''Wetlands'' (german: Feuchtgebiete, links=no) is

Charlotte Roche Charlotte Elisabeth Grace Roche (born 18 March 1978) is a British-German television presenter, author, producer, and actress.debut novel. Partly autobiographical, it was first published in German in 2008 by

M. DuMont Schauberg M. DuMont Schauberg is one of Germany's oldest and largest publishing houses. It was founded by Bertram Hilden in 1620. The company has been run by the Neven du Mont family since 1805, when Marcus du Mont acquired the ''Kölnische Zeitung'' ...

and was the world's best-selling novel in March 2008. For supporters it is a piece of erotic literature; for critics it is cleverly marketed

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

. It was published in English as ''Wetlands'' by

Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...

in April 2009. The title, which might be translated as "

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s" or "damp areas," here refers to a woman's genitals.

Plot

Set in an anonymous German city, ''Wetlands'' is told by 18-year-old Helen Memel, a schoolgirl who spends some days in the proctological ward of a hospital to be treated for an

anal fissure An anal fissure is a break or tear in the skin of the anal canal. Anal fissures may be noticed by bright red anal bleeding on toilet paper and undergarments, or sometimes in the toilet. If acute they are painful after defecation, but with chronic ...

caused by the careless shaving of her anal hair. Deep at heart Helen is lonely and bored, and has been so since the breakup of her parents' marriage. Her secret plan is to reunite her father and mother by having them visit her at the same time. However, her parents seem to have little interest in their daughter's well-being and show up only occasionally, only for short periods of time, and at different hours. When she learns that her surgery, which included the removal of haemorrhoids, has been successful and she is going to be released soon, she desperately looks for means to prolong her hospital stay. She secretly rams the pedal of her hospital bed into her anus and immediate emergency surgery has to be carried out to prevent extreme

blood loss Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vag ...

. Thus having successfully extended her stay, she waits in vain for her miracle to happen: her parents have stopped visiting altogether, and when she tries to contact them by phone all she gets is their respective answering machines. During this time she falls in love with her favourite

male nurse Nursing is a profession which is staffed disproportionately by women in most parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2020 ''State of the World's Nursing,'' approximately 10% of the worldwide nursing workforce is ma ...

called Robin and tries to draw the young man into her world. At the end of the novel the doctor tells Helen she can go home and she asks Robin if she can go live with him. It becomes apparent that Helen is traumatized, following a childhood experience when her mother tried to commit suicide, although her narration may be unreliable. As the novel ends, Robin is escorting her through a door in the hospital.

Major themes

The major part of ''Wetlands'' is made up of Helen's thoughts, reminiscences and sexual fantasies while confined to her hospital bed. A sexually active woman since she was fifteen, she has had sex with many men and boys and describes herself as continuously

randy Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...

. Shortly after her 18th birthday she had herself sterilised without telling her parents about it. Helen has an unusual relationship to her body. She abhors personal hygiene and enjoys many of the

bodily fluid Body fluids, bodily fluids, or biofluids, sometimes body liquids, are liquids within the human body. In lean healthy adult men, the total body water is about 60% (60–67%) of the total body weight; it is usually slightly lower in women (52-55%). ...

s which are

secreted 440px Secretion is the movement of material from one point to another, such as a secreted chemical substance from a cell or gland. In contrast, excretion is the removal of certain substances or waste products from a cell or organism. The classical ...

excreted Excretion is a process in which metabolic waste is eliminated from an organism. In vertebrates this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after lea ...

from it, be it

mucus Mucus ( ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells. It is ...

pus Pus is an exudate, typically white-yellow, yellow, or yellow-brown, formed at the site of inflammation during bacterial or fungal infection. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is known as an abscess, whereas a visible collection ...

, earwax,

smegma Smegma (Ancient Greek σμῆγμα : ''smēgma'') is a combination of shed skin cells, skin oils, and moisture. It occurs in both male and female mammalian genitalia. In females, it collects around the clitoris and in the folds of the labia min ...

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

(including menstrual blood), sweat, or tears, but also men's

sperm Sperm is the male reproductive cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm with a tail known as a flagellum, whi ...

, all of which she " recycles" by putting them into her mouth and swallowing them. She loves to attract potential sexual partners by parading, underneath her dress, her unwashed vulva and the smells emanating from it. In a series of interviews Roche explained that cleanliness and above all pedantic care for their own bodies, including the use of artificial scents such as

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

, have been inculcated upon women for ages; that this obstructs their—not just sexual—self-realisation; and that the fear of harmful "

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

" has been vastly exaggerated. Generally, ''Wetlands'' touches upon a number of

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

topics not only in the sexual arena but also those that can be found in the society at large, particularly in dysfunctional families. These include

self-mutilation Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...

triggered by recreational drug abuse, people's inability to deal with suicide attempts, and

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

Edition

In German: * Charlotte Roche: ''Feuchtgebiete'' (DuMont: Cologne, 2008) () (18th edition as of August 2008). In English: * Charlotte Roche (2009). ''Wetlands'',

, , , 208 pages. (Translator:

Tim Mohr Tim Mohr is a New York-based translator, writer, and editor. Biography Mohr's narrative history of East German punk rock and the role the movement played in bringing down the Berlin Wall and in forming the culture of 21st century Berlin was p ...

Film adaptation

A film of the same name based on the novel, directed by and starring Carla Juri as Helen, premiered at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

in August 2013.

References

{{reflist 2008 German novels German erotic novels Self-harm in fiction German novels adapted into films 2008 debut novels