SUM­MA­RY

“GO” is a ground­brea­king sym­bio­sis of li­te­ra­tu­re and vir­tu­al rea­li­tya dif­fe­rent kind of re­a­ding by Klaus Merz, one of the most fa­mous Swiss wri­ters . Th­rough the joint at­ten­ti­on di­rec­ted at bo­th the li­te­ra­ry text and the vir­tu­al space, a com­ple­te­ly no­vel di­men­si­on in the nar­ra­ti­on emer­ges in which the au­di­ence will be­co­me mo­re than just a ‘lis­tening spec­ta­tor’ and mo­re than a simp­le ey­e­wit­ness to an au­dio­book .

The sto­ry of this mo­ving vir­tu­al rea­li­ty ex­pe­ri­ence is ba­sed on the epony­mous book by Klaus Merz. The ex­cerp­ts – read by the aut­hor hims­elf – are joi­n­ed tog­e­ther in the vir­tu­al space to tell the sto­ry of Pe­ter Tha­ler who sets out on a moun­tain hi­ke in a quest for in­ner sta­bi­li­ty. A misstep in a snow­storm leads to an ac­ci­dent in which he breaks his ank­le. Ly­ing im­mo­bi­li­zed in the soft snow, his in­ter­nal mo­no­lo­gue turns in­to an ar­gu­ment that tran­s­cends his ine­vi­ta­ble fa­te .

Th­rough the­se events, “GO” ad­dres­ses is­sues of ever­y­day and ul­ti­ma­te tran­si­ence, loss and mor­ta­li­ty, while a li­be­ra­ting view of life. Alt­hough the sto­ry be­g­ins by sta­ting the out­co­me – the si­lent but si­gni­fi­cant di­s­ap­pearance of Pe­ter Tha­ler – the nar­ra­ti­ve arc nevert­hel­ess crea­tes a ten­si­on that es­cala­tes towards a heigh­ten­ed, yet equal­ly mo­re open understanding.

GO” mer­ges the ol­dest wi­th the most re­cent nar­ra­ti­ve form o crea­te a stand-alo­ne, no­vel ex­pe­ri­ence. San­dro Zollin­ger sel­ec­ted and re­ar­ran­ged twel­ve un­al­te­red pas­sa­ges from the 2005 no­vel­la “LOS”, which tells an en­ti­re life sto­ry in con­cise, haun­ting pro­se. Thus, they have suc­cee­ded in fur­ther di­stil­ling the work of an aut­hor, ce­le­bra­ted as a craft­sman of fine­ly tu­n­ed pre­cis­i­on, by about ni­ne tenths wi­t­hout, ho­we­ver, al­te­ring its core.

This dou­bly con­den­sed nar­ra­ti­ve es­senceis then sent on an im­pres­si­ve jour­ney th­rough a vir­tu­al world. The world of “GO” tells its sto­ry by crea­ting haun­ting moods, trig­ge­ring fee­lings wi­th me­re sug­ges­ti­ons and re­pea­ted­ly im­ply­ing fur­ther con­no­ta­ti­ons. The 25-mi­nu­te vir­tu­al rea­li­ty ex­pe­ri­ence thus suc­ceeds in ex­pan­ding the am­bi­gui­ty of li­te­ra­tu­re, matching it wi­th ef­fec­ti­ve imagery, while stee­ring clear of cheap gim­mick­ry and sim­pli­stic illustrations.

GO” ma­na­ges to find a ba­lan­ce bet­ween the ima­gi­na­ry world spark­ed by the text and the over­whel­ming power of VR in or­der to tell a sto­ry that has not yet be­en told.

«Nir­gends fühlt er sich so gut auf­ge­ho­ben wie in der Eisenbahn.»

«Die Schnee­hö­he nimmt jetzt zu, die Au­gen bren­nen, aber ans Um­keh­ren denkt Tha­ler nicht.»

«Auf al­len Schul­rei­sen war er au­gen­blick­lich vom Heim­weh nach sanf­te­ren Tö­nen be­fal­len worden.»