''Agnes'' is a 1998 German novel by

Peter Stamm Peter Stamm (born 18 January 1963 in Münsterlingen) is a Swiss writer. His prize-winning books have been translated into more than thirty languages. For his entire body of work and his accomplishments in fiction, he was short-listed for the ...

and was considered to be his literary debut. The book was first published in German on August 1, 1998, through Arche Verlag and follows a romance between a nameless older man and Agnes, a young woman that is almost half his age. Of the book, Stamm commented that he saw the book's landscape and climate as an important way of setting the tone for the novel and its characters. The book has been adapted into a

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

and in 2012, ''Agnes'' was adapted into a

stage play A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright. Pla ...

by Christian Papke.

Synopsis

The book takes place in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and is told through the eyes of a narrator whose name is never given and begins with him announcing that Agnes is dead. He then recalls how he had first met Agnes at the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

in April, nine months prior to the novel's beginning. The two hit it off and eventually have sex, with Agnes telling him that it is her first time. Agnes and the narrator go through a series of everyday events, eventually culminating in her getting pregnant. He doesn't want the baby and suggests an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

, much to Agnes's dismay. She leaves him and he's left heartbroken. The two eventually reunite after she grows ill and miscarries, but the loss takes an irreversible toll on their relationship. But one of the main themes in the novel is the story that Agnes wants the narrator to write. He starts off by writing their story so far: how they met, how they fell in love and so on. But when he reaches the present he keeps on writing. He decides what Agnes should wear, what they should eat and even what they should say. Agnes plays along at first, obeying everything that the narrator writes in 'their story'. But when Agnes tells the narrator that she's pregnant the reality and the narrator's story start to drift apart. The narrator actually tries to 'fix reality' in his writing. This ultimately leads to the end of the relationship, after which the narrator seems to have a mental breakdown while it's completely unclear what happens to Agnes.

Awards

* 1999

Rauris Literature Prize The Rauris Literature Prize () is an annual Austrian literary award since 1972 by the Salzburg state government. The prize money is €10,000. It is awarded "for the best prose first publication by a German-speaking author from the previous year". ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, URL=http://www.peterstamm.ch/index.php?n=12&s=32&p=52, Official website (in German) 1998 novels