"Sportfreunde Stiller" drummer Florian Weber reads from his new novel in the Munich Volkstheater

Created: 04/08/2022, 14:27

By: Antonio Seidemann

On the road: Florian Weber's new novel reads in places like a road movie.

"The Wondrous Aesthetics of Resting When Drowning" is out on Monday.

© Mirco Taliercio

"The wondrous aesthetics of the protective posture when drowning" is already the third novel by Florian Weber.

He presents his new work in the Munich Volkstheater.

Florian Weber is known as the drummer for Sportfreunde Stiller, the band is currently preparing a new album and live performances.

But when the man isn't working on the skins, he's painting or writing novels.

One hears and reads again and again - more or less enthusiastically - about acting singers and singing actors.

Literally ambitious drummers, on the other hand, are rather rare.

Weber's new, meanwhile third, work was published on Monday, March 14, 2022 and bears the unwieldy title "The wondrous aesthetics of the protective posture when drowning".

On April 9th ​​at 8 p.m. he will present his new novel at a reading in the Munich Volkstheater.

A llama, a clown and Heinrich Pohl are lost in the ocean

At the beginning, Heinrich Pohl wakes up lying on a hard plastic box in the middle of the ocean - and will probably soon drown or die of thirst.

Beside him float empty beer cans and a llama that struggles to stay afloat.

Mr. Pohl has no idea how he got into this situation.

Yes, he doesn't even know his name or who he is: amnesia.

A clown is also tied to him with a rope, swooning in a life jacket in a faint.

Finally, a seagull passes by, evoking images of Mr. Pohl's childhood;

this starts a process of remembering.

In flashbacks, Heinrich Pohl explores who he is and what happened

So the story alternates between the growing thirst at sea and the flashbacks to Uncle Wendelin's antique shop, whom the young Heinrich idolizes, while he mainly receives beatings from his father.

This Wendelin has a ridiculous story to tell about every item in his shop, like the guitar said to have belonged to a certain Samuel T. Stoner, who strummed a few chords in a pub while listening to Who guitarist Pete Townshend and Elton John was heard.

From the chords Elton John then created his hit "Candle in the Wind" - "confabulation", diagnosed Heinrich's first tender, unrequited longing Franziska.

In general, Heinrich learned to love music through his uncle, especially playing it on a piano that belonged to Wendelin's great love, Kerstin.

And promptly a piano appears on a rubber dinghy in the sea with the drowning man.

Is Heinrich's shipwreck also a "confabulation", i.e. the filling of memory gaps with inventions?

Everything clears up in the end - almost a bit disappointing

When Weber's protagonist sees an airplane in the sky, it occurs to him: he was on the plane with Wendelin.

From here the author changes the narrative perspective and Heinrich reports on his trip to America with his uncle.

With a pick-up truck, on which a piano is enthroned, various stations have to be visited on Kerstin's trail, from Arches National Park to the Appalachian Trail.

From now on, as in a road movie, the individual knots of history gradually unravel – Weber's language also becomes more empathetic.

Where previously bizarre ideas, short sentences and secrecy prevailed, he now unfolds the inner life of these two relatives.

They discover a lot on the journey, from shaman chants to encounters with the Ku Klux Klan - and eventually meet the clown with the llama.

At some point everything becomes clear: How Heinrich ended up in the water reads almost a little disappointing, the mini crime thriller that was woven out of nowhere seems a little constructed.

However, the resolution of the story of uncle and nephew is gripping and makes you smile at times, but ultimately also shed a few tears.

Florian Weber's novel is an ode to life, or as Wendelin says: "Life is a cursed experiment.

Don't think twice, just do it."