In a work of blistering dark hilarity, a young Nietzsche experiences life in a metal band & the tribulations of finals season in a modern secondary school
When a new student transfers in from a posh private school, he falls in with a group of like-minded suburban stoners, artists, and outcasts-too smart and creative for their own good. His classmates nickname their new friend Nietzsche (for his braininess and bleak outlook on life), and decide he must be the front man of their metal band, now christened Nietzsche and the Burbs.
With the abyss of graduation-not to mention their first gig-looming ahead, the group ramps up their experimentations with sex, drugs, and...nihilist philosophy. Are they as doomed as their intellectual heroes? And why does the end of youth feel like such a universal tragedy?
And as they ponder life's biggies, this sly, elegant, and often laugh-out-loud funny story of would-be rebels becomes something special: an absorbing and stirring reminder of a particular, exciting yet bittersweet moment in life...and a reminder that all adolescents are philosophers, and all philosophers are adolescents at heart.
Autorentext
LARS IYER is a Reader in Creative Writing at Newcastle University, where he was formerly a longtime lecturer in philosophy. He is the author of the novels in the Spurious Trilogy, and more recently the widely acclaimed Wittgenstein Jr.
Klappentext
This highly anticipated followup to the acclaimed Wittgenstein Jr. finds a young Nietzsche experiencing the excitements and the humiliations of finals season in a modern high school.
When a new student transfers in from private school, his public school peers nickname him Nietzsche thanks to his mysterious charisma. Nietzsche, like his philosopher namesake, is brilliant but doomed to madness, and his new classmates feel compelled to interpret the deeper meaning behind his arrival. For one, they realize that he should be the front man of their metal band. This darkly humorous and entirely relatable novel follows its shining (and too creative for their own good) cast through the last few weeks of school, leading up to an important gig and even more important exams.