EA trainee who wants to get to the top, irreverent tabloid reporters and an editor-in-chief who is constantly smoking coke: With his debut novel, Moritz Hürtgen, editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine “Titanic”, makes fun of his own industry, the media business.
Martin Kreutzer works for a daily newspaper in Berlin and wants to make it big. His goal: make an impression! How else is he supposed to become a famous “star reporter”? In the big editorial conference, which is actually only intended for department heads and deputies, he takes the initiative and offers his choleric editor-in-chief to arrange an exclusive interview with the performance star Lukas Moretti, who has so far consistently refused to talk to the newspaper. Martin still knows Moretti from his studies, and he will succeed in demonstrating it – without him noticing! With the order in his pocket, Martin makes his way to Bavaria and fears that his mouth might have been a bit too big.
Because he doesn’t have such a good connection to Moretti as he swaggered before. He actually knows him from his studies, but there can be no question of friendship. The two have never exchanged a word with each other. So it turns out pretty quickly that the interview will not take place – at least not in the usual way. What you have to do in such a situation is clear to Martin: lie.
One dramatic incident after another
So he decides to do a fake interview. Telling the truth is just not an option. After that, however, one dramatic incident after another occurs. Martin is deeply entangled in his lies and in a ludicrous criminal case that is getting bigger and bigger. He always vacillates between quitting and continuing. But a good reporter doesn’t stop when things get really exciting. And so the wondrous journey takes its course, accompanied by bizarre, sometimes imaginary characters who try to outdo each other in oddities.
Image: Moritz Hurtgen
Moritz Hürtgen leaves out no clichés of the newspaper industry in his novel. So it’s not surprising that the main character is very unhappy with her work: “Martin blushed and wondered when he last let himself be carried away by such a discreet interpersonal emotion. At least not since he started his traineeship.” But you obviously accept that if you hope for a big breakthrough in the “dazzling media world of Berlin”. Before starting in the capital, Martin had freed himself from any “provincial ballast” as a precaution.
A lot of things seem familiar. For example, the terrorist attack at the midsummer fire, in which a truck with an empty driver’s cab drove into a crowd. That this incident revitalizes a radical vigilante group is not exactly unexpected.
Pious sensationalists
However, the title of the book delivers what it promises. In “The Boulevard of Terror”, Hürtgen wittily poked fun at the irreverent thirst for sensation and flexible morality of tabloid journalism. In the end, Martin is offered a job as a tabloid reporter, after his fake interview is again doctored and printed: “The interview was like a fake of his own fake.”
The novel thrives primarily on Hürtgen’s biting humor when denouncing his main character as a naïve person: “After all, there weren’t any relevant newspapers or media houses in Frankfurt either – Martin did a quick count.” And although the name of the national newspaper for which Martin is active, never finds out, one can imagine which ones
newspaper the editor-in-chief of “Titanic” had in mind while writing. You have to get involved with his bizarre characters and the fantastic elements. If you are willing, you will discover some beautiful things on the “Boulevard des Terrors”.
Moritz Hurtgen: “The Boulevard of Terror”. Novel. Kunstmann Verlag, Munich 2022. 300 pages, hardcover, 24 euros.
