To be like Erik just once! That’s what Andreas has always wanted, and that’s why he has been trying to make friends with Erik – always polite, enviably relaxed, but ultimately unapproachable – since they were teenagers. But Erik is not only better when it comes to grades, popularity with girls or sports.
Twenty years later, when they meet by chance in Berlin, Andreas is just a Romance philologist and teacher in training while Erik has made it as a set designer in the glamorous...
To be like Erik just once! That’s what Andreas has always wanted, and that’s why he has been trying to make friends with Erik – always polite, enviably relaxed, but ultimately unapproachable – since they were teenagers. But Erik is not only better when it comes to grades, popularity with girls or sports.
Twenty years later, when they meet by chance in Berlin, Andreas is just a Romance philologist and teacher in training while Erik has made it as a set designer in the glamorous world of Hollywood and has become close to famous movie stars – such as Hélène, a world-famous actress whom Andreas has had a crush on all his life. Without ever suspecting that Hélène, of all people, would be the one to leave the movie screen and walk into his life, in the flesh, for a few days. Thanks to Erik, certainly, but without him.
Better Than Ever is a trenchant, affectionately laconic novel. With his unique dry humour Hans-Ulrich Treichel lets his wistfully wavering hero, Andreas Reiss, roam within the walls of West Berlin – a melancholic who does things shortly after professing that it would be better not to do them. And just as with Chekhov’s gun you can be sure that in the end everything will have been relevant.
»Woven through with mystery and ambiguity […] [Treichel] evinces an accomplished art of understatement. His Andreas Reiss is a literary brother of Emmanuel Bove's hieratic heroes. The humour here is softly spoken and with a tendency toward cruelty, the reverie bittersweet. The passage of time is merciless.« Olivier Mony, Livres Hebdo
»Hans-Ulrich Treichel’s books are a testament to the fact that we know nothing, least of all about ourselves.« Neue Zürcher Zeitung
»While reading, one enjoys the cinematic precision of the scenes and dialogues and above all the proven Treichel sound ...« Wolfgang Schneider, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»This time, more so than in his previous books, Hans-Ulrich Treichel relies on perfect dramaturgy. He carefully lays his tracks from the beginning, hints at connections that turn out to be well-oiled plot machines in the course of the story, and builds his novel according to classical narrative principles.« Hilmar Klute, Süddeutsche Zeitung
»Treichel’s quiet self-irony is the perfect pitch for this story about life plans and their failure, about illusions and projections that inevitably creep into our narratives about ourselves.« Richard Kämmerlings, Welt am Sonntag
»The way Treichel guides his main character around the triumph in the competition that is life and in doing so makes use of all psychological possibilities make this short novel ... a pleasure to read.« Michael Hametner, der Freitag
»In Better than Ever dares venture into the fairytale-like. He overcomes the boundary between film and reality.« Cornelia Geissler, BLZ
»Treichel's comedy arises from the meticulous precision of even the most outlandish discussions and reflections. [...] The precision of all the reflections, affirmations and declarations of intent, which then come to nothing, is a sophisticated narrative calculation.« Jörg Magenau, DLF Kultur
»A thoroughly psychoanalytical read, shaped by Hans-Ulrich Treichel’s unmistakable dry humour. ... It all makes for a delightful read ...« Claudia Ingenhoven, MDR
»Woven through with mystery and ambiguity […] [Treichel] evinces an accomplished art of understatement. His Andreas Reiss is a literary brother of Emmanuel Bove's hieratic heroes. The humour here is softly spoken and with a tendency toward cruelty, the reverie bittersweet. The passage of time is merciless.« Olivier Mony, Livres Hebdo
»Hans-Ulrich Treichel’s books are a testament to the fact that we know nothing, least of all about ourselves.« Neue Zürcher...
Hans-Ulrich Treichel was born in Versmold, Westphalia, in 1952. He now lives in Berlin and Leipzig and was professor of German Literature at the University of Leipzig. His works have been translated into 28 languages.
Hans-Ulrich Treichel was born in Versmold, Westphalia, in 1952. He now lives in Berlin and Leipzig and was professor of German Literature at the...
Daybreak leads into the centre of Hans-Ulrich Treichel’s writings, up and close to the pain points of loss and forlornness. This is the powerful, doleful story of a woman who...
France (Gallimard)
Early Disturbance is the story of a...
France (Gallimard)
France (Gallimard), Poland (Czytelnik)
France (Gallimard)
English world rights (Pantheon), Chinese simplex rights (People’s Literature Publishing House), Russia (AST), France (Hachette), Italy (Neri Pozza), Netherlands (Ambo|Anthos), Denmark (Lindhardt & Ringhof), Norway (Pax), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Turkey (Iletisim)
Denmark (Lindhardt & Ringhof)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Galaxia Gutenberg), Russia (Limbus), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Ambo|Anthos), Sweden (Wahlström & Widstrand), Norway (Pax), Poland (Czytelnik), Lithuania (Alma Littera)
USA (Pantheon), Denmark (Lindhardt & Ringhof), Lithuania (Sofoklis), Slovenia (Družina)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: UK (Picador), Spanish world rights (Galaxia Gutenberg), Catalan rights (Enciclopedia Catalana), Chinese complex rights (Eurasian Publ. Group), Russia (AST), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), France (Hachette), Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Ambo|Anthos), Sweden (Wahlström & Widstrand), Norway (Pax), Finland (Söderström), Iceland (Mal og menning), Korea (Chaeksesang), Thailand (schau-Thai), Poland (Czytelnik), Slovakia (Slovart), Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Croatia (Croatian Philological Ass.), Turkey (Ayrinti), Greece (Periplous), Albania (K&B), Ukraine (Tandem), Israel (Achuzat Bayit)