Tyll

Daniel Kehlmann is one of the most famous contemporary authors writing in German. His novel Tyll is a skillfully composed mixture of Western European folklore, fiction, and real historical events of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), which covered almost all European countries.

Tyll Ulenspiegel, the hero of medieval legends, trickster, provocateur, and mocker, the embodiment of the rebellious spirit, was transported by the writer to the XVII century, on the land of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, mutilated by endless ruin. The hero, who lost his father and mother, but swore never to die, in his travels through the ashes of the former world, encounters traveling actors and kings who have lost their crowns, executioners and learned husbands, poets and inquisitors, and the baker's daughter Nele remains his faithful companion.

The skill of the writer mysteriously connects and connects all these destinies, and the real fabric of that cruel time appears before the reader. In 2020, Daniel Kehlmann's novel Tyll was included in the shortlist of the Booker International Prize.