Sunday, November 11, 2012
Crime by Ferdinand Von Schirach
"Jim Jarmusch once said he’d rather make a movie about a man
walking his dog than about the Emperor of China. I feel the same way".
Crime is the first collection of short stories by German author Ferdinand Von Schirach. Being a defence lawer Schirach in each of his stories demonstrats that occasionally the law gets it wrong, the guily are not always punished and that it's not unusual for the innocent to bear the full weight of the law. The narrator in each of the stories is an un-named defence lawyer.In the story "Fahner" a small town country doctor must endure decades long abuse from his over bearing wife. One evening he snaps and murders her in his allotment. He phones the police informing them of his crime, then calmly awaits their arrival.
"Self Defence" relates the murder in a Hamburg train station of two drunken neo-nazi's by a balding, non descript, middleaged man dressed in grey. When questioned the man is reluctant even to mention his name. After he has been released it emerges he may, or may not be an international hit man.
While "The Ethiopian" deals with the case of Michalka, an orphan and juvenile delinquent who in his later life finds happiness and a family in the Ethiopian countryside.
Each story in the collection is based on an actual case, with the background detailed without being boring or bogged down in legal jargon. It is to its credit that for a book which operates in courtrooms there is a distinct lack of legalese. Crime is th first collection of short stories by Ferdinand Von Schirach. Along with it compaion volume Guilt it is scheduled to be adapted soon for film.
Labels: Crime by Ferdinand Von Schirach. A review.
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