Ilija's parents run a restaurant in Bavaria. He has been helping in the kitchen since he was a child, growing up with chips and deep fryers. Because his father likes to play tennis, he gives his son tennis lessons. Ilija makes new friends at the club and wants to go to grammar school like them. His life becomes increasingly detached from that of his parents. But something stays with him through the years: "It smells like chips, Ilija is coming!" This sentence from a classmate, which has stayed with him to this day, becomes the starting point for a self-questioning process: Does the smell betray one's social background?

 

In his debut, Ilija Matusko combines personal memories with sociological observations. In ten essayistic chapters, he tells the story of an educational climber - with a keen eye for subtle differences, wit and literary power.

 

Ilija Matusko studied sociology and political science. He lives and works in Berlin. He was a fellow at the Herrenhaus Edenkoben, the Alfred-Döblin-Haus and the Künstlerdorf Schöppingen. His debut "Verdunstung in der Randzone", for which he received a scholarship from the Fritz Hüser Institute before publication, was published by Suhrkamp Verlag in 2023.

 

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