With Markus Orth’s text “The Hotel Cleaner”, the first reading day in Klagenfurt was brought to a close. A cleaning fanatic who hides beneath hotel beds to take part in the guests’ lives received unanimous praise from the jury.

A possible winning entry?

The presenter Dieter Moor also detected an incredible unity. A possible winning entry? “Voyeurism and cleaning addiction belong together, although the former is more relevant to me”, started Klaus Nüchtern. “You feel as though you are caught in the act”, as humorously, the space of anonymity that the hotel generally offers starts to crumble. In particular the fact that the text does not contain any “murder storylines” and that it avoids becoming overdramatic, makes this text so interesting.

Nüchtern’s praise was even topped

“I want to jazz up the text even more” Ijoma Mangold began, for whom Nüchtern’s praise apparently did not go far enough. Basically, the text touches upon the “condition humana”: In particular, because humans have caused utter disorder to nature are they anxious to create order, which in turn results in insanity. “This is represented as the horror film that it is”.

A “weird and wonderful” text.

“A text with great perspective, brilliantly narrated” – Alain Claude Sulzer was also taken by the text. “The first text where I don’t have the feeling that I already know everything.” What was “weird and wounderful” about the text for him was this: “It made me laugh a lot”.

Burkhard Spinnen was of the opinion that instead of voyeurism he had detected vampirism: “This woman does not have her own life and takes part in other people’s lives, something I have read numerous times in the past.” This did not affect his verdict. The clever combination of the elements makes this one “incredibly interesting”.

The absurd appears as something completely normal

Daniela Strigl, who had invited the author to Klagenfurt, was not required to defend her entry. In the end, Ursula März admitted that in the past she had also worked as a hotel cleaner for a sports hotel and that it is basically impossible not to snoop around a little as a hotel cleaner. The skill of the text lies in making the absurd appear "to be something totally normal”.

März, however, did warn that a slight mother-daughter psychology could be detected: “Let us stay under the bed, where we all want to be.”

“Finally some appreciative voices”, concluded a “highly-delighted” Andre Vladimir Heiz.

Text by Markus Orths