Insane (novel)

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Insane
Insane (novel).jpg
German language edition titled Irre (1983)
Author Rainald Goetz
Original titleIrre
Translator Adrian Nathan West
LanguageGerman
Publisher Suhrkamp Verlag
Publication date
1983
Publication placeWest Germany
Published in English
18 October 2017
Pages330
ISBN 3518377248

Insane (German : Irre) is a 1983 novel by the German writer Rainald Goetz.

Contents

Plot

Insane is about mental health and psychiatric institutions. It is divided into three parts: "Away", which is about the treatment of mental illness from a variety of perspectives, "Inside", which follows the experiences in a psychiatric hospital of a young doctor named Raspe, and "Order", which follows Raspe's personal struggles after he stops working in psychiatry. [1]

Publication

Published by Suhrkamp Verlag in 1983, Insane was Goetz' debut novel. It received significant attention in West Germany upon publication, both because of its content and because Goetz, during a public reading from the book ahead of its release, cut his forehead with a razor and let his blood drip onto the manuscript. The stunt made Der Spiegel refuse to review the book. Other periodicals praised Goetz as a new star of pop literature. [2] Insane was published in English translation by Adrian Nathan West in 2017. [3]

References

  1. "Insane". Publishers Weekly . 11 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  2. Dege, Stefan (10 August 2018). "Rainald Goetz: 'Insane'". Deutsche Welle . Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  3. "A German novel of insanity as seen from the inside" . The Economist . 30 November 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2025.