Wolf Erlbruch. Award Laureate 2017 1
pass her husband by, and in the end it is she who
literally makes life lift off. No Fear of Dark Subjects Erlbruch often embarks on existential journeys. In books such as La grande question (2003, The Big Question), Frau Meier, die Amsel and Ente, Tod und Tulpe (2007, Duck, Death and the Tulip), he poses important questions about the meaning of life and death with humor and clarity. He does not instruct or moralize, but invites readers to join him in pondering questions whose answers he is also seeking. Erlbruch has said that one important goal of his work is to inspire dialogue between parents and children who read together. Ente, Tod und Tulpe has been hailed as a modern classic. It is a simple and refined meditation on the nature of life and the omnipresence of death. The story is a modern take on the medieval motif of the danse macabre, which ultimately brings people of every age and station face to face with death. Erlbruch treats his theme with gentleness and love. He finds tenderness and intimacy in the relationship between the duck and death, lightening the darkness that so often surrounds dying. One of the most controversial titles Wolf Erlbruch has illustrated is L’ogresse en pleurs (1996, Die Menschenfresserin), with text by Valérie Dayre. In the guise of a dark fairy tale about a woman desperate to devour a child, the story addresses difficult issues in parent-child relationships in allegorical form; such as symbiosis and freedom, love and the fear of loss. The book’s magical realism has an almost nightmarish intensity that lingers long after the covers are closed. It is a difficult book to forget. Wolf Erlbruch often uses advanced collage techniques to build up images that call to mind a theater set. The feeling is enhanced by the purely visual separation he creates between his actors and the background and scenery. Set against strict, abstract background elements, his characters’ movements and physicality gain emphasis and intensity.