Botanik des Wahnsinns

When, during the forced eviction from his mother’s apartment, a mix-up causes everything of value to end up at the waste-to-energy plant, the narrator is left, quite literally, with nothing but the scraps of his own family history. The narrator looks back on his family’s history: his grandmother, who was bipolar and attempted suicide twelve times; his mother, an alcoholic; his father, who suffered from depression. And he reflects on his own journey: a childhood in a working-class neighborhood in Munich; the early fear of going mad. His escape from his family to distant New York. Years in Vienna, spending time with Freud in the coffeehouse. And how he ultimately ends up at the psychiatric hospital—as a psychologist. Through his work with patients, he learns that a person is always more than their illness, and that listening is more important than diagnosing. Leon Engler has published numerous plays, radio plays, and short stories and was awarded the 3sat Prize at the Bachmann Competition in 2022. He works as an author, psychologist, and lecturer in psychology and creative writing.

In cooperation with the Literaturhaus Stuttgart and supported by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts