Portrait of the debut novelist Clara Leinemann | EUROtoday

Clara Leinemann wrote her first novel when she was ten. It was about wolves. More particularly, about good and unhealthy wolves in addition to a dramatic kidnapping and rescue: a traditional hero’s journey. The story, which she eagerly typed on her father’s pocket book after faculty, consisted of round 100 manuscript pages. Every day she appeared ahead to persevering with to jot down. “It was like playing for me,” says the now thirty-one-year-old.

But really it began even earlier. Leinemann says she began writing in first grade. They have been small tales again then. She nonetheless remembers that her mom printed out a narrative a couple of winged horse and distributed it as a certain booklet at college. Now, round twenty years later, she has been nominated for the lit.Cologne debut prize. Not for evil wolves or winged horses, however for yellow monsters. That’s the identify of the novel. And her mother and father nonetheless help her immediately, as a fan membership within the viewers.

Yellow monsters sound playful, virtually childlike. However, the subject that the writer offers with shouldn’t be that in any respect. It’s about Charlie, a younger girl who takes half in anti-aggression coaching as a result of she turned violent in direction of her ex-boyfriend Valentin. It’s about emotional dependence and conventional beliefs of affection. It’s about feminine violence, about violence itself and concerning the query of the place it even begins. This would not essentially sound like a e book you’d need to learn in mattress at evening. But that is misleading: when you open it, you do not need to put it down. Leinemann writes eloquently and humorous about Charlie’s poisonous interaction of anger, ache and disgrace. And creates a lovable anti-heroine.

The relaxed ease with which Leinemann tells the story is one which she additionally radiates and is instantly noticeable. We have organized to satisfy on the Comedia Theater in Cologne. She is available in, rapidly places the retro headphones in her jute bag and is beaming from ear to ear. Her look appears to be like informal. She stated after the dialog that she took the tracksuit jacket she was carrying along with her at a garments swap get together. We hug and it looks as if probably the most pure response of all to each of us. We are on the lookout for a quiet place for our dialog. It’s Sunday afternoon, there’s not a lot happening right here. An occasion of the lit.Cologne youngsters’s program has simply ended, a couple of little ones are nonetheless buzzing via the constructing with their mother and father. But preparations for the awards ceremony within the night are already underway.

We are fortunate within the empty theater. In these rows, the viewers will determine in a couple of hours who will get to take dwelling the debut prize. In addition to Clara Leinemann, the authors Son Lewandowski and Nefeli Kavouras also can hope for the award price 2,222 euros. What’s particular: All three debuts have one thing to do with Cologne. Either as a result of they’re set there or the writer herself is from town. Or as with Leinemann: each.

Clara Leinemann was born and grew up right here. After graduating from highschool, she tried finding out artwork historical past and Romance research, additionally in Cologne, however just for one semester. She rapidly realized that she was “totally overwhelmed by the material.” She came upon concerning the “Creative Writing” course in Hildesheim in a newspaper and instantly knew that it was precisely the suitable factor for her. So she moved and since then she hasn’t actually completed something apart from write creatively. She made her means into the literary world with drama, prose and radio play texts; Her play “Buddeln” acquired a number of awards and was performed in varied theaters in Germany. She acquired varied scholarships, together with that of the Berlin Senate, and the author has now lived in Berlin for six years, however nonetheless describes herself as a Cologne native.

Her first e book, “Yellow Monsters,” was written in Berlin. It was a prose workshop on the Literary Colloquium that paved the best way. Authors who haven’t but printed a novel are given the chance and house to work on their manuscript. This was additionally the case for Leinemann, who initially turned twenty pages into fifty and at last a completed draft of the novel. At the ultimate studying of the workshop, an company approached her after which discovered a writer for the e book. Suhrkamp.

The concept for the novel took a while to develop. “I didn’t exactly set out to write about a woman who becomes violent in her relationship.” There was no “light bulb that went on,” the writer says with fun. It began with the angle of her protagonist Charlie: “I wanted to write a character where a lot of things happen inside, while outside, in the world, these things don’t come true. It doesn’t fit together.” She notably loved creating a feminine character. And in the end that was what drew her additional into her story: “The discrepancy between Charlie’s inner ideas and what’s happening outside, her wishes and fears, shows that a lot has to do with internalized misogyny.” This sample is mirrored in Charlie’s conduct when she thinks contemptuous issues about herself and different ladies, explains Leinemann. For her, a heterosexual relationship then gave the impression to be the best way to signify this misogyny: “There are mechanisms of action that are also tied to the behavior of cis men.”

She places her palms in her lap and thinks for a second. “I wanted to show that there can also be triggers for violence among women, such as patriarchal structures in which women always think they have to conform to a certain role. You can’t tell the same story here by simply swapping the genders.” It’s simply completely different when ladies grow to be violent. That’s not meant to excuse Charlie’s conduct, however to justify it.

Personal duty performs a giant position within the novel. Charlie, who initially would not see herself as violent, solely takes half in an anti-aggression course as a result of her good friend Ella urges her to take action. She would not see herself as a “felon” like the opposite ladies on the course. So the place does violence start? “That’s the core question of my novel, that’s what I discovered while writing it,” says Leinemann: “But there’s no general answer to it. It’s always determined by the person who experiences violence.”

Leinemann depicts the spectrum of bodily and psychological violence with the scenes of anti-aggression coaching, wherein very completely different ladies inform very completely different tales of violence. For this half, she spoke to numerous psychology college students, together with a psychologist who leads anti-aggression coaching. However, one for males.

Violence results in increasingly violence – that is a sentence you hear repeatedly. And which is true. Leinemann’s e book exhibits this masterfully. Charlie’s violent outbursts enhance as if by a cyclical impact. “Ultimately she despairs more than it gives her any satisfaction. Violence cannot be the solution,” the writer explains the central motif of her novel. “At the same time, it was also important to me to show that different things can lead to violence without having to find a specific answer.”

Is there something autobiographical within the novel? “Not so much,” says Leinemann, “but I believe that all people experience violence in some form in their lives.” However, the e book shouldn’t be autobiographical: “None of it happened in my life.” She tried to empathize with emotions equivalent to anger or jealousy whereas writing. “It’s not possible to completely think everything out anyway, which is why some of the characters contain a mix of ten of my friends.”

At the start, the draft of the novel was round 300 pages, however then it ended up being 192. The writer did not discover it troublesome to shorten it, quite the opposite: “I actually like shortening it because it’s so liberating. It’s like sorting out old burdens.” Leinemann has a relaxed method to her texts, which is one thing that’s all the time obvious in dialog. When requested how she got here up with the title “Yellow Monsters,” she replies: “I have no idea, it was just there.”

She has been making historical past for 12 months. Preferably within the Unter den Linden State Library. And if she would not write? Then she likes to pursue what she calls “classic hobbies”: studying, cooking, assembly associates. “And cinema,” she provides. As lengthy as writing works, she desires to proceed with it: “It’s always a bit like playing poker.” Otherwise, she may see herself once more in a bookstore the place she helped out for some time.

Then within the night the awards ceremony. Leinemann’s long-time good friend and roommate Charlie (who has nothing to do with the primary character within the e book, as Leinemann emphasizes a number of instances) stands on the stage within the pink corridor and provides a speech. This is the service of friendship that’s required of the nominees within the custom of the debut award: They ought to convey somebody onto the stage as an advocate. First of all, Charlie tells the viewers about Leinemann’s “it’s okay” perspective, which the writer shows like hardly anybody else. This comparability might be not solely far-fetched. “Publishing a book is such a great honor. You should keep your expectations in check,” says Leinemann earlier than the award ceremony.

Maybe it is exactly this pleasant, “it’s okay” perspective that helped her take dwelling the debut award. The viewers made that call, however the winner would not actually consider it. Just like the truth that virtually the entire “Yellow Monsters” have already been offered on the e book stand within the lobby throughout the break. Leinemann is already writing her second novel. She cannot reveal what it is about. But what are you able to say? It will likely be high-quality.