New #MeToo romance targets German media giants

It’s a book that began to generate speculation as soon as its next publication was announced about a year ago: Set in the world of German media, “Noch wach?” (Still awake?) is described as a #MeToo romance “inspired in part by several true events”.

Why is the German media so excited about the book?

The author, whose works have not been translated into English, is the pop star of German literature. Having achieved fame with his debut novel, “Solo Album” (1998), and subsequently published self-fiction that detailed his drug addiction (“Panikherz”, 2016), Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre quickly became a household name in Germany through from various media appearances, as a TV and radio presenter, and through readings.

Between his various media gigs, from 2008 to 2018, he wrote for newspapers for Axel Springer, Europe’s largest publisher, and developed a close relationship with company boss Mathias Döpfner, who has recently come under fire for a series of messages from controversial text. , including slurs about “East Germans”.

Stuckrad-Barre also played a key role in the downfall of Julian Reichelt, former editor-in-chief of Photograph, the most important tabloid in Germany, also owned by Axel Springer. Following German media reports of sexual misconduct in March 2021, Reichelt initially remained unharmed.

But several months later New York Times published its own profile of publishing giant Axel Springer, following the latter’s acquisition of the US political news company political. The piece analyzed Axel Springer’s workplace culture – one that “seems stuck in the past”, the article claimed – and how young female employees were promoted by Reichelt in exchange for sex and were paid to keep quiet after being fired.

O NYT The article quoted Stuckrad-Barre, who received WhatsApp messages from Mathias Döpfner demonstrating that the Springer CEO intended to protect Reichelt during an investigation into his behavior, describing him as “really the last and only journalist in Germany”.

It was only after the publication of the NYT article that Axel Springer reversed course and fired Reichelt.

Fiction inspired by real-life events

Different details surrounding the novel were revealed ahead of its release. One of the central characters has been described by the media as a slightly modified version of Julian Reichelt.

People with insider information about the Reichelt case point out that the book’s title “Still awake?” is a reference to a late-night message the editor-in-chief sent to a colleague.

But Stuckrad-Barre denies that his novel is a roman à clef: “Absolutely not,” says the author in an interview with the news agency. Der Spiegel. And yet he says: “A novel, a fiction, can be truer than reality.”

He adds that describing “Noch wach?” like a #MeToo romance is an oversimplification. But the famous author knows that creating expectations based on simplifications can only contribute to sales.

Promoting the book ahead of its April 19 publication, he devised an Instagram campaign this month in which dozens of public figures — as varied as singers Lena Meyer-Landrut and Bill Kaulitz, to pianist Igor Levit — declared to the camera a new title for each of the book’s 18 chapters, which include “Culture of Fearless Speech” or “An Open Secret” each day,

The novel also depicts the narrator’s crumbling friendship with an influential CEO, which is reported to reflect Stuckrad-Barre’s own friendship with Döpfner. But also here, points out the novelist in the Spiegel interview that is simply fiction: “I incorporated a lot of people into this character, including parts of myself, of course.”

Berlin unfazed by Rose McGowan’s impact on Hollywood

Real-life actress Rose McGowanGermany: Seductress Legend of Loreley of the River Rhine is also one of the characters in the novel in a chapter set in 2017 Los Angeles, at the time when Harvey Weinstein’s allegations were being made public. McGowan is known as one of the first women to speak publicly about the powerful producer’s sexual abuse, leading her to become a leading figure in #MeToo.

At the Spiegel interview, Stuckrad-Barre details actually getting to know McGowan during this period, as they were both staying at the same luxury hotel.

While the revelations were seen as a watershed in Hollywood, the author says that upon returning to Germany, he observed how the structures of power and abuse in his media circles in Berlin remained unaffected by the #MeToo movement.

Women who had worked for Springer publications began to contact the author, knowing that he was close to Döpfner. They would tell their story to Stuckrad-Barre, hoping he could support them in some way. He said Spiegel he did not directly reveal what he heard, fearing it would be framed as an act of male grudge against his former friend.

Now, exercising his artistic license, Stuckrad-Barre has released the true details of the allegations.

It remains to be seen whether the book empowers women who can recognize parts of their history in the novel to speak publicly and triggers real change in Springer’s patriarchal structures.

Edited by: Brenda Haas