Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull)
The Book of Comments / Das Buch der Kommentare
Restless Garden of the Soul
With numerous colour illustrations
The poetic sum of the experience of a »long century«
Published to mark his 90th birthday, this is perhaps Alexander Kluge’s most personal book. The Book of Comments follows hot on the heels of its playful sibling Circus / Commentary while defying it at the same time, it leads readers into the »restless garden of the soul« with grave solemnity. The starting point of the story is the gloomy Advent of 2020. We are experiencing the clash of two life worlds: A virus intrudes into our lives and persistently puts into...
Read more
Published to mark his 90th birthday, this is perhaps Alexander Kluge’s most personal book. The Book of Comments follows hot on the heels of its playful sibling Circus / Commentary while defying it at the same time, it leads readers into the »restless garden of the soul« with grave solemnity. The starting point of the story is the gloomy Advent of 2020. We are experiencing the clash of two life worlds: A virus intrudes into our lives and persistently puts into question our habits and our intelligence in a completely new light: How reliable are the top leaders of our world? How fragile are human beings? What is a »self«, an »ego«, an »I«? How does one talk about closeness? And what role does orientation – THE COMMENTARY – play in this?
»Comments are not a linear narrative. They are mines, catacombs, wells that dig into the depths like tunnels. It excites me to try out this particular form of narration in a new way.« With this programmatic interpretation of the term »commentary«, Kluge’s new book takes us far into the past, to the ancient Library of Alexandria and medieval scholasticism, inspired by Jürgen Habermas’ recent publication This Too a History of Philosophy. At the same time, the author, born in 1932, draws a line between the pivotal moments of the »long century« that began before he was born and that won’t end in 2022.
»Comments are not a linear narrative. They are mines, catacombs, wells that dig into the depths like tunnels. It excites me to try out this particular form of narration in a new way.« With this programmatic interpretation of the term »commentary«, Kluge’s new book takes us far into the past, to the ancient Library of Alexandria and medieval scholasticism, inspired by Jürgen Habermas’ recent publication This Too a History of Philosophy. At the same time, the author, born in 1932, draws a line between the pivotal moments of the »long century« that began before he was born and that won’t end in 2022.
»Each essay opens a door that, when passed through, makes both history and present transparent to the reader. Kluge digs deep, enlightens, makes you addicted to more insight and knowledge. ... If you are hungry for more after reading [The Book of Commentaries], take a look at Circus / Commentary« Harald Loch, neues deutschland
»[The Book of Commentaries] makes one very excited to keep reading in Kluge’s older collections.« Deutschlandfunk
»Alexander Kluge unfolds concepts like maps, he uses quotations as building blocks, Kluge is a great collector who knows how to assemble his pieces into new metaphors and new associations. Alexander Kluge's volumes hold wonderfully adventurous escape routes for those despairing of our time’s dead-end way of thinking.« Ö1
»[The Book of Commentaries] makes one very excited to keep reading in Kluge’s older collections.« Deutschlandfunk
»Alexander Kluge unfolds concepts like maps, he uses quotations as building blocks, Kluge is a great collector who knows how to assemble his pieces into new metaphors and new associations. Alexander Kluge's volumes hold wonderfully adventurous escape routes for those despairing of our time’s dead-end way of thinking.« Ö1
»Each essay opens a door that, when passed through, makes both history and present transparent to the reader. Kluge digs deep, enlightens, makes you addicted to more insight and knowledge. ... If you are hungry for more after reading [The Book of Commentaries], take a look at Circus / Commentary« Harald Loch, neues deutschland
»[The Book of Commentaries] makes one very excited to keep reading in Kluge’s older...
»[The Book of Commentaries] makes one very excited to keep reading in Kluge’s older...
Read more
2022, 400 pages
Persons
Alexander Kluge
Author
Alexander Kluge, born in 1932, is the director of numerous films and countless TV broadcasts as well as an author, but: »My books are my most important work.« He has received numerous awards for his oeuvre.
Alexander Kluge
Author
Alexander Kluge, born in 1932, is the director of numerous films and countless TV broadcasts as well as an author, but: »My books are my...
© Markus Kirchgessner
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Latest first
Year of Publication: 2023
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2023
War Primer 2023
»War is back.« Alexander Kluge begins his latest book with this first of six stations, prompted by a war of aggression that is initially being waged in a European setting, but...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull)
Year of Publication: 2022
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2022
Circus / Commentary
The circus has fascinated Alexander Kluge since his earliest childhood and it is a phenomenon of his devotion that is preserved throughout his cinematic work (Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel,...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull)
Year of Publication: 2020
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2020
Russia Container
Not just in light of a currently contested pipeline but also after centuries of both exchange and rejection, Russia and Germany were and are as far away from each other as they are connected. The...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull), Russia (Garage)
Year of Publication: 2017
Georg Baselitz, Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2017
World-Changing Rage
Rage and obstinacy are closely related. In the work of Georg Baselitz and Alexander Kluge they are fundamental categories. Rage is dynamic: it can grow and suddenly erupt into flaming protests,...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull)
Year of Publication: 2015
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2015
Kong’s Finest Hour
To dissolve theory in concrete stories has been Alexander Kluge’s lifelong approach. To him, there is music in the texture of thoughts, and so with this book, Chronicle of...
Rights sold to:
English World rights (Seagull)
Year of Publication: 2014
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2014
30 April 1945
The thirtieth of April 1945, a Monday, was the last working day observed in the Third Reich. It is followed by a national holiday and the transfer of what remained of the state to powers which had no...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull), France (P.O.L.), Poland (W.A.B.)
Year of Publication: 2013
Alexander Kluge, Gerhard RichterYear of Publication: 2013
Dispatches from Moments of Calm
The international artist and the most eminent chronicler of our time: 60 images by Gerhard Richter in dialogue with new texts by Alexander Kluge.
In the golden autumn of 2012...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull), Chinese simplex rights (Beijing Imaginist Time Culture)
Year of Publication: 2013
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2013
Anyone Who Utters a Consoling Word Is a Traitor
»Alexander Kluge's work has long grappled with the Third Reich and its aftermath, and the extermination of the Jews forms its gravitational center. Kluge is forever reminding us to keep...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull), Serbia (Kulturni Centar Novog Sada)
Year of Publication: 2011
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2011
Drilling through Hard Boards
Politics, says Kluge, is an exceptional aggregate state of everyday feelings. It’s everywhere. It sets private and public biographies in motion.
It was Max Weber who said...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull), Arabic world rights (Sefsafa)
Year of Publication: 2010
Alexander Kluge, Gerhard RichterYear of Publication: 2010
December
»In the historic tradition of calendar stories and calendar illustrations, author and film director Alexander Kluge and celebrated visual artist Gerhard Richter have composed December,...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull), Chinese simplex rights (Beijing Imaginist Time Culture), France (Diaphanes), Italy (La Grande Illusion), Turkey (Everest)
Year of Publication: 2009
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2009
The Labyrinth of Tender Force
There is no human quality that is older and more vital to survival than love. He who loves, it is said, loves with every fiber of his being. At the same time, as Bizet's Carmen proclaims, love is...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull)
Year of Publication: 2008
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2008
Air Raid
Alexander Kluge’s account The Air Raid on Halberstadt on 8 April 1945 first appeared in 1977. Exactly twenty years later, it became one of the most important points of reference...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Seagull), France (Diaphanes), Italy (Meltemi), Netherlands (Cossee), Korea (Moonji), Poland (Ossolineum), Turkey (Ketebe), Israel (Pitom)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Machado)
Year of Publication: 2007
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2007
Cinema Stories
The 120 stories of this volume are literary essays told in Alexander Kluge's customary short and laconic style. At the same time, they also expose director Kluge's deep fondness for...
Rights sold to:
Spanish rights Latin America (Caja negra), France (Diaphanes)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (L'Orma), Turkey (Lemis)
Year of Publication: 2003
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2003
The Devil's Blindspot
With a collection of 500 stories, Alexander Kluge picks up the thread of his Chronicle of Feelings, which had been published in 2000. Catchphrases such as Revolution, Holocaust, World War,...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (New Directions), France (P.O.L.), Israel (Pitom)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Anagrama)
Year of Publication: 2000
Alexander KlugeYear of Publication: 2000
Chronicle of Feelings
Rights sold to:
Russia (NLO), France (P.O.L.)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (New Directions), Sweden (Brutus Östling)DISCOVER
Just published
Just published: Suhrkamp Authors Around the World – March 2024, issue 2
We are delighted to present to you our latest arrivals!News