Warm-hearted and wild: On setting out, breaking out and loving – the life of an anti-hero

DAS EISERNE HERZ DES CHARLIE BERG
[The Iron Heart of Charlie Berg]
by Sebastian Stuertz
btb, March 2020

Charlie Berg has a weak heart and the sensitive nose of a dog. The only thing his parents taught him as a child was that a couple of artists should never have children. It is the early 1990s, Charlie wants to move out and stop being the family jackass who keeps everything together while mother is at the theatre unsettling the world and father sitting around stoned for weeks in recording studios. The job at the lighthouse is within his grasp – and then everything gets out of hand: While out hunting with Granddad, not only is the stag shot at but Granddad as well. And what about Charlie’s secret big love, Mayra, his video pen pal in Mexico? Doesn’t have anything better to do than marry that crook Ramón …

Sebastian Stuertz, born in 1974, is a media artist, music producer and podcaster, and his main job is animating graphics for films and television. He lives and works in Hamburg. DAS EISERNE HERZ DES CHARLIE BERG is his debut novel.