A group of people stranded in a small town is waiting for monsters every night; a marquis cannot distinguish between reality and dreams; a peculiar custom is still not abandoned; a young caregiver shares his experience with dementia patients. Sprinkled with ironic details (such as collages of 90ies TV shows) Thomas Stangl’s stories revolve around absurd, surreal incidents, some of which are even matters of life and death.
Awards:
1st rank, ORF Bestenliste (book ranking) 2019
Wortmeldungen Literature Award 2019
Honorary Award 2019, German Schiller Foundation
»You can’t praise Thomas Stangl’s new book high enough. It’s been a very long time since an authoress, an author created so very special and remarkable sparks out of the good old short story.« (Cornelius Hell, ORF)
»The Story of the Body is a book that dazzles in the iridescent colours of existence.« (Paul Jandl, NZZ)
»With his debut collection of stories Thomas Stangl puts the ›small format‹ back on the literary map. Intransigent, subversive, and with just the right amount of subtle irony, the Viennese writer makes sure to leave safe, and often beaten, path of linear storytelling. Pure genius.« (Werner Krause, Kleine Zeitung)
»Thirty short pieces which in their uniqueness will take the reader to the brink of the fathomable.« (Karsten Koblo, auserlesen.de, lovelybooks)
»Just like Alexander von Humboldt discovers South America Thomas Stangl explores the landscape of his own soul.« (Wolfgang Popp, Ö1 Kulturjournal)
»With stylistic confidence this award-winning writer mirrors the big world in the small one.« (Bernd Schuchter, Buchkultur)
»What this book is about? It is about everything. About what was, what is and what might be. It’s about games, about love, beauty, light – and about death and memories that will turn to dust and be replaced by imagination.« (Stefan Gmünder, Der Standard)