Clemens Meyer
All the Lights
Winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2008
A man bets all he has on a horse race to pay for an expensive operation for his dog. A young refugee wants to box her way straight off the boat to the top of the sport. Old friends talk all night after meeting up by chance. She imagines a future together.
Stories about people who have lost out in life and in love, and about their hopes for one really big win, the chance to make something of their lives. In silent apartments, desolate warehouses, prisons and by the river, Meyer strikes the tone of our harsh times, and finds the grace notes, the bright lights shining in the dark.
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- With an introduction by Stuart Evers.
- ‘Of Dogs and Horses’, Katy Derbyshire’s translation of a story from the collection, was published in The Guardian in June 2009.
- Clemens Meyer’s first novel to be translated into English, Bricks and Mortar (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2016), was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.
- You may also be interested in reading an early interview with Clemens Meyer in English at signandsight.com.
- If you subscribed to And Other Stories before before this book went to the printers, you would have received one of the limited number stamped, early copies of All the Lights and up to 3 other And Other Stories 2011 titles. Find out about subscribing to upcoming titles here.
Print status: Available
Author: Clemens Meyer
Translator: Katy Derbyshire
Original language: German
Format: Trade paperback with flaps
Publication date: 1 September 2011
ISBN: 9781908276018
Ebook ISBN: 9781908276056
Availability: UK, Europe and Commonwealth (excl. Canada)
Number of pages: 256
Reviews
Alex Rayner
The Guardian
‘Take the bare prose of Raymond Carver, apply the bleak outlook of Michel Houellebecq, place characters from an Irvine Welsh book on German streets, and you have something close to this collection of 15 short stories… His tales have an evanescent, impressionistic quality… Meyer thrills and rewards.’
Chris Power
The Guardian
‘Stories of brilliance.’
Die Welt
‘What Meyer manages to achieve leaves you speechless. These stories glow in the world’s darkness.’
Spiegel
‘Clemens Meyer writes the best crafted, toughest and most heart-rending stories in Germany.’
Die Zeit
‘Meyer tells us about people who normally are not ‘literary subject matter’ […] Respect to him. He’s the real deal. We need storytellers like him.’
