The Sweet Indifference of the World

Description

Christoph, a middle-aged writer, has a story to share with Lena, a young actress. A long time ago, he was in a relationship with a woman called Magdalena, who was also an actress. Lena is currently in a relationship with a man called Chris, who is also a writer. As the two talk, it becomes clear that the two relationships contain echoes, similarities, and coincidences too remarkable to be called coincidences. Are Chris and Lena doomed to repeat Christoph and Magdalena's broken relationship, or are Christoph and Magdalena a warning from the future? Who really exists? Is there such a thing as fate? And so begins a uniquely existential game of past and present that will leave no one unharmed.

Peter Stamm was born in Switzerland. He is the author of the novels Agnes, On A Day Like This, Unformed Landscape, Seven Years and All Days are Night and the collection We're Flying, as well as numerous short stories and radio plays. In 2013, he was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize and shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. He lives in Winterthur. Michael Hofmann has translated the works of many writers, including Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth and Hans Fallada. A poet and essayist, he also teaches at the University of Florida.