Urs Widmer
Im Kongo

English Title: In the Congo

Kuno, a male nurse in an old people’s home, has a new inmate: his father. In the isolation of the home, they finally start talking. Kuno had always regarded his father as boring, a man without a history and without a destiny – until one day he realises that he had once risked his life in the war. His ageing father had a destiny, and what a destiny! This realisation changes Kuno’s life, and he embarks on a journey into his own psyche which takes him to the depths of the Congo. Longings awaken and dreams come true – rays of light in the darkness, meetings with kings, seductive women and the songs of the jungle: the alluring faraway places which he once regarded as the heart of darkness become an adventurous, exciting scene of lunacy, wildness and a test of his own inner strength. Im Kongo has been sold to Seagull Books, London

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