DIE GERMANISTIN: Riveting Forays into German-Language Literature by Sheridan Marshall. Charles Lewinsky’s A DIFFERENT STORY: A Masterclass in Memory
Charles Lewinsky’s latest novel, A Different Story (Eine andere Geschichte, Diogenes, March 2026), is a masterpiece: a beautifully told narrative from an eminently likeable protagonist that is also a searing confrontation with 20th-century history. While Lewinsky is considered a national treasure in Switzerland, with works translated into sixteen languages, only his sprawling family saga Melnitz has previously made it into English, translated by Shaun Whiteside.
A Different Story is as stylistically interesting as it is emotionally compelling. The story is framed as a narrative monologue from the eighty-year-old film producer Curtis Melnitz, who recounts his life from a psychoanalyst’s couch. This narrative construct evokes the patient-analyst dynamic in Philip Roth’s 1969 classic Portnoy’s Complaint, where the analyst remains a silent presence, leaving the reader to infer his prompts through the narrator’s sharp-tongued responses and strategic detours.
Melnitz, who only visited his doctor to obtain sleeping tablets for his recurring nightmares, is initially a reluctant participant in the therapy sessions, but these nonetheless evolve into a vivid journey through his past. Born in Leipzig, Melnitz was raised in impoverished conditions and suffered the sudden loss of both parents on the same day – a trauma he later views with the cynical eye of a film producer, noting that such a plot would be “too much action for one scene” in a screenplay. His life follows a picaresque path as he rises from a cart-pusher to a successful cinematic agent during the silent film era, rubbing shoulders with industry legends while navigating the darker side of Hollywood. Throughout the sessions, Melnitz acts as a witty and self-aware curator of his own autobiography, reflecting on the significance of the episodes he chooses to narrate while revelling in playful exchanges with his silent interlocutor.
The novel’s diverting tone shifts dramatically in its final chapters as Melnitz finally divulges the source of his nightmares: his participation in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. This horrific reality, witnessing piles of corpses and the “living dead” prisoners in the camp, serves as the emotional conclusion that strips away the “pictures” of his career to reveal a truth that cannot be edited or archived. By the novel’s end, Melnitz’s relationship with his analyst, Dr. Cowan, has transformed from hostility into one of trust and gratitude. He comes to value the therapeutic power of storytelling, finding that his nightmares become less frequent as he finally shares the memories he had long refused to discuss. In the tender closing scene, Melnitz asks Dr. Cowan to hold his hand and requests that his medical file be labelled “Healed” just before he passes away.
A Different Story is a deeply moving novel about the powerful persistence of memory and the search for peace at the end of a long, complex life.
A Different Story is a New Books in German recommendation, meaning that support for an English-language translation of the book is guaranteed.
By Sheridan Marshall
Sheridan Marshall works as a translator from German into English, and as Editorial Consultant for New Books in German. She was Deputy Editor of The Austrian Riveter.
Read previous posts in Die Germanistin series:
DIE GERMANISTIN: Riveting Forays into German-Language Literature by Sheridan Marshall. November 2023. Interview with Christine Koschmieder (at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2023)
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