more to do with my hate for cassandra clare lmao

✨ send me book asks ✨

[youhavereachedtheendofpie]

favorite books? what kinda things do you like writing? favorite way to eat eggs?

best books I ever read (and all in school 🥴):

Max Frisch - Homo Faber

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a lonely Hunter

I don't like to write; I don't even know how to.

What are eggs?