There is only art, love and death. There is nothing in between

"Literature has something to do with life. Literature alone is nothing." – The Wild Artist Diaries of Horst Bienek

As a critic, novelist, and poet, Horst Bienek was a defining figure in the cultural scene. For forty years, he kept a diary. It is the wild, picaresque epic of a driven man and reads like the novel of his life: Engaging and vivid, he writes about literature, art, and music, as well as his sexual escapades in bars and gay clubs, oscillating between zest for life and disappointment. He encounters the greats of his time, from Borges to Yourcenar, and meets the protagonists of post-war literature, from Reich-Ranicki to Joachim Kaiser, from Bachmann to Frisch. An artist's diary of radical openness, a grand panorama of society, and his very personal life story.