Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten

"Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten" is a novel by Swiss writer Christian Kracht. It was published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in September 2008. The title, translating to "I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow", is from the lyrics to the Irish anthem Danny Boy.

The novel presents an alternate history of Switzerland in which Lenin did not leave Switzerland for Russia in 1917 to bring about the Russian Revolution. Instead, Lenin's revolution took place in Switzerland, transforming it into the "Swiss Socialist Republic", a Communist state engaged in the colonisation of Africa and in perpetual war with other totalitarian empires. The plot of the novel, set in around 2010, traces a black Swiss political commissar's journey to the heart of the empire, the gigantic alpine Réduit, where he is to arrest Brazhinsky, an enemy of the state.

"Ich werde hier sein"'s surreal setting and precise prose has garnered acclaim in the German-speaking literary world. "Die Welt" called it a "glorious horror story"; [cite news|url=http://www.welt.de/kultur/article2476705/Christian-Kracht-bringt-Krieg-in-die-Schweiz.html|title=Christian Kracht bringt Krieg in die Schweiz|last=Elmar|first=Krekeler|date=22 September 2008|publisher=Die Welt|language=German|accessdate=2008-09-25] the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" praised the writing as the "most beautiful German prose currently on offer" [cite news|url=http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/4/310930/text/|title=Es roch nach Menschentalg|last=Seibt|first=Gustav|date=19 September 2008|publisher=Süddeutsche Zeitung|language=German|accessdate=2008-09-25] and "Die Zeit" hailed the work as "possibly the novel of the year". [cite news|url=http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/39/christian-kracht?page=all|title=Verloren an diesem Ort|last=Hugendick|first=David|date=24 September 2008|publisher=Die Zeit Online|language=German|accessdate=2008-09-25] But the "Frankfurter Rundschau" 's reviewer discounted "Ich werde hier sein" as "simply moronic" and "Die Tageszeitung" found the text to be too diffuse and incoherent, amounting to just a "drug-clouded scenery". [cite web|url=http://www.perlentaucher.de/buch/30367.html|title=Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten|publisher=Perlentaucher.de|accessdate=2008-09-25]

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