AUDIO: “Memories of Heidelberg”: typical Heinz Strunk (4 min)
Accessed: July 17, 2026 10:19 am.
An orphaned hotel, a silent couple, awkward rituals and a risky game of driving: Strunk’s laconic storytelling turns banal moments into insidious spirals. Brutally funny.
“Memories of Heidelberg are memories of happiness,” says a famous poem. …well – or from misfortune. At least with Heinz Strunk. But from the very beginning:
The marriage of Isolde and Bertram knows no surprises. The two Oldenburgers have been married for seventeen years, and now they have nothing to say to each other. Perhaps a trip to Heidelberg will bring a breath of fresh air to your relationship.
Marriage in an endless loop and secret deadly games
During a tough drive, Bertram has his own way of having fun behind the wheel: out of boredom and a thrill that must be kept secret, Bertram challenges himself to keep closing his eyes while driving at full speed. From the initial three seconds, it increased over time to eight. Fortunately, Isolde had never heard of his suicide games.
Classic Heinz Strank: No one is spared
With Heinz Strunk, you know what you’re getting: unhappy times, abandoned characters, a bleak setting, and last but not least: introspection that spares neither the protagonists nor the readers.
Within half a page I have to laugh for the first time – and at the same time I am ashamed to be cheerful, despite all the bitterness. Strunk plays with this duality like no one else.
Heinz Strunk presented his current novel “Zauberberg 2” at the spa house in Bad Bevensen.
Luxury holiday becomes a stress test
The couple combines a trip for Isolde’s mother’s 80th birthday with a week’s stay at the boutique hotel Hôtel & Spa Kurpfalz. But the mother ends up in the clinic with life-threatening pyelonephritis, so the trip is now interrupted by visits from the patient.
The overpriced hotel is empty – no one at the reception, no other guests, no housekeeping. On the first day, a nearby Italian restaurant on a ship on the Neckar was declared a regular restaurant due to a lack of alternatives.
“Rustic,” says Isolde. Bizarre“, thinks Bertram. What is this again? Contaminated vocabulary. After all, you can indulge in some relaxing wellness and just unplug at a rustic cocktail bar, and it makes sense.
Excerpt from: Heinz Strank, Memories of Heidelberg.
When everyday life stifles intimacy and food becomes an anesthetic
Strunk’s unflinching view of people is precise and compelling. He has an unmistakable sense of wording and dialogue. The scheme of each conversation between Bertram and Isolde: the fuse is short, the ice is thin. He eats too much salt, she takes too long in the bath. And so on. Therefore, at some point they agreed to remain silent. Moreover, Isolde no longer wants sex.
“Bertram, I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a long time, but it’s nothing to me.” ? Is this nothing? Is this no longer for me? What’s the point? That be called? Of course he knew what it meant; he immediately understood the meaning of her words. “I’m done with this topic. Just thinking about it makes me sick.”
Excerpt from: Heinz Strank, Memories of Heidelberg.
It’s sitting. Bertram dulls physical melancholy by eating excessively.
No one can talk about awkward moments and lonely people as beautifully as Heinz Strank.
Monotonous rituals and public insults as a relationship trap
At the Italian restaurant, the couple’s treatment becomes increasingly outrageous. Even in the rain and cold there is no room indoors. The food becomes more disgusting every time, but at the same time more expensive. Peggy March’s Heidelberg anthem from the 1960s plays continuously at one point. This gives the book its title.
Why do we stay in relationships even if they are no longer right for us? Why are we drawn to the expected, such as the local pub, the same playlist, or a rehearsed conflict? Why is it so difficult for us to change?
Satire on the worst-case scenario of a loveless marriage
In his new novel, Strunk satirizes the worst-case scenario of a monotonous, loveless marriage that has a chilling effect. And in general, after reading it I want to achieve more than Isolde and Bertram. Be gentle. Funny. More peaceful.
But Soviet qualities are not the reason you read Strunk. This is a quiet but rapidly developing whirlpool of disaster into which we are drawn. With creative twists and lovable losers. Even though only minor events occur, the story picks up speed. Repetition becomes a dramatic trick and an insidious torture on all levels.
Linguistically sophisticated and entertainingly dry
As always, I hope the characters are saved. As always, Strunk has other plans. At some point, the psychological terror Heidelberg inflicts on the couple becomes enough and Bertram becomes an animal. Typical Strunk: linguistically sophisticated, merciless, entertainingly dry.
Maya Nielsen wrote down the story of Joachim Neumann as a book for young people. Neumann helped dig three tunnels that helped the citizens of the GDR escape.
Linguistically subtle, constructed and morally dubious: Christina Burgarz’s novel about the GDR author disappoints.
The film, similar to Carsten Henn’s best-selling novel, is full of cross-references to the world’s great literature.
The literary editors of NDR Culture are looking forward to these books: there are, for example, new ones from Siri Hustvedt and Stefan Cordes. Review.
Memories of Heidelberg
Heinz Strank
Number of pages: 176 pages Genre: Romance Additional information: Top title ARD
BOOK OF THE WEEK Publisher: Rowohlt ISBN: 978-3-498-00974-8 Price: 23 €