Eva Maria Magdalena Neuhauser is only called Maria by everyone and has more than 30 years of relationship with Herwig. One day, she quits her job at the local bank, grabs her husband’s Volvo, and runs away. Where is it irrelevant, the way is important to her – and that leads her south, out of the beautiful, idyllic mountain world, in which she no longer feels at home. Herwig only learns of all this bit by bit, because there is no trace of a farewell note.
Festival and Mozart
As suddenly Maria leaves her old life, she quickly plunges into a new one. Whatever may be due to her young companion Lisa, who not only occupies Achleitner as a narrator in a general plot, but who also has a certain moment of liberation. This also includes a gathering of hippies who represent the earthbound and connected aspect of the following treatises. After arriving in Greece at the latest, it appears “fleeting” like bridging the gap between Catholic monastic teaching and classical mythology.
What (apparently) separates and connects people is a constant theme of Achleitner. How, of course, music should not be missing in the first novel by the multi-decorated singer. The Salzburg Festival and Mozart are honored in this regard, as is the punk spirit of Nina Hagen or traditional sounds from the Greek coast. Most of these are just vehicles to illustrate the inner state of Maria and Herwig or to let the characters indulge in nostalgic memories.
Roman as Hubert Achleitner
Because they are on a search in which the goal is only obvious on Herwig’s side – of course he wants to know where his wife is, why she left him, what all this means. But there are also many unanswered questions about the life of the teacher with a soft spot for awareness-enhancing tobacco products, which he still cannot answer after six decades on this planet.
With “fleeting” Achleitner succeeds in an absolutely entertaining excursion into subject areas that have influenced his work in one way or another. You can see that some of the dialogues are sometimes stilted. There are some interesting episodes that look like they were taken from a lesson by the good-natured, relaxed Herwig. But ultimately, even a pedagogue with a lot of experience does not always have an answer to everything. The search should never end even for “fleeting”.
(Source: APA)
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