Nick Flynn Bücher

Tiefer kann man kaum stürzen: Der großmäulige Vater, der sich gerne als Schriftsteller und Politikerfreund ausgibt, trinkt sich in Wahrheit über die Jahre runter: erst Autohändler, dann Taxifahrer, landet er schließlich im Obdachlosenasyl. Der Sohn, auch nicht gerade ein Ausbund an solidem Lebenswandel, versieht in ebendiesem Asyl, einer Arche Noah für all die, die im Alkohol zu ertrinken drohen, seinen Dienst - und muss den Niedergang des Vaters aus nächster Nähe miterleben, während er selbst in den Strudeln des Lebensalltags zu versinken droht. Nick Flynn ist dieser Sohn: Ohne Selbstmitleid und in verstörender Aufrichtigkeit erzählt er die Geschichte mit seinem Vater, eine Geschichte, die voller Hoffnung und voller Zukunft ist. Wer etwas erfahren will über die Zwischentöne des Lebens, die den Raum füllen, der auf der einen Seite vom Gelingen, auf der anderen vom Scheitern begrenzt ist, wird dieses Buch lesen.

Known for his bestselling memoirs and as an acclaimed poet, Nick Flynn in Stay presents a self-portrait via a constellation of topics that the author has circled-or have circled him-in his work: suicide, homelessness, addiction, political engagement, artistic friendships.

Nick Flynn chronicles the surreal experience of being on set during the making of the film Being Flynn, from his best-selling memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, and watching the central events of his life reenacted: his father's long run of homelessness and his mother's suicide.

The narrative explores the lasting impact of a traumatic childhood event, as Nick Flynn revisits his past after becoming a father. Through lyrical bedtime stories, he confronts his memories, intertwining themes of loss and resilience. The character of Mister Mann embodies the darkness and vulnerability of Flynn's early experiences, illustrating how these elements shape his identity and parenting. This poignant reflection captures the complexities of familial bonds and the quest for understanding amidst a tumultuous upbringing.

Low explores the jaggedness of memory and what is salvageable when the past is broken by loss, violence, and trauma. Punctuating Nick Flynn’s signature lyric poems are prose pieces and sequences, veering toward essays, including “Notes on a Calendar Found in a Stranger’s Apartment,” a truly strange experience of cataloging a deceased neighbor’s belongings and how quickly they become worthless; “Notes on Thorns & Blood,” a study of time and wounds; and “Notes on a Year of Corona,” a loose sonnet crown about the early stages of the pandemic and the unrest after racist police violence. Despite its existential reverberations, Low is a celebration of desire in all its forms—the desire for home, the desire to be held, the desire for people to be kind to one another, the desire to understand where we are from and what we can do to make the best of that. But how do we create a home, these poems ask, in a world of satellites and atom bombs and algorithms, those things designed to dehumanize and reduce us? To get low is to reconnect with the earth, to engage with the emotional state of the planet, to remember that “the cure all along grows beside us.” Flynn’s collection is a prismatic, even prophetic, experience, with new complexity and ardor at every turn.

Al centro di questa favola autobiografica, priva di sentimentalismi, c'è l'incontro casuale tra Nick e suo padre Jonathan. Nick lo incrocia per la prima volta a 27 anni, mentre lavora come volontario in una casa-rifugio per senzatetto di Boston. Per anni da ragazzo aveva ricevuto lettere da questo estraneo, sedicente poeta abituato a tirare avanti miseramente con mille piccole truffe e tra un periodo di carcere e l'altro. Anche Nick ha condotto una vita semiprecaria tra un peschereccio cadente e le rovine di un deposito trasformatosi in un fiorente centro per l'uso di crack, e adesso si è ridotto a lavorare in un rifugio per senzatetto. Qui un giorno compare, barbone in mezzo ai barboni, Jonathan che ha perso un lavoro dopo l'altro, è sprofondato nell'alcolismo e si trascina per Boston all'interno di un universo tutto suo fatto di miseria e illusioni (i suoi presunti rapporti con Vonnegut e con Patricia Hearst; il suo misterioso Grande Romanzo Americano da finire). Questo memoir racconta con una voce unica, ironica, ritmata, la storia di due vite e del destino che le ha portate a intrecciarsi in modo del tutto inatteso in un centro di accoglienza per gli emarginati di Boston. Una storia molto forte e struggente di due uomini alla deriva negli Usa di oggi, uomini che si cercano, si trovano, si perdono.