But instead of enjoying his new role, Kehlmann lambasted the “formulaic avant-gardism” of the contemporary German drama scene: its obsession with elevating the director’s interpretation over the author’s intention had ruined the career of his father, who died in 2005, and who believed that directors should remain servants to the text. His fourth novel, Measuring the World, had just become a bestseller, and he was German literature’s bright young thing. Kehlmann told the story about the chandelier in a controversial speech at the Salzburg festival five years ago. They lift you up, but they can pull you down at any moment. No performance has measured up since that morning.” Kehlmann doesn’t offer an explanation for the anecdote, but two interpretations suggest themselves: for him, art needs to feel a little bit like magic and a moment in the spotlight can be very brief indeed.

“I didn’t know that this took place every night I really thought it had happened for the first time and only for me. A chandelier was lowered from the ceiling, then raised again until it disappeared through a hole in the roof. The ordinary struggles of a marriage transform, in Kehlmann's hands, into a twisted fable that stays darkly in the mind.W hen Daniel Kehlmann was four years old, he went to watch his father, one of Germany’s most sought-after theatre directors, lead a rehearsal at Vienna’s Josefstadt theatre. Familiar and forbidding by turns, this is an electrifying experiment in form by one of Europe's boldest writers. Then the words start to appear in his notebook the words he didn't write. They warp under his watch at night, looking through the window, he sees impossible reflections on the snow outside. Why do we fight all the time? Guilt and expectation strain at his concentration, and strain, too, at the walls of the house. I love her, he writes in the notebook intended for his script.

Intruding on that peace of mind, the demands of his four-year-old daughter splinter open long-simmering arguments with his wife. xcept the wind whispering around their glassy house. On retreat in the wintry Alps with his family, a writer is optimistic about completing the sequel to his breakthrough film.

A thrilling exploration of psychological disturbance and fear from the bestselling and prize-winning author of MEASURING THE WORLD.

Daniel kehlmann books