A novel from the East German province. The East Thuringian town of Altenburg - once an imperial palace and ducal residence, now expanded by prefabricated housing estates, surrounded by the chemical industry, lignite and uranium mining, and lined with charming castle landscapes - is the setting of Ingo Schulze's novel. In 29 seemingly simple stories, through many small everyday occurrences, the collapse of an entire world is revealed, that dramatic rupture that runs through so many East German biographies after 1989. Ingo Schulze portrays his protagonists, overwhelmed by world history, with unfailing precision, humor, and emotion - all without any pathos. Altenburg, the small town in the East German province, has great potential to become a place like Uwe Johnson's Jerichow or Martin Walser's Philippsburg. Nothing better could happen to German literature.