Junger Mann, Verwirrt

by Robert Kanigel

Der gefeierte Essayist, Biograf und Sachbuchautor Robert Kanigel präsentiert eine Erinnerung an seinen mäandrierenden, zufälligen Weg vom Ingenieur zum Schriftsteller. Kanigel lädt den Hörer zu einer Zeit- und Ortsreise zurück in die Vergangenheit ein, beginnend mit seiner Kindheit als Sohn jüdischer Eltern in Brooklyn.

Er besucht das Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, zieht dann nach Baltimore und beginnt in einem Munitionslabor zu arbeiten. Der Vietnamkrieg lauert wie ein Schatten hinter der Bühne und prägt sein Bedürfnis nach Arbeit und die verschiedenen Ingenieurberufe, die er annimmt. Er verfolgt eine Reihe von Romanzen, die alle in Herzschmerz enden, bis er Maura trifft, eine hitzige Frau, die ihren Doktortitel in Biologie anstrebt und ihn nach Europa lockt, wo er mehrere einsame Monate als Anglophoner in Paris verbringt.

Durch eine hohe Lotteriezahl von der Wehrpflicht verschont, kehrt er mit Maura nach Baltimore zurück, gibt schließlich seinen Job als Ingenieur auf und wird Schriftsteller, „nicht“, sagt Kanigel, „weil ich beschlossen habe, Schriftsteller zu werden, sondern weil ich angefangen habe zu schreiben.“ .“ Sein erster Job als Autor, eine Reihe von Essays für eine Lokalzeitung, den er aus einer Laune heraus vorschlug, entwickelt sich zu einer prestigeträchtigen Karriere. Kanigel ist nicht der Held seiner eigenen Geschichte, aber seine manchmal selbstironische Ehrlichkeit sorgt für eine zutiefst bewegende Geschichte eines jungen Mannes, der, in seinen Worten, seinen Weg zum Schreiben „durcheinandergeraten“ hat.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2023

About the author

Robert Kanigel was born in Brooklyn, but for most of his adult life has lived in Baltimore. He has written nine books.

"The Man Who Knew Infinity," his second book, was named a National Book Critics Circle finalist, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, and a New York Public Library "Book to Remember." It has been translated into Italian, German, Polish, Greek, Chinese, Thai, and many other languages, and has been made into a feature film, starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

Kanigel's 2012 book, "On an Irish Island," set on a windswept island village off the coast of Ireland, was nurtured by a Guggenheim fellowship and later awarded the Michael J. Durkan Prize by the American Conference for Irish Studies.

"Eyes on the Street," his biography of Jane Jacobs, the far-seeing author of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" and fearless champion of big-city life, was published by Knopf in 2016.

His most recent book, "Hearing Homer's Song: The Brief Life and Big Idea of Milman Parry," is a biography of the man who revolutionized our understanding of the Homeric epics. In support of this project Kanigel was awarded an NEH Public Scholar award.

Reviews

[Julia Alberino · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this memoir. Like Kanigel, I came of age in the 60s, and many of his memories are experiences I shared. His style is relaxed and well-suited to the material. While I would have liked more details about his present reality (the last chapter felt rushed). that did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. Full disclosure: I received the book for free in exchange for agreeing to discuss it online. That did not influence what I thought of the book, since I did not enter the discussion until I was nearly finished.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Book Browse in order to participate in a book discussion later this month (June 2023). This is written by an author totally new to me, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this coming-of-age memoir and was a bit thrown off by its cover too. But, I was incredibly surprised - again realizing that opportunities for life experiences come in a variety of ways so I shouldn't be put off before I begin. Kanigel tackles his coming-of-age during the 1960s and early 1970s with refreshing honesty and introspection. Having lived during the same period (he's only a few months older than I am), it was interesting to re-experience that time but from another person's perspective (as a woman I didn't have to face the draft during the Vietnam War but have vivid remembrances from news reporting of what young men faced during that troubling period in our history). Started when he was in his sixties, the author's reflection on his youth bare his innocence, his serious pursuit of an engineering career (starting in bullet production), his gleeful indulgences in his new-found freedoms and then the sobering moment when reality hit him that youth is on a direct trajectory toward old age and ultimately you have to face a decision on where you want to be then. For Kanigel that came when he saw Igmar Bergman's movie, Wild Strawberries, where the main character, Isak Borg, on a drive to receive an award, stumbles across moments that make Borg question the "choices" he made, causing the author ask "You don't want the life you've chosen (page 105)." When he eventually takes off to Paris to meet up with his latest love, Maura, he stays for 3 months pursuing a life of discovery. He eventually returns to America (Baltimore where he started his engineering career) and falls into "writing," something he had not envisioned himself pursuing - in fact, when he started he had never taken a writing class (though for someone who is self-taught he's a marvelous writer). What made this book so meaningful to me was that the author puts into perspective an important point in aging: that is, as we age and look back on where we once were and where we are now, I think some of us come to the realization that as much as we'd like to turn back the clock and maybe have a "redo," there can never be one because all those choices we made, all those times we tried to cut the Gordian Knot (which the cover of a strawberry tied in a knot represents) to become "a master of your destiny," if you will, are only given once, so it's best to reflect and appreciate the choices, regret the hurts, but be grateful for all that has been given.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5

Robert Kanigel's memoir, focused mostly on his life between 1966 - 1970 (graduation from college through his first jobs, the Vietnam draft lottery, and a couple of major love affairs and his decision to begin writing as a career) is certainly aptly named. The discussion of his beginnings as a writer seems like almost an afterthought, and perhaps it was -- that would certainly fit with the tone of the book. The decision to write seems as much as anything to be a sort of breakaway from a muuddled essentially passive "listening" existence that appeared in his relationship with his parents, his friends, and his love interests. The passivity gives the first 200 pages of the book a rather low energy level that I felt required to push through; the book did not draw me in, even though he is about my age and his story, particularly surrounding the Vietnam years, was familiar to me. In fact, that's why I was interested in the book to begin with.

I received an ARC of this book from BookBrowse.com in return for participating in an on-line book discussion.

[Karna Bosman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cathartic in some ways as Kanigel recalls events and times that I can relate to but over all I struggled to stay with it to the end. Other than a few insights I found this memoir to be self absorbed, meandering and aimless.