Otto Jägersberg’s diverse prose is both delightfully simple and appealingly complex. Written with a precision that can be both poetic and extremely funny. Short and very short stories full of wayward humour. Calendar stories, sketches of memories from the German past, short stories, incidents from the lives of writers, thinkers and criminals, micro essays, anecdotes, observations.

A coming-of-age novel from Westphalia; a well-observed picaresque novel, wrapped in hefty as well as sensual language. An exciting debut that caused quite a stir when it was first published back in 1964.

Flash fiction, memories, short essays, observations and aphorisms: short prose with a lasting effect – by the master of the short form.

How come grey is now called silver metallic? At what point does the word »poet« collapse under its ironic weight? Why is Herwegh, once the greatest poet of all times, hardly read today? Where are the »Global Headquarters of Crime«? And what is the deal with the »Power Block of Reason«?

Comic elements appear alongside the philosophical, scholarly alongside playful, absurd alongside cryptic. Consistently enlightening and surprising, this is a joy to read.

In the piano bar, anything can happen: strange characters come through the door, stories and anecdotes are told, bon mots and philosophical insights shared. The bartender mixes adventurous drinks and the pianist strange notes with familiar melodies. The armchair at the back of the bar is the perfect place for Otto Jägersberg to watch the world in his uniquely precise way.

There is just as much room in Otto Jagersberg’s poems for bitter regret over a vanished bicycle as there is for praise for mashed potatoes, the insight that football helps or a warning about what happens when you kiss the wrong women. A poetic cosmos full of substance, woe and wit.

Why doesn’t Germany have Wine Kings instead of Wine Queens? Should we really drink beer with our potato soup? Do you prefer your cold meats fine or just regular? Writing with gusto and aplomb, precision and whimsy, Otto Jägersberg’s short prose not only explores the culinary arts but also touches on local German traditions, taking a curious peek around the neighbourhood, the cemetery and into the boudoir. As an observer and humourist, Jägersberg turns his eagle eye on the realities of German life – in the forest and the city.

Otto Jägersberg’s new work of short prose is the ideal book with which to forget everything around you.

»Where is happiness? It’s wherever you’re not.« In this playful smorgasbord, happiness can be found on every page.

Everyday observations, anecdotes, culinary explorations, mini essays, poems. Otto Jägersberg captures what he encounters on his wanderings with wit, humour and loving precision.

»Where am I? On the internet. Whatever I see, sees me too. Wherever I click, it looks back at me. In the car, too: when I don’t know where I am, the satellite knows. Everything I click helps fill out the image the internet has of me. I don’t yet know what I want, but the internet does. I guide my mouse according to my interests, I’m bringing myself ever closer to my interests, I’m so close now, I’m in pursuit.«