The Young Man by Botho Strauß


The Young Man
Title : The Young Man
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0810113384
ISBN-10 : 9780810113381
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 274
Publication : First published January 1, 1984

The writings of Botho Strauss examine the tension between the individual and society in the anonymity of the contemporary world. A theater director, playwright, and writer, Strauss broke with Berlin's leftist intellectual milieu in the late 1970s and turned to more personal topics; the result, and his response, inform The Young Man, a provocative work by a controversial German thinker. The young man of the title, Leon Pracht, has left the theater to write. Contemplative, brooding, alienated from both society in general and those to whom he should be closest, Pracht moves numbly through a series of encounters, the precision of his observation of both the everyday and the fantastic underscored by his increasing detachment. His reflections, meditations, and reactions build a compelling portrait of contemporary society and of the individual struggling to find a place both within and without it.

The Young Man Reviews

  • Ricardo de Almeida Rocha

    A mídia e seu poder fragmentador. Seres pendulares. As noticias deixam de ser notícias no dia seguinte (às vezes, cada vez mais, antes). Não há uma situação elementar confiável a narrar e, mesmo que sim, seríamos interrompidos. Nossos comerciais, por favor. A rua, a aldeia, a vendedora, a amante, o animal – personagens dos quais ficamos aliviados. Acordamos em salas onde as leis mudam o tempo todo, vítimas de metamorfoses eróticas e histórias reprimidas mas escapamos... Um dia, porém, um dia todos sufocarão com essa mania de sociedade.

  • Robert

    The book is basically about an a theater director who gives up on that type of life and dedicates it to writing. As inspiration he watches people and tries to write about it. Although this plot does sound good it quickly turns into a dirge about the state of humanity and popular culture, also are bits of fantasy thrown in to add a bit of spice.

    Dull dull dull. I finished it, but just.