In this book, Dieter Wellershoff meets death – not his own but that of his younger brother, with whom he had a close relationship characterised by both sibling rivalry and profound affection. Candidly and unsparingly he describes the process of dying – and the feelings of guilt and happiness of the survivor.
Dieter Wellershoff has made his younger brother a central figure of his literary works. And he has taken his untimely death as an occasion to write about their lives and their joint experience of illness and the struggle to survive. From an early age, similarities and differences were the cause of tension between the brothers and prompted the younger of the two to lead an adventurous life. After initial triumphs, his life was characterised by increasingly disastrous decisions and defeats. A more recent triumph then confounded the outbreak of a fatal disease. From this moment onwards, life took on a new meaning. Modern medicine took command and attacked the disease with every available means, spurred on by the patient’s unshakeable desire to live. Dieter Wellershoff describes how it feels to witness such a battle and examines the psychological, social and medical dimensions of dying. The result is this book that confronts the reader with – and prepares him for – this fundamental aspect of human life.
