Star 111
ABOUT
THE BOOK
November 1989. The Berlin Wall has just fallen when the East German couple Inge und Walter set out for life in the West. Their son Carl heads to Berlin where he discovers anarchy, love and poetry. Musical and incantatory, Seiler’s novel Star 111 tells of the search for authentic existence and also of a family which must find its way back together.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Tess
Lewis
Tess Lewis is a writer and translator from French and German. Her translation of Lutz Seiler’s debut novel Kruso was the runner-up in the 2018 Schlegel-Tieck Prize. The Economist found that, ‘beautifully phrased and paced, Tess Lewis’s translation delights on every page as she conveys “the contagious sense of liberation” that blows through Mr. Seiler’s mesmeric novel.’
Tess Lewis is a writer and translator from French and German. Her translation of Lutz Seiler’s debut novel Kruso was the runner-up in the 2018 Schlegel-Tieck Prize. The Economist found that, ‘beautifully phrased and paced, Tess Lewis’s translation delights on every page as she conveys “the contagious sense of liberation” that blows through Mr. Seiler’s mesmeric novel.’
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
In Lutz Seiler’s “Stern 111” Carl Bischoff, the main character, is left to navigate post-Wall Berlin alone after his parents abruptly disappear. Immersed in the city’s underground scene, Carl seeks belonging among bohemians and artists while uncovering family secrets. The novel captures the quest for identity and freedom in a transforming Germany. (Stadtbibliothek Bremen) After Kruso, Star 111 opens up an atmospheric panorama of the German post-reunification period in a touching and exciting way. The novel depicts the attempts of a son and his parents to find their new fortune in Berlin and the West. Anarchy and chaos characterise the big story and the individual fates of the family members of two generations from East Germany. (Zentralbibliothek Zürich)