A Happy Man

by Hansjörg Schertenleib, David B. Dollenmayer (Translator)

What's that guy smiling about?

"A noirish rumination on being too happy..."

This book asks a simple Is it possible to write compellingly about a happy person? In the hands of celebrated (but never before translated into English) Swiss author Hansjörg Schertenleib, the answer is a resounding yes—because, as it turns out, even happy people are surrounded by unhappy people, which can make for considerable stress, and, well, what’s a happy man to do?

And it’s not as if the hero of this book—whose name is, well, This—is a pleasant but unaware zombie. He’s a smart, interesting, quirky jazz musician...albeit with a wife suffering from depression, and a rebellious teenaged daughter. They find his contentedness more and more irritating. And yet This just can’t help it—life makes him happy. And the mounting tension that results is beautifully set off by Schertenleib’s lyrical prose, the smoky setting of Amsterdam, and the dialogue that’ s as edgy as that of a noir movie.

And thus a book that seems at first a writerly experiment becomes a gradually intensifying tale of a simple bit of human hope holding on against great odds, to an inspiring and shocking ending.

The Contemporary Art of the Novella series is designed to highlight work by major authors from around the world. In most instances, as with Imre Kertész, it showcases work never before published; in others, books are reprised that should never have gone out of print. It is intended that the series feature many well-known authors and some exciting new discoveries. And as with the original series, The Art of the Novella, each book is a beautifully packaged and inexpensive volume meant to celebrate the form and its practitioners.

Genres: Fiction, Novella, Literature

93 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Hansjörg Schertenleib, geb. 1957 in Zürich. Ausbildung zum Schriftsetzer/Typographen; Besuch der Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich. Zog 1981 ins Künstlerhaus Boswil; seit 1982 freier Schriftsteller. Von 1980 bis 1984 Redaktionsmitglied der Literaturzeitschrift «orte», seit 1985 journalistische Tätigkeit für verschiedene Zeitungen und Magazine, u.a. für Stern, Die Welt, Die Zeit, Zeit-Magazin, Magma, Film Bulletin, Weltwoche, Tages Anzeiger Magazin, NZZ, Bücherpick und sie+er. In der Spielzeit 1992/1993 Hausautor am Theater Basel unter Frank Baumbauer. Lesungen in der Schweiz, in Deutschland, Österreich, Norwegen, Finnland, Holland, Luxemburg, Irland, Schottland, Wales, England, Frankreich, Bulgarien, Ungarn, den USA, in Südafrika, Mexico, Kolumbien und Brasilien. Jurymitglied für den Christine-Lavant-Lyrikpreis in Wolfsberg, Österreich, und den Frank O´Connor-Prize in Cork, Irland. Gastprofessuren in Amerika und England. Von 2008 bis 2010 Dozent und Mentor am Literaturinstitut Biel. Lebte in Norwegen, Wien und London, seit 1996 in einem ehemaligen Schulhaus aus dem Jahr 1891 im County Donegal in Irland.

Reviews

[Berengaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

A poetic-literary novella about a Swiss trumpet player, This, who goes to Amsterdam to fill in for a few gigs with his Dutch friend's jazz quartet.

Written with the same complex structure and pacing of a improvised jazz standard, the story intermingles what is happening in present time in Amsterdam with This' memories of past gigs, his friendship with the Dutch musician, his marriage and daughter...and his guilty conscious about a dog he was mean to as a boy.

The narrative voice is one I love, an unidentified, remote "we" who observes This from a distance, knowing his thoughts, knowing what is coming - but never interfering, never judging. An almost angelic presence that mirrors This' unusual contentment with his life. The "Glück" (which means both happiness and luck in German) that surrounds him.

Those who need a clear timeline and a traditional narrator will be frustrated by this novella. Those who like quick, light reads will be, too, as the images can thickly crowd together at times.

But those who enjoy a riff on a theme, an unconventional solo, a walk off the beaten path - in short, those who appreciate what jazz is all about - will certainly appreciate what this short, literary piece has to offer.

[Great-O-Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die richtige Balance für eine Melancholie zu finden, die zwischen Leichtigkeit und Ernsthaftigkeit schwebt, ist überaus schwierig. In der Novelle "Der Glückliche" ist es Hansjörg Schertenleib gelungen. Daher vergebe ich vier schwebend tönende Trompeten.
🎺🎺🎺🎺

Der achtundvierzigjährige Jazztrompeter This Studer fährt mit seiner Frau Daniela im Zug nach Amsterdam. Er wird dort eine Woche in dem Quintett seines Freundes Henk Scharpenzeel als Ersatzmann spielen. Wir begleiten This und Daniela durch die Zeit in Amsterdam. Dabei gibt es immer wieder Erinnerungen von This, die in Rückblenden erzählt werden. Bald muss Daniela abreisen. Die Arbeit in ihrem Töpfer-Atelier wartet. Der zweite Teil der Novelle startet nach ziemlich genau der Hälfte des Buches.

Ich habe in den Lektürepausen ein Konzert des Jazz-Projektes LIUN angehört. LIUN besteht zwar aus deutlich mehr als fünf Personen, war für mich aber trotzdem der perfekte Soundtrack zu dieser schönen Novelle. Buch und Musik haben eine heitere Melancholie, die nie ins pathetisch Lebensbejahende oder ins annähernd Depressive abrutscht. "Das Leben ist leicht. Schwer ist nur die Angst davor."

Ein kurzes und lohnenswertes Buch. Vielen Dank an @Berengaria für diese schöne Empfehlung!

[Donnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this novella four stars, not so much because it is an amazing tale, but more for its language, warmth, and forced introspective qualities. Many books have brought me to consider the depths of human depravity, despair, and loneliness, but few have brought me to such a thorough interrogation of my own fulfillment in life. I found myself not just trying to decipher my own ideas about happiness, but absolutely aching to find some kind of rationality to the choices and courses of I have selected in life. The book induced the same kind of quiet envy and comparative measurement I often find myself engaged in when I meet safe people that are seemingly calm and open to life. "What is it that I am lacking here?" is often what the voice in my head says in this situation when someone crosses my path that shows me that there are higher levels of existence, someone who has dispensed with the petty, meaningless, eroding aspects of life and existence.

So, I found myself playing this all to familiar conversation out in my head, often throughout reading this book, yet in an almost cathartic way this time - perhaps absent of envy and more focused on consideration. There is a soothing permission to the piece, urging one to confront the world with patience and an open heart, to allow everything to penetrate our barriers. Eh. I don't know if I am of the mindset or the demeanor to even attempt experimentation with such a concept, but to consider it in the moment while reading this story was powerful. What is great is that the permission given is couched in a history of the main character that slowly resolves throughout the story. In his memories of the past, his deliberations on his relationships with family and life, one sees a man who is not repressing pain and distress, but confronting it as it comes. Not confronting it with a battle posture, but more like a baker working his dough, kneading it, smoothing out the clumps and binds. It is a process mixed with rote, repetitive motions, as well as deliberate designs towards a more fulfilling out come. It is what it is; well really it is what you do with it. We have so many decisions to make with how we handle this life, and there is so much risk in participation. I see this character as a courageous one. Sometimes it is courageous to go with the flow, to take it in, to ride the fence.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Being happy begins just a little above the earth." Schertenleib's novella describes the life of a happy man, a self-set task that both put me on my guard and intrigued me. Surprisingly, it delivers. Aside from a few weak moments – usually anodyne sentences at the end of a chapter ("Life is easy. Only the fear of it is hard.") – the story flows as easily as sunlight on the surface of an Amsterdam canal. This Studer (the eponymous protagonist, and yes, This is his name) is a jazz trumpet player, a loving husband and father, a fine friend. He's a "lucky dog" – an empty description that unexpectedly acquires an edge of luminous darkness. Even happy stories make you a bit sad in the end.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing of this book much better than the story. I think if I had gone into it thinking of it as a series of tales that would have worked better for me.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ✨

[BetweenLinesAndLife]

4.25 Sterne

Eine spezielle Leseerfahrung!

Mir gefiel der Schreibstil besonders gut, die Wir-Perspektive im Besonderen, die am Schluss viel Sinn macht, sich aber auch während dem Erzählen richtig anfühlt und das Leseerlebnis speziell macht.
Auch die Geschichte hat ihren Reiz, sie erinnert ein bisschen an eine Parabel, simpel, jedoch durchaus effektiv.
Auf manche Charakterbeschreibungen bzw Kommentare en passant könnte ich verzichten, dafür hätte etwas mehr Tiefe in gewissen Momenten.
Kurzweilig, stilistisch spannend, macht neugierig auf Weiteres vom Autoren!

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The Happy Man" drew me in with book jacket copy stating that Schertenleib was on a mission to write compellingly about a happy person.

However?

This novella is decidedly /not/ happy.

I really enjoyed it until the end ... which made all of it ... not worth it. Very disappointed. It had such potential. I'm all for the German gothic ideal, but to tell me I'm reading a happy book, and then squash me like a bug at the end? Not cool Mr Schertenleib. Not cool at all. Boo.

[Jefferey Spivey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense yet engaging novella that serves as a meditation on happiness, a tribute to jazz, and an acknowledgment that all karmic debts must eventually be paid.

[Heinz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Der erste Teil der Geschichte hat mich gepackt, und ich wollte unbedingt mehr über This und seine Frau bzw. seine Lebens- und Liebesgeschichte erfahren. Der Erzählstrang Schertenleibs war gradlinig und spannend konstruiert. Leider flacht das dünne Buch im zweiten Teil immer mehr ab. So bleiben mir vor allem viele Namen von Jazz-Grössen und deren fabelhafte (?) Aufnahmen und Konzerte in Erinnerung, mit denen ich aber herzlich wenig anfangen kann. Mehr Interesse hätte ich meinerseits an der Geschichte mit dem Hund, den Auswirkungen auf sein Leben sowie die Beziehung zu seiner Frau gehabt. Schade für den tollen Beginn und seine bisweilen packende, manchmal aber auch elitäre und gestelzte Sprache!

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and witty, a bit sentimental

[Rafal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd little book that was a pleasure to read though the impression was sort of ephemeral.

The idea of this book is that the author was trying to write about a character that was happy and conflict free and see if the book was interesting. The main character is a happy man who is a jazz player. The story revolves around his every day life and some of the history of how he met his wife. The plot was simple but very pleasant. The ending was both disappointing and effective. Spoiler ahead, the character does not survive. But in the end, I do not think we are meant to be sad. We are told not to mourn for him for he is already gone. And should his happy life not be celebrated instead of mourned?

the writing is simple and fairly well paced. The characters are a bit thin, but the main character is fairly well developed. We spend a lot of time in his head and go through some of his history. It is interesting that the book jacket describes a lot of the issues the other characters have. The depressed wife and the unruly teenager. I do not think that characters were quite explicitly written as such. But I guess they work better as a foil that way.

A fun read and the ending was fairly thought provoking.

[Arielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've spoken before of bad and good endings and what they do to a story. This is a classic example of a not too great book with a pretty good ending. This book is mundane. It took me over half the book to even remotely get into it. It's basically only character development of one, sole, character, with little flashes of the past--but there is almost no story. No plot. Well...it's there...it's just really subtle.

The flow of the book was incredibly disjointed, but that's actually one of the things I liked about it. One moment the reader is on a street in Amsterdam with This (yes, that's the character's name), then two paragraphs later, the reader is by a barn of This' youth with a dog. It is very well written and quirky. I was interested in his life and the lives of those he affected, but there wasn't enough.

The book is short--only 90-something pages--but it took me forever to read because I just could not get into it. My life did not change one way or another, having read this book.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. I will say it took me just about the entire thing to fully accept the protagonist's name, which was This. But that's okay. Very European, very loose, tense shifts at will, this is definitely a 'tale' more than anything. My biggest beef was that nothing, really, happened. The only conflict seems to be that This is afraid of dogs. There's a bit of conflict hinted at with his daughter, and a bit with his wife, but they aren't particularized or developed, nor do they lead to anything, so it doesn't really lend interest or weight to the story. The writing is good, though, so it's a worthwhile read, I suppose. People should read more novellas; for this reason I like the series. This is definitely better than Shoplifting from American Apparel, is for sure. A bit of a strange layout and super small type made it a little tough to read, but it's the sort of series that makes you want to buy more (and read more), so, whatever.

[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book I've read since "A Sport and a Pastime" where I wasn't at all reading to find out what was going to happen--the beauty of the writing was enough. This brief book packs dozens of hermetically sealed bits of memory and joy into 93 pages. Passages like this are enough to switch your brain onto a different track entirely, the one where you stop thinking about anything except the order and precision of the words, and your whole self calms down:

One morning in autumn--he must have been fourteen or fifteen--This happened to be present when the flaming leaves of the ornamental grape started to fall. He had just slammed the front door and was about to run over to the workshop when he noticed first one, then another let loose and twirl to the ground with soft finality, until at last whole bushels of them were falling, covering the courtyard in seconds with a red carpet.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best reading experiences I've ever had. Ended up playing a lot of the music mentioned in the book while I read it. Never knew what the fuck jazz was. This book helped me figure out a small piece of it. If nothing else put on Miles Davis' Jack Johnson while reading this.


Quotes:
"He has a lot of friends who waste time waiting for a miracle that will redeem them, transform the life they perceive as a melancholy pencil sketch into a richly-hued oil painting, friends blind to moments of happiness while waiting for that miracle to arrive."

"Life is easy. Only the fear of it is hard."

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting novella with some unusual episodes. Not particularly memorable, though. For a much better European book of the same size and theme, I recommend Jean-Phillipe Toussaint's Monsieur.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought all of Melville House's 'Contemporary Art of the Novella' books last year at the Brooklyn Book Festival. They're all great, but this is my favorite so far (besides the Kertész novellas, of course). Beautiful descriptions of jazz and other things. I'm unsure about the ending, but who cares!

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful little book that left me in tears... thankful for simple beauty of a well written story.

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book worked on me like a poem and like a novel, like a still frame and like a film. I will never remember some of it. I will never forget some of it.

[Lee Bown · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Being happy begins just a little above the earth".

[Spencer Madsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this story, though it sort of felt like a movie or something... michel gondry... idk dont listen to me......

[Pedro Zavala · Rating 2 out of 5]

not quite sure about the content of the book, maybe I expected something else but I felt like a glass of water, not many color, flavor or emotion. some drops of dutch and jazz but that's it

[Christopher Renberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant read. Learned a little about jazz. Came to like a character named This. The ending left me scratching my head in wonder.