T.C. Boyle's extraordinary and warm literary relationship with his readers and fans in German. Find out why here and add your comments

Mr Boyle tweets in April 2018

''Speaking of German translations, I’ve just learned that the new novel will have its world premiere in German in January 2019, two months prior to its USA release.''

2:12 PM - 30 Mar 2018

SEE ALSO: It's the TC Boyle Experience Unplugged -- in Germany and with his German fans on Twitter - 
https://cli-fi-books.blogspot.tw/2018/01/its-tc-boyle-experience-unplugged-in.html

THIS IS ***KEY**** : -- When I asked Mr Boyle what he felt accounted for this amazing relationship he has with his readers and fans in Germany over the years, and getting warmer all the time, he replied: ''I am thankful to my readers. And I do like to give a show.''

READ ON:

T.C Boyle, the American novelist and short story writer, with over 27 novels and story collections out in English and over 12 foreign languages as well, presides over  a unique fan club of sorts. It's an informal fan club and there is no formal official fanzine website for it, but for the past 30 years, Boyle has not only developed a following in Germany, but he has responded to the following and his fans there by reaching out to them via his own website and Twitter feed. [See TcBoyle.de for information in German, thanks for Holger Reichard.] In fact, about half of his incoming Tweets come from readers and fans in Germany, and most of them are written in German, too. Boyle, who speaks Spanish and German, often responds to the tweets from Germany in German as well. While his novels and short story collections are also translated into French and Italian and Spanish and a dozen other languages, for some reason Boyle's novels and personality resonates most in Germany. He flies over there after each new novel is published and gives lectures, readings, TV interviews and meet and greet book signings all over the country but focused mostly in Berlin and Cologne. No other American novelist has this kind of following in Germany, and no other American novelist has this kind of following and rapport with readers in a foreign country. In Germany, Boyle is now regarded as a kind of literary rock star and his visits there are always sold-out performances on stage.

So what is to account for this amazing cultural phenomenon that connects America and Germany with the written words and public lectures of an American novelist from California? True, Boyle does go to visit other nations in Europe and he is well-received there by readers and literary critics there as well. In fact, he recently noted in a tweet: " I've toured there [in Germany] more than in other foreign countries. My second best is France, followed by the UK and everybody else. I can't go everywhere and these trips do exhaust me, so I must pick and choose."

He also noted on his blog in early January 2018: "[As for] Europe, I am looking forward to the publication of a new collection of [a set of earlier short stories that have been published here and there in English and this new collection is in German only and is] unique to Germany (titled ''Good Home'') to be released [on January 29th there] and at some point, my new Italian publisher, La Nave di Teseo Editore, will [soon] bring out the Italian translation of The Terranauts, while in France, my longtime publisher, Editions Grasset, will release the French version of that novel as well.''

When a German reader sent a tweet to TCB the other day telling him that his new collcetion of short stories GOOD HOME was being released in German translation in bookstores in Germany on January 29, TCB replied in his usual friendly and warm and humourous style: "Thanks for the note. I hope riots don't break out in front of the bookstore."

Fons noted on Twitter: ''All I can tell you, is that it's just amazing, when you notice, that when he goes on tour, a hall of over 1000 seats is sold out in a week or the book signing line is lasting 2 hrs and every fan is getting a kind word.''

Some photos of TCB in Germany at many of his events there in the past, hat tip to Holger Reichard who curates http://www.tcboyle.de/category/news/ and has been with Tom at most of his events in Germany since 1980.

Holger told me in a tweet: ''Yes, it started with the first great translation of ''Water Music'' and especially with Werner Richter's translation for Boyle here in Germany in 1987.''

When I tweeted to Holger: "Maybe Tom is the new Mark Twain visiting Germany to give a good show in sold out halls as a literary humorist with all the rights moves," Holger replied: Good point.''

So how did this amazing two-sided lovefest between Germany and TCB get started, I asked? Was there one special event to kickstarted the phenomenon? Holger replied: ''That was a long process, started in the 1990s and mostly based on his novels »Water Music« and »Buddings Prospects«. Not a specific event.''


Vera in Germany told me: ''Hi! I'm from Germany.
My first T.C was ''watermusic'' 1987. And its still the one I love most. I can only speak for myself: For me he is a very special person and I love his attitude, humor and coolness. But most of all : He is simply a great writer."

THIS IS ***KEY**** : -- When I asked Mr Boyle what he felt accounted for this amazing relationship he has with his readers and fans in Germany over the years, and getting warmer all the time, he replied: ''I am thankful to my readers. And I do like to give a show.''

When Buchereien Wien tweeted to TCB the other day: "TCB taucht ein ins dunkle Amerika: Sigrid Löffler ist von seinem neuen Erzählband "Good Home" sehr angetan. "http://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/t-c-boyle-good-home-stories-gute-und-sehr-gute-geschichten.950.de.html?dram:article_id=409355 …" ...Tom replied in German on Twitter: "Nice to know. Vielen dank, Buchereieners.''

A recent January 2018 newspaper article about TC Boyle and his new short story collection from Germany: headlined ''Ich rette auch jede Ratte" [''I will save each and every rat, if I can...'']  

To give you an example of how Mr Boyle interacts with his Twitter followers in Germany, sometimes in English and sometimes in German by both parties, the other day a woman in Germany sent a tweet to Tom that informed that his new short story collection "Good "Home" would be in bookstores in Berlin on January 29, and how excited she was, he replied in his deadpan/humorous/Mark Twain style of Boylebaisse merriment: "Excellent. I just hope there aren't any riots at the bookstores."

She "liked" his tweet with a heart icon in her comment.

More often than not a reader in Germany will tweet something in 140 characters in German, and Tom will reply in German as well.

It was seeing these tweets on Mr Boyle's Twitter feed in German that first caught my attention. Not many American novelists have Twitter followers who write in foreign language tweets and are answered with a short reply in that same language.

I began seeing so many tweets on a daily basis from Boyle's German friends and fans that I woke up to what I began to as a literary breakthrough: an American author taking the time to interact with his German readers in their own language. Very few American writers would do this. Boyle does, generously, warmly, with a cowboy sincerity.

So how did this lovefest first begin?

 It began in 1987 with the translation of ''Water Music'' into German and published by a marketing savvy publisher in Berlin. There was no one key moment in the development of the Boyle lovefest from its initial beginnings in 1987 to today in 2018, according to Holger Reichard in Germany who runs the German language Boyle website www.boyle.de

"It just happened slowly over the last 30 years," he told me during a Twitter chat we had. "There was no one key event that set the lovefest off. It just percolated by itself, aided and abetted by Tc boyle himself, his German publishers' marketing team, and a series of German language interviews in the Berlin media."

Osmosis. Cosmic convergence. It just happened, sweetly, over time. There was no PR operative secretly orchestrating the ongoing lovefest. But both the German and the American parties welcomed it.

When Boyles novel ''The Terranauts'' comes out in German this year, Mr Boyle will as he has done for all his releases in Berlin, fly to Europe, spend a week or two giving public performances (not readings but performances, seasoned with humor, bright clothes and an inate and inborn showmanship!) To packed halls of SRO literary auditoriuns around the country. It will be fun, as always, Boyle's fsandom  will eat it up and Tom return home to California a bemused and happy man. 

An American  author  in his element in Germany. 

Go figure.

It's not vaudeville. It's Boyledeville!

The secret to TCB's warm relationship with fans and readers in Germany? Look at it this way: It's Mark Twain reborn in the six foot three frame  of a skinny goateed stage show performer, up close and personal, with no rehearsals or cue cards. 

It's the TC Boyle Experience Unplugged.

[ Keep reading below, and please excuse the gremlins who took over the rest of the post below but read what you can...]

dan bloom T.C Boyle, the American novelist and short story writer, with over 27 novels and story collections out in English and over 12 foreign languages as well, presides over  a unique fan club of sorts. It's an informal fan club and there is no fanzine website for it, but for the past 30 years, Boyle has not only developed a following in Germany, but he has responded to the following and his fans there by reaching out to them via his own website and Twitter feed. In fact, about half of his incoming Tweets come from readers and fans in Germany, and most of them are written in German, too. Boyle, who speaks Spanish and German, often responds to the tweets from Germany in German as well. While his novels and short story collections are also translated into French and Italian and Spanish and a dozen other languages, for some reason Boyle's novels and personality resonates most in Germany. He flies over there after each new novel is published and gives lectures, readings, TV interviews and meet and greet book signings all over the country but focused mostly in Berlin and Cologne. No other American novelist has this kind of following in Germany, and no other American novelist has this kind of following and rapport with readers in a foreign country. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland  Boyle is now regarded as a kind of literary rock star  and his visits there never fail to disappoint. So what is to account for this amazing culural phenomenon that connects America and Germany with the written words and public lectures of an American novelist from California.  True, Boyle does go to visit other nations in  Europe and he is well-received there by readers and  literary critics there as well. He recently noted on his blog in early January 2018: "[As for] Europe, I am looking forward to the publication of a new collection of [a set of earlier short stories that have been published here and there in English and this new collection is in German only and is] unique to Germany (titled ''Good Home'') to be released [on January 29th there] and at some point, my new Italian publisher, La Nave di Teseo Editore, will [soon] bring out the Italian translation of The Terranauts, while in France, my longtime publisher, Grasset, will release the French version of that novel as well. ​''​ So as you can see, Boyle's novels are also being translated in many other European countries, but the special relationship he and his publishers and his German fans have created exists only in Germany. As cultural reporter interested in literature and translations and international relationships along literary lines, this phenomenon fascinates me and I hope to find a reporter at the New York Times or another USA publication to report this with an in-depth look at the amazing backstory here: Germany and the USA and TC Boyle. Today a German reader and fan with the Tweeter name of Fons told me a few things via Twitter: 5) ​ ​ Good @hansermarketing marketing?The success of number of other US authors in Germany?His Charisma? His kindness towards every reader and tweetster?His charisma?Him, being a very nice fellow?... A mixture of it all? Let's hope some German reader will be ready to tell you more. 4) A well-founded explanation, you are asking for.The themes of his books? His entertainment and humor which is bringing into dusted German literature? Each book being very different from the next one? His performances rather than readings when he is on Tour?Good translators? 3) http://www.jonathan-swift-preis.ch/downloads/2017-Song-Boyle-Awards.mp3 2) My guess about Mr. Boyle's answer will be kind of "There is NO one better than ME". Tell me, who could disagree? 1) ​ ​ Maybe Mr. Boyle or @hanserliteratur can give you the answer.All I can tell you,is that it's just amazing,when you notice,that when he goes on Tour,a hall of over a thousand seating is sold out in a week or the signing line is lasting 2 hrs and every fan is getting a kind word. ​ Why is T.C. Boyle so popular in Germany, more so than in any other European country? It's an interesting backstory, and someday it will be told. One German professor who teaches in Taiwan told this blogger the other day:  ''T.C. Boyle – yes, I am aware that he is one of the most popular contemporary authors in my home country. As to why, I can only guess – but the American wilderness cult which Boyle so lovingly satirizes has always resonated with Germans’ Romantic attachment to nature. On a more prosaic level, Germany is a big literary market. Might also be that he got lucky with his German translator, ​Werner Richter, ​ who has so far done 6 of his novels.'' A British novelist ​who lives in Denmark ​ tells me: ''The Germans like to laugh: maybe it’s that?'' ​And it is also important that this Boyle Phenomenon also happens in other German-speaking nations -- Austria and Switzerland! He often tours there, too and receives the same adulation and acclaim and applause and happy faces. As I get more feedback from readers and publishers and fans in German, Austria and Switzerland on all this, and maybe from Mr Boyle himself and from his able translator Werner Richter, born in Germany in 1954​ and having studied for a year in Canada, I will to this continuing blog saga. I am not going to write the New York Times article. I am trying to persuade the Times editors to assign this story to one of their Berlin reporters, Karin Bennhold or Melissa Eddy. ​But. ​Funny story: I recently asked a  NY Times reporter based in Europe, an American guy  who is usually very savvy about cultural things,  he is an editor there, who covers culture,  in London and Berlin, he told me he was not  interested in assigning this news phenomenon  to a staff reporter, saying to me by email last night:  ''I don't think this is one for us,  Dan: I don't feel  it would interest many  readers outside of Germany.​'' ​He also added: "​ I don't think USA readers  would be interested in his  popularity in Germany. ​"​ ​ He is so wrong. This literary phenom is certainly of interest to readers outside of Germany and American readers of newspapers and websites would LOVE to read this completed news article. But who will write it? The BBC, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Literary Hub, Guernia, The Chicago Review of Books, Slate, Salon, who will take the first step? For now this blog will keep readers in Germany, Austria and Swizterland up to date and if I hear anything from  Mr Boyle I will add his comments here. . ​ Sans Serif

The German-language cover for a translation of T.C. Boyle's latest short story collection published this month in Germany only (although the cover copy uses English for the cover title and note that the book has no dust jacket. It’s built-in, according to publishing sources. There are 20 stories from Wild Child & A Death in Kitchawank, opening with “Balto” & closing with “Los Gigantes,” the sources confirmed.

Why is T.C. Boyle so popular in Germany, more so than in any other European country? It's an interesting backstory, and someday it will be told. One German professor who teaches in Taiwan told this blogger the other day:  ''T.C. Boyle – yes, I am aware that he is one of the most popular contemporary authors in my home country. As to why, I can only guess – but the American wilderness cult which Boyle so lovingly satirizes has always resonated with Germans’ Romantic attachment to nature. On a more prosaic level, Germany is a big literary market. Might also be that he got lucky with his German translator, who has so far done 6 of his novels.''

A British novelist tells me: ''The Germans like to laugh: maybe it’s that?''

The new book for German fans is a short story collection unique to Germany, and published only in Germany in German, for Boyle's German readers and fans, combining stories from two of his previous short story collections. You can see more about it at Amazon's site in Germany:

https://www.amazon.de/Good-Home-Stories-T-C-Boyle/dp/384452911X

• Pub date and Publisher: 
• der Hörverlag; Auflage: Gekürzte Lesung, Auswahl (January 29, 2018)

Wenn bei T.C. Boyle von "Good Home" die Rede ist, muss man auf alles gefasst sein: Ein Witwer legt sich eine Schlange zu, aber die Ratten, mit denen er sie füttern will, wachsen ihm so sehr ans Herz, dass er Dreizehnhundert von ihnen beherbergt. Eine Zwölfjährige soll vor Gericht gegen ihren alkoholkranken Vater aussagen; und plötzlich gibt es viele Wahrheiten. Eine betörende Frau lässt sich auf den Hundemann ein – kurz zuvor hatte sie ihm ihre Kätzchen anvertraut, doch was er mit denen vorhat, kann sie nicht ahnen. Der Bestsellerautor erkundet in seinen neuen Erzählungen, die dieser Band versammelt, die dunkle Seite der amerikanischen Seele – witzig, exzentrisch, unheimlich.

T. Coraghessan Boyle, born  in 1948 in Peekskill, N.Y., geboren, unterrichtete an der University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Bei Hanser erschienen zuletzt Willkommen in Wellville (Roman, 1993), América (Roman, 1996), Riven Rock (Roman, 1998), Fleischeslust (Erzählungen, 1999), Ein Freund der Erde (Roman, 2001), Schluß mit cool (Erzählungen, 2002), Drop City (Roman, 2003), Dr. Sex (Roman, 2005), Talk Talk (Roman, 2006), Zähne und Klauen (Erzählungen, 2008), Die Frauen (Roman, 2009), Das wilde Kind (Erzählung, 2010), Wenn das Schlachten vorbei ist (Roman, 2012), San Miguel (Roman, 2013), die Neuübersetzung von Wassermusik (Roman, 2014), Hart auf hart (Roman, 2015), die Neuübersetzung von Grün ist die Hoffnung (Roman, 2016) und Die Terranauten (Roman, 2017). Im Frühjahr 2018 erscheint ein neuer großer Erzählungsband: ''Good Home.''

Why is T.C. BOYLE the American author of over 25 novels and short story collections, who lives in California, why is he so popular in Germany? Not just popular, but Germany is his second market, after the USA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=I5rQi5DceI4

BOOK COVERS IN GERMANY

http://www.tcboyle.net/deutsch .html 

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T.C. BOYLE und das graphische Design -- Beispiele für Umschläge der deutschen Ausgaben   Tod durch Ertrinken Wassermusik Wassermusik (tr. by Annette Grube) (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) Wassermusik Grün ist die Hoffnung Grün ist die Hoffnung (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) Greasy Lake und andere Geschichten World's End World's End (tr. by Ditte König & Giovanni Bandini) (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) Wenn der Fluss voll Whisky wär Wenn der Fluss voll Whisky wär Wenn der Fluss voll Whisky wär (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) Der Samurai von Savannah Der Samurai von Savannah Der Samurai von Savannah (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) Willkommen in Wellville Willkommen in Wellville Fleischeslust (tr. by Annette Grube) (tr. by Annette Grube) (tr. by Werner Richter) Mein Abend mit Jane Austen The Tortilla Curtain América (tr. by Werner Richter) (English edition) (tr. by Werner Richter) América Riven Rock Riven Rock (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) Riven Rock Der Fliegenmensch Der Polarforscher (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) (tr. by Werner Richter) Ein Freund der Erde (tr. by Werner Richter) --Sandye Utley, Cincinnati, Ohio Last Page Update: 13 May 2001

[Excerpted from Markus Schröder's book, "Nice guys finish last: Sozialkritik in den Romanen T. Coraghessan Boyle."  Die Blaue Eule, Essen 1997, 257 p. ISBN: 3-89206-840-2.]

Not France, not Italy, not Spain, not Mexico, no Japan, but Germany. 

He travels there regularly after each book release for 3 week PR tour with readings, signings and lectures. Immensely popular among German fans and readers who read him in Germany translation. 

MS:  THE TORTILLA CURTAIN It is called América  here in Germany.  How do you feel when you  see that the titles of your novels have changed?  This one is not even the worst.

TCB:  Well, I have to trust my translator, Werner Richter, and my publisher.  I have to trust in their judgment.  However, I prefer The Tortilla Curtain.  Although everyone can identify with the title América  on a shelf, it only focuses on one of the four main characters, whereas The Tortilla Curtain gives you the central image of the book which is that of the border, of a wall, of a fence, and so on.  And so I prefer The Tortilla Curtain personally which could be very easily rendered into German.  There are arguments that no one would know what it means, but of course a lot of people in the States don't know what it means either and they find out.  I don't think it's necessarily bad to have an intriguing title.  I'm sure I could demand that they give it the original title, but I have to trust them/

MS:  And the translator is praised for his work here in Germany.

TCB:  I understand that.  He's done all of my books but one, and the only one he didn't do was Willkommen in Wellville, and that because I delivered the book so early, ahead of time, that he wasn't ready yet.  He still worked on something else, so we had to get another translator [Anette Grube].  I have a sense for his translations because, for instance, the last two nights I was giving a performance [in Cologne and Bonn].  I did it with an old friend, Dr. David Eisermann of Bonn, and David would read some consecutive pieces.  I would read one piece and he would read the following piece in German so I could sit there and follow it in the English text.  And Werner Richter has managed to reproduce even the sentence structure and the rhythm which is no mean trick from English to German, so I guess he is pretty good.

MS:  So I hear you know a bit of German.

TCB:  Not really, not really.  The only languages I speak are English and Spanish and I never really thought I would need to know German.  But, since I have become so popular here and I find myself coming here so often, I decided that I should start to study German.  So just this fall I began to take some classes.  My wife's mother is German, she speaks German and her children speak German because they did go to the Deutsche Schule.  So I thought it is time for my wife and I to speak.  We're in a class right now, in fact.  I will be back in that class next Wednesday and give them a report of my trip to Germany.  In our textbook, we're following the adventures of Herr Clark who is an American businessman who goes to Germany , and goes on business, and goes to the hotel, and all these things.  We have dialogues in each chapter, so the other day I asked the professor if he thought that Herr Clark will ever have a girlfriend and... (laughs) and then the professor was quite taken aback because, you see, I came into the class late, and the class had already done most of the book and what I didn't realize was that Mr. Clark is married and has four children.  So i intend to report to the class when I get back that, in fact, I met Herr Clark and he is now living with his girlfriend, Dagmar, who is a stripper, in Mannheim. (laughs)

MS:  From the beginning on in your novels, you have had a preference for German names.  In Water Music it was the city of Geesthacht--I was born only 20 miles away (Boyle laughs) --in The Tortilla Curtain it is Menaker-Mossbacher.  Is this rooted in your family relationships?

TCB:  Yes, I think so.  Give me some other examples, though.

MS:  For example, the name Spitzvogel in The Road to Wellville.

TCB: Well, see, that is true to history. I made him up, but all the main theories in natural sciences and medicine were coming from Germany in those days. So that was just true to history. 

The same translator Werner Richter has done all his novels from English into German, and the translator is a German man. 

TCB is loved by Germany publishers, literary critics, readers, fans, TV interviewers, bloggers and Twitter users. In fact, on Twitter, TCB has a large following of Germany-language Twitter fans on his own feed. And he replies to their tweets in German as well. Spanish is his second language, and now German is his third language. His wife's mother is a German-American and her sent her kids in the USA to German after school classes. Now TCB and his wife Karen Vashtray are taking Germany classes in California to prepare for the next PR tours after release of his next novel in a year or two. There are hundreds of videos of TCB in Germany on trains, giving interviews, readings, signing books for fans, huge lecture halls full of fans all over Germany. No other American novelist has this kind of fan base or appeal overseas and not in Germany at all. TCB is king there. Why? How did this come about? Was there one publisher in Germany who started this trend or one PR person in Berlin who started the craze of all things Boyle? On Twitter, TCB often refers to his wife Karen as "Frau B." standing for Mrs. Boyle in German. Germany readers eat up his American themes of violence, satire, humor, comedy, history, racism, gender equality, monkey sex and everything else he does so well on the printed page for over 40 years. The man is gold in Germany, in the USA too. 

So why has no major media outlet like the NYT or TIME mag or Newsweek or BBC or the Guardian or anyone done a story about WHY Boyle is so popular in Germany? It's a very interesting story and someone should do it. Perhaps the Berlin bureau chief in Germany? 

Or perhaps a national correspondent in the USA who can fly out to Santa Barbara and interview the author about this specific topic -- his amazing popularity in Germany, of all places. AND  TCB seems to very much enjoy his trip to Germany every time. See his videos of Germany trips he re and here and here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ibdvrHH5Kro

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