Raw Material (novel)
| Author | Jörg Fauser |
|---|---|
| Original title | Rohstoff |
| Translator | Jamie Bulloch |
| Language | German |
| Genre | autobiographical novel |
| Publisher | Ullstein Verlag |
Publication date | 1984 |
| Publication place | West Germany |
Published in English | 2014 |
| Pages | 218 |
| ISBN | 3550064780 |
Raw Material (German: Rohstoff) is a 1984 autobiographical novel by the German writer Jörg Fauser. Set in the 1960s, it follows the author's alter ego Harry Gelb as he lives as a heroin addict in Istanbul, as an alcoholic, menial worker and struggling writer in a Berlin commune, and as a squatter in Frankfurt. Gelb rejects everything he regards as insipid, hierarchical and doctrinaire, whether it is mainstream culture or left-wing revolutionary groups.
Fauser and Raw Material developed a cult following in Germany. The book has been compared to American beat literature and the works of Charles Bukowski. It was published in Jamie Bulloch's English translation in 2014.