“A masterpiece for me,” Maxim Biller judged last Friday in Literary Quartet about “The Wall Jumper”. American author Nell Zink has been celebrated for months in the literature sections of the New York Times and The Guardian, and now Rowohlt has published her first novel German published.
The ZEIT magazine dedicated a [feature] to her on this occasion Portrait along with the cover photo, which describes her improbable path to literary success. Zeitenspiegel accompanied Nell Zink for part of this journey. “Without Zeitenspiegel, I wouldn't exist as an author,” she says in ZEIT magazine. The reason for her connection to Zeitenspiegel was unspectacular: Zink's residence permit for Germany was expiring, and she needed a local job. From then on, until her literary breakthrough, she translated texts for us into English. So, for anyone who previously thought Zeitenspiegel authors write well – they should first read the English versions of the reports.