It is well known that authors struggle with writing. The illustrator – illustrators are probably not much different when it comes to drawing – Nicolas Mahler has picked out a selection of these best complaints in the volume Oh, the stupid literature! (€20.95/120 pages, Suhrkamp) summarized and illustrated. We already know his art of poetry from his interactions with Thomas Bernhard, James Joyce and Franz Kafka. Personal notes and quotes also played an important role. Now he has Max Frisch complaining, “I almost don’t succeed in anything” and Ingeborg Bachmann saying about her motivation, which is almost astonishing today, “My ambition to write poetry is zero.” EM Cioran, a master of aphorism, also exonerates us with pessimism: “Publishing a book brings with it the same complications as a wedding or a funeral.”
