Jonas Lüscher

Richard Kraft, rhetoric's professor of at the University of T bingen, unhappily married and in financial trouble, may have found a way out of his misfortune. His former colleague Istv n, a professor at Stanford University, encourages him to enter a scientific contest in Silicon Valley. An Internet tycoon offers one million dollars to the best philosophical answer. Kraft has 18 minutes to explain why creation is perfect as it is, and yet, can be improved. The money would allow Kraft to finally be free of his demanding wife. Funny, angry and wicked, in this clever novel, Jonas L scher tells the story of a man facing the ruins of his life and a powerful elite that seemingly nothing and no one can stop and that is willing to break any taboo.

Richard Kraft, en tysk professor i retorik, er rejst til Californien stålsat på at vinde førstepræmien i konkurrencen udskrevet af en Silicon Valley rigmand, der interesserer sig for teodicé-problemet – altså hvordan Gud kan tillade eksistensen af ondskab i verden. 18 minutters oplæg skal med ét slag løse alle Krafts egne problemer. Med mørk humor har Jonas Lüsher skrevet en veloplagt roman om brudfladerne mellem den gamle og den nye verden, klassisk dannelse og Silicon Valley, åndsaristokratisk arrogance og neoliberal ditto. Med denne sin blot anden roman vandt Jonas Lüscher Schweizer Buchpreis; hans ligeledes prisbelønnede og anmelderroste debutroman (der tilsvarende Kraft er satirisk kapitalismekritisk) findes også på dansk: Det barbariske forår.

Jonas L scher, the author of Barbarian Spring--"a most humorous and convincing satire of the ridiculous excesses of those responsible for the financial crisis" (The New York Times Book Review)--returns to the topic of neoliberal arrogance in his Swiss Book Prize-winning, hilarious, and wicked novel about a man facing the ruins of his life, and his world. Richard Kraft, a German professor of rhetoric and aging Reaganite and Knight Rider fan, is unhappily married and badly in debt. He sees no way out of his rut until he is invited to participate in a competition to be held in California and sponsored by a Silicon Valley tycoon and "techno-optimist." The contest is to answer a literal "million-dollar question" each competitor must compose an eighteen-minute lecture on why our world is still, despite all evidence, the best of all possible worlds, and how we might improve it even further through technology. Entering into a surreal American landscape, Kraft soon finds what's left of his life falling to pieces as he struggles to justify as "best" a planet in the hands of such blithe neoliberal cupidity as he encounters on his odyssey to California. Still, with the prize money in his pocket, perhaps Kraft could finally buy his way to a new life . . . But what contortions--physical and philosophical--will he have to subject himself to in order to claim it? Jonas L scher's second novel, Kraft, is a hilarious and wicked tale about a man facing the ruins of his life, and his world.

Richard Kraft, Rhetorikprofessor in Tübingen, unglücklich verheiratet und finanziell gebeutelt, hat womöglich einen Ausweg aus seiner Misere gefunden. Sein alter Weggefährte István, Professor an der Stanford Uni­ versity, lädt ihn zur Teilnahme an einer wissenschaftlichen Preisfrage ins Silicon Valley ein. In Anlehnung an Leibniz' Antwort auf die Theodizeefrage soll Kraft in einem 18-­minütigen Vortrag begründen, weshalb alles, was ist, gut ist und wir es dennoch verbessern können. Für die beste Antwort ist eine Million Dollar ausgelobt. Damit könnte Kraft sich von seiner anspruchs­vollen Frau endlich freikaufen … Komisch, furios und böse erzählt Jonas Lüscher in diesem klugen Roman von einem Mann, der vor den Trümmern seines Lebens steht, und einer zu jedem Tabubruch bereiten Machtelite, die scheinbar nichts und niemand aufhalten kann.

Sveitsiläisen kirjailijan kuvaus globaalin arvojärjestelmän murtumisesta ja maailman kriisistä aivan uudella tasolla. Elitistiseen erämaahotelliin Tunisiassa on kokoontunut kansainvälinen vierasjoukko juhlimaan häitä, kun tulee tieto Englannin valtion konkurssista. Länsimaiset arvot ja asenteet joutuvat aivan uuteen valoon, kun hetki sitten vielä upporikkaat ihmiset valtaa ajatus, että kotona on kaikki menetetty. Ilmestyessään vuonna 2013 Barbaarien kevät oli ehdokkaana sekä Saksan Kirjallisuuspalkinnolle että Sveitsin Kirjallisuuspalkinnolle. Jonas Lücher (s. 1976) on kirjailija, esseisti. Hän on toiminut myös elokuvadramaturgina. Barbaarien kevät oli ilmestyessään ehdokkaana sekä Saksan että Sveitsin Kirjallisuuspalkinnoille.