West Germany in the tumultuous 1970s: While the revolution is being rehearsed at universities and there is a nationwide hunt for the members of the Red Army Faction, a young man sitting in front of his parents’ stuffy and cramped home reaches a decision. Packing up a few things and grabbing his guitar, he leaves. Soon afterwards, he’s standing on the street sticking his thumb out into the wind to hitch a ride. Without money or a plan, the self-declared good-for-nothing muddles his way south via Vienna and Tuscany, encounters weird birds, hopeless romantics, shady rockers, hippies, and the love of his life. He performs as a troubadour in a tie-dyed shirt, and discovers the magical world of mushrooms, the incomparable light of Italy, and the immeasurable freedom of the open road. In the process, he unwillingly becomes the protagonist in a cleverly contrived maelstrom of confusion that, like a fairytale, blurs the line between dreams and reality …
Fahrtwind is a dazzling novel about letting go and running away, about unquenchable yearning, the turmoil of love, intoxication, about the refusal to be useful and the power of music. Artfully and with great sensitivity, Klaus Modick portrays a slacker who defies the social conventions and constraints of his era with wit, irony, and imagination.
