German Book Prize winner Uwe Tellkamp: an interview
His novel "Der Turm" ("The Tower"), winning him the German Book Prize 2008, is just under 1,000 pages long. But Uwe Tellkamp sometimes needs no more than a single word to make himself understood.
Frankfurt Book Fair: In the industry, you were already the favourite once the shortlist was announced. Did you really not expect at all to win the prize?
Uwe Tellkamp: No.
What does the German Book Prize mean to you personally - after all, it comes after you have already received a whole series of awards?
Recognition.
How did you find this year's Frankfurt Book Fair as the prize winner - and so as one of its 'stars'?
Exhausting.
The whirl of your novel - dense, eloquent and intense, and showing borrowings from your own life - sweeps the reader along with it. Were you also caught up in a whirlwind of past events as you wrote, or was there such a thing as "normal everyday life" for you?
Both.
One critic said that your novel "Der Turm" was the film "The Lives of Others" in book form. Does the comparison mean anything to you?
No. I haven't yet seen "The Lives of Others".
In an interview at the Book Fair, you said that a book tells you when it's finished and that as the author, you have to be able to listen to that. For "Der Turm", it took almost 1,000 pages before saying "stop". Did that surprise you?
No.
You've given up your career as a doctor for the life of a writer. What does writing mean to you?
A lot.
The German Book Prize has boosted sales of your novel, which countries have already bought translation rights?
Greece, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain.
With your now award-winning novel, you found yourself in illustrious company on the lists of selections. What is it that characterises contemporary German literature, and what makes it interesting for the international book world, too?
I don't know either contemporary German literature or the international book world well enough to be able to answer your question.
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