The student Lenz wanders aimlessly through life. His relationship fails, political activities amount to no more than fruitless discussions, attempts to put them into practice by working in a factory come to nothing.
To escape this overwhelming apathy, he buys a ticket to Italy. In Rome, he is fascinated by the colours, the way people communicate, the savoir vivre. But he soon ends up with the in-crowd who are more concerned with psychology than politics. He turns down an offer of confiding in an analyst. An affair with an Italian woman soon ends. Once again, he sets off – heading this time for northern Italy. In Trento, he meets a group of leftwing students and workers who take him under their wing. This other side of Italy becomes Lenz’s liberation.
Peter Schneider tells a fascinating story about a man’s courage to change and the search for an authentic life. In 1973, five years after the outbreak of the student revolts, this slim book caused a literary sensation: Peter Schneider’s version of Büchner’s novella rapidly achieved cult status for an entire generation. The story has lost none of its topicality and explosive force. Lenz has become a modern literary classic.
Praise for Lenz:
»Schneider’s Lenz is a masterpiece – we see through his eyes the cracks in the concrete of the post-war era.» Julia Franck
»In Peter Schneider’s Lenz, sensuality and subjectivity are rediscovered rather than romanticised.« Ulrich Greiner in FAZ, 1973
