The Story of a Man Who Collapsed Into His Notebook

The reader joins the narrator on his journey, both on the train and in his mind – from disjointed memories triggered by his departure from home, through attempts to put his relationships and experiences in some kind of order to find meaning in them and perhaps assign blame, to confronting his most painful memories – finally arriving with him at his destination with a sense of clarity and the possibility of a new beginning.

“… I’ve forgotten how to travel, how to surrender to the favor and misfortune of the rails, how one says goodbye, how long one actually stands facing backward watching Point A swiftly disappearing, and after that how long does he continue standing standing standing . . . I open my notebook, but I have no answer, I write: “traveling from Point A to Point B, from a little seaside town to Berlin, I gaze out the window at the unfinished houses on the outskirts, warehouses in the industrial zone, stunted trees along the river with plastic bags hanging from their branches like bats …”

Published as part of the Growing Together project, co-financed by the European Union.