Adventure and the American West: Dr. Andreas Martin Widmann publishes preview chapter of new novel

Dr. Andreas Martin Widmann has recently published a preview chapter from his forthcoming novel Die größte Schau der Welt (The Greatest Show in the World) in the Berlin-based literary journal Sprache im technischen Zeitalter (Spr.i.t.Z). Founded in 1961 and edited by the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, Spr.i.t.Z is one of Germany’s leading literary magazines.

The novel, Die größte Schau der Welt, is a playful engagement with the genre of the popular adventure novel and with the German fascination with the American West before World War I. 

Widmann describes the novel: “In the summer of 1913, the Haas showman family and young Georg accept an offer from the tour promoter Kampmann to perform in a Wild West show in the US. After arriving in New York, it turns out that Kampmann has other plans of his own. When he runs out of money, he puts the family up in the house of a patron who wants to live a life in harmony with nature in the forests of Indiana. There, the adventure game suddenly turns deadly serious.”

The chapter published in Sprache im technischen Zeitalter deals with the arrival of the Haas family in the US and follows the protagonist Georg as he looks for a suitable horse in New York City. It can be read in the September 2023 issue of Spr.i.t.Z.

Post Date: 12-05-2023