Stalking as a theme of Aller Liebe Anfang, the 2014 novel by Judith Hermann

Stalking is a form of non-normative behavior. A stalker obsessively forces contact with the victim and tries to take control over them. This threatening behavior is often linked with rampant erotic fantasies. Judith Hermann, dubbed into a leading Fräuleinwunder writer since the publication of her first two collections of short stories, describes this phenomenon from the victim’s perspective in her only novel to date, Aller Liebe Anfang (Where love begins, 2014). The relationship between the protagonist, her husband, and the stalker irritates the reader, who stays confused to the very last page. The stalker enters the life of a lonely woman, bearing the promise of what she craves for attention and escape from the monotony of daily routine. Danger ensues, casting a shadow over the protagonist’s marriage. The thickening atmosphere is finally released with a scene of violence. Hermann’s writing does not conform to the conventions ofblack and white painting: the boundaries between norm and non-norm are blurred.