Herr Faustini lives alone in a small Austrian village close to the Swiss border. He is content to spend his days as he always has: in the company of his cat, his old armchair and two beloved potted plants in his little garden.
A series of events cause Faustini to question the boundaries of his life. He finds himself trying to tie the little tricks of destiny into tighter knots that would give deeper meaning to his own existence.
When his sister, who long before married and settled in sunnier southern Switzerland, celebrates a milestone birthday and invites him to visit, Herr Faustini initially hesitates. However, once he decides to take the trip, he discovers the thrill of loving and being loved in return.
Herr Faustini feels tempted. But he finds himself unable to cope with the prospect of happiness so late in life. He decides to return to his former, quiet solitude.
While travelling through this delightful book, we may wonder why we feel so strangely drawn toward this incredibly sensitive, unique character. The answer should be obvious: because somewhere, deep in all of us, a Herr Faustini breathes.
Author Biography:
Born in 1961 in Bregenz, Austria, Wolfgang Hermann studied philosophy in Vienna, after which he traveled extensively and lived in Berlin, Paris, Aix en Provence, and Tokyo. He has published numerous books of prose and poetry, among the most recent: Abschied ohne Ende (novel, 2012), Schatten auf dem Weg durch den Bernsteinwald (poetry, 2013), Die Kunst des unterirdischen Fliegens (novel, 2015), and Die letzten Gesänge (stories, 2015). Wolfgang Hermann's numerous prizes include the Juergen Ponto Prize (1987), the Siemens Literature Prize (2002), the Anton Wildgans Prize (2006), and the Austrian State Advancement Award (2007). Herr Faustini takes a Trip is the first of his books to be published in English. "With this weightless, yet substantial book, the multiple award-winning author Wolfgang Hermann has successfully crafted a work of art in miniature. Not only the warm-hearted, almost delicate nature of his hero, but also the soft, sensuous-poetic language, which seems to caress the emotions and to filter the stream of thoughts through its straightforward sentence structure and repeated neologisms, are a rich balm for the spirits of today's readers." Südwestdeutsche Zeitung, May 2006
"Despite the fact that we never learn much about Herr Faustini's past, as we open the book and find ourselves plunged into his day-to-day existence, he strikes us, right off the bat, as somehow familiar, as someone we recognize. Wolfgang Hermann's book tells the story of a man who sets out to unlearn his fears, working up a proper sweat while doing so. Faustini is the prototype of a lovable anti-hero, whose life, dictated by his compulsions, is unintentionally funny. Herr Faustini Takes a Trip focuses on a man who can never quite escape his own skin, yet in the end, he is not the same person he once was." Der Standard, February 2006
"There are moments of truly splendid (a word which must be used for this novel!) humor, swelling through really funny, really bizarre, and really lovely moments on the turn of one of Herr Faustini's coins. Rachael Daum, Alta39, March 2016.
