Born in Linz, Andreas Jungwirth is not the first author to send a gay couple in an unstable relationship phase on a trip to Africa. The initial situation of Jungwirth’s new novel “Im Atlas” is reminiscent of “Benzin” by Gunther Geltinger (Suhrkamp, 2019). Geltinger’s protagonists make their momentous experiences in South Africa. Stefan, a manager, and David, a set designer, experience space in the Atlas region of Morocco.
From the start, the journey seems to be under an unfavorable star. A video showing the murder of two Danish tourists in the Atlas spoils Stefan’s desire to travel. True, David can allay his partner’s concerns. But the calamities are piling up. They almost took the wrong flight, and Kalifa, the driver of the rented pickup, makes an unpredictable impression. It should also be borne in mind that Morocco is a country in which homosexuality is anything but friendly.
The latent tensions between David and Stefan also convey uncertainty. Half-truths, distrust, unexplained and unspoken things put a strain on their love relationship. When David absolutely wants to take the detour via the city of Imlil, where the two Danish women were murdered, Kalifa refuses surprisingly vehemently. When the annoyed David insists on his request, Kalifa disappears with his pickup truck and luggage, leaving the puzzled tourists out in the cold in the truest sense of the word.
The days in Imlil bring David and Stefan’s crisis to its climax. In these chapters of the novel, Andreas Jungwirth manages to achieve a powerful compression that is missing here and there in the first half of the novel. Jungwirth is rather reserved about the possibilities of the African spatial atmosphere, the famous sky over the desert, the widening of the horizon and the magic of light, but this is not a defect. In this way, the text is never suspected of being kitsch.
The travel efforts are worthwhile for David and Stefan. For David in particular, the Morocco experience leads to liberating clarity, also in professional terms. The stage designer’s critical reflections on the world of theater are spot on. One notices that the theater scholar and trained actor Andreas Jungwirth knows this world well.
Andreas Jungwirth: “In the Atlas”, novel, Edition Atelier, 295 pages, 24 euros
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Source: Nachrichten
