When one of the most distinguished German-language authors of our time tackles the topic of humor in literature, he needs good reasons. Sven Regener had them: In 2016, he was invited to give a lecture on poetics as the holder of the Grimm Professorship at the University of Kassel, and ever since he began publishing novels, he has grappled with the fact that they are often considered witty, funny, and humorous, even though they actually tell sad stories about people who don't have it easy in life and for whom failure is always more likely than success. In "Between Depression and Witzelsucht" (roughly translated as "Joke Mania"), Sven Regener therefore gets to the bottom of this issue and arrives at astonishing, even surprising, conclusions. He embarks on a whirlwind tour through art forms, styles, and methods, examining the nature and relationship between art, emotion, and humor, and with each answer, he raises two new questions—which is by no means a bad thing. Between Depression and Witzelsucht is a great achievement, a bold attempt at a large, almost unexplored topic and will, one can be sure, cause a sensation. Sven Regener was born in Bremen in 1961. In 1985, he founded the band "Element of Crime," which achieved great popularity with German-language albums such as "Damals hinterm Mond" and "Weißes Papier." Sven Regener is the group's singer and lyricist. In 2011, he received the Honorary Award of the German Record Critics' Association. New product