''Dark Matter'' (german: Schilf) is a 2007 novel by the German writer

Juli Zeh Juli Zeh (, Julia Barbara Finck, née Zeh; born 30 June 1974 in Bonn) is a German writer and former judge. Biography Her first book was ''Adler und Engel'' (translated into English as ''Eagles and Angels'' by Christine Slenczka), which won the ...

. It was published as ''In Free Fall'' in the United States. It tells the story of a physics professor who is told he has to kill a man in order to get his kidnapped son back, and a detective, Schilf, who steps in to solve the case. As of December 2011, a German film adaptation directed by Claudia Lehmann was in post-production.

Writing process

worked on the novel for three years. She researched physics by reading books on the subject and consulted a physics professor, to "make sure that the mistakes I was bound to make were not too obvious." She described the character Schilf as "sort of my brother-in-mind", and identified strongly with him while writing. A reference for the character Oskar was

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

Reception

Brigitte Helbling of ''

Welt am Sonntag Welt, welts or variants may refer to: Media * ''Die Welt'' (''The World''), a German national newspaper ** ''Welt am Sonntag'' (''World on Sunday''), the Sunday edition of ''Die Welt'' * ''Die Welt (Herzl), Die Welt'', former weekly newspaper in ...

'' compared the novel's use of scientific concepts to

Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas, 26 February 1956 or 1958) is a French author, known for his novels, poems and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer ...

's ''

Atomised ''Atomised'', also known as ''The Elementary Particles'' (french: Les Particules élémentaires), is a novel by the French author Michel Houellebecq, published in France in 1998. It tells the story of two half-brothers, Michel and Bruno, and ...

'' and the works of

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

, and reflected that "

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

as an aid to explaining the world" has become "the new religion, the new philosophy in the modern novel". Helbling wrote that with so much plotting and stylistic content as there is in ''Dark Matter'', one would wonder how it would be possible to piece the book together: "Other authors would go belly-up with such a cargo. Juli Zeh steers it confidently and gently, even with wit to the port. ''Dark Matter'' is a virtuoso presentation of astonishing storytelling. The book was longlisted for the

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...

in 2011.

References

{{Authority control 2007 German novels German detective novels German-language novels Novels by Juli Zeh German crime novels

Writing process

Reception

See also

References