Novel by Gerhard Roth

A “journey beyond” as a literary farewell

Author Gerhard Roth

(Bild: Jürgen Radspieler)

When Gerhard Roth died in February 2022, he was writing a new novel - he probably knew himself that it would be his last. Although he was no longer able to complete the work, his "Jenseitsreise" will be published in book form next week. It is the touching legacy of a great author.

Literature was always the place of greatest freedom for Gerhard Roth. The Styrian author could imagine anything and anyone in his writing - and he pursued this freedom to the very end: He left behind his last, unfinished novel in four books of writing, in which he undertook a journey into the afterlife.

Literary death before real death
To do this, he had to die a literary death before his imminent real death: "I had fled from the world in which I could no longer bear my loneliness, the senselessness, the silencing of people and the lack of love," he has his alter ego Franz Lindner say at the beginning of his "Journey Beyond".

The last novel by the great Styrian: "Jenseitsreise" (416 pages, 26.80 euros)

(Bild: S.Fischer)

This journey takes Lindner to Cairo - where he constantly walks on the border between reality and fantasy, between past and present. For example, he meets long-dead fellow artists there - from Franz Kafka to Stefan Zweig and Thomas Bernhard - and experiences bizarre but also touching moments with them. The question of what the afterlife might actually look like is a recurring theme, as is the question of how art and culture deal with death.

Unbridled creativity to the end
The result is a playfully creative, but at the same time very serious and profound examination of the afterlife. And the book is also an astonishing expression of Roth's unbridled creativity, which obviously never left him until his sad end. And in a way, he lives on with this "journey beyond" as the final act of his creative work.

The book will be on sale from May 29 and will be presented at an evening in the Graz Literaturhaus on June 3: Johannes Silberschneider will read from "Jenseitsreise", followed by a discussion with Roth expert Daniela Bartens and his widow Senta Roth.