Stefan Kutzenberger, JOKERMAN
Berlin Verlag - Novel - Hardcover - August 2020 - 352 pages
His name is Kutzenberger, Stefan Kutzenberger. The melancholic Austrian has the mission to save the world, because he is the Jokerman. The blame for this lies with none other than Bob Dylan, even if the latter knows nothing about it. All those people who have been interpreting the work of the musician and Nobel Prize winner for literature like a holy scripture for decades have chosen the Jokerman to prevent the re-election of one of the most bizarre tyrants of our days into the White House.
With verve and wit, this novel shows how conspiracy scenarios are created and how almost everything can be explained with a "true" doctrine. A revealing mirror of the present, a literary discovery and a lot of fun - far beyond the fateful US elections on November 3.
“Read Stefan Kutzenberger's new novel, which will finally bring us lost and deluded people to the light.” - Cicero
“For Bob Dylan fans, Kutzenberger’s “Jokerman” is a must! For lovers of bizarre and black humour as well.” - Neues Deutschland
“Bizarre and witty [...]. It’s insanely funny and you can hardly put it down.” - Puls 4
“It is remarkable how Kutzenberger gives his novel an incomparable lightness of touch, despite all the literary self-referentiality and abstruseness of the plot. The subtle self-irony, the doubts that the protagonist has to endure and the skilful plot twists make this picaresque novel a great pleasure to read.” - orf.at
“A kind of picaresque thriller that’s funny in at least two senses.” - Wiener Zeitung
“It's pretty cheeky how the real Stefan Kutzenberger mixes the genres here, how he mixes and boils up autofiction and thriller to create an action satire and thus creates a pretty unique character [...] who, together with Kafka and Kirkegaard, walks in the footsteps of James Bond.” - ORF 1
“Bizarre social satire [...] entertaining, up-to-date.” - rbb “zibb”
“This second novel deserves even more than the first to be bought, read, reviewed and discussed worldwide.” - literaturhaus.at
“The second novel is considered the most difficult- especially if the first one is a success. Stefan Kutzenberger passed this test brilliantly. His second work “Jokerman” sends the first-person narrator of the same name on a fast-paced journey between Vienna, Iceland and Washington, telling more about the power of literature than a textbook ever could.” - Oberösterreichische Nachrichten
“An adventure- filled, fast-paced and entertaining novel.” - ORF “Zeit im Bild”
“A pointed and humorous social satire with various musical references, published at the height of the US election campaign.” - radioeins rbb „Sommergarten”
“Kutzenberger, who by the way shows great literary ability, explains in his new novel which verve and wit how conspiracy theories can explain almost everything; a funny and clever reading pleasure.” - fazemag.de
“Kutzenberger joyfully celebrates the fact that in fiction everything imaginable is possible, as long as the reader is willing to get involved.” - Abendzeitung