When the graphic designer and illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner wants to present her work in quick succession, the bookshelves in her Munich apartment sometimes have to serve as a reminder. A lot has come together in almost 50 years. Berner worked with Hans Magnus Enzensberger for “The Number Devil”, illustrated Wolfdietrich Schnurre’s love story “The Princess Comes at Four” or Christof Hein’s “The Wild Horse under the Tiled Stove”. She created a whole universe around the rabbit Karlchen. And for 20 years she has delighted a still growing fan base with her hidden object books. Now Berner turned 75.
Ms. Berner, Ali Mitgutsch is something like the godfather of hidden object books. How did you come to be active in this segment in 2003?
Rotraut Susanne Berner: That wasn’t actually my idea at all, but the idea of Edmund Jacoby, then still the publishing manager at Gerstenberg. He was always pushing. I shuddered a little before that. Because Hidden Object books are also small non-fiction books, you have to research a lot and very carefully. And unlike Ali Mitgutsch, I wanted to include the time factor, i.e. tell a kind of novel in pictures, from a winter morning to an autumn evening. If I had known from the beginning how extensive this is, I would not have done it. But after the first volume – Winter – there was no more mercy.
Where is Wimmlingen, the place of action?
Wimmlingen is a fictional place with everything that goes with it: farm, department store, gas station, train station, market square, park… Lots of people live there. I baptized about 50 of them, i.e. gave them a name. Their paths cross in the course of the individual volumes. There’s a street in the foreground, that’s my stage. Everything moves from left to right, so to speak in reading direction.
How were you able to keep track of all the hustle and bustle?
By writing a little screenplay like in the film.
Nuns also appear in Wimmlingen – perhaps an unusual sight for some.
At that time I was working in a studio in the vicinity of which there was a day-care center run by nuns. The sisters were always very rustic, with sturdy sneakers, and did sports with the children. And so they came to Wimmlingen.
Are there things that you would no longer draw like this?
Oh, now you’re alluding to the cigarette thing. Today I would actually omit the smokers. In Wimmlingen people still smoke in the café. You wouldn’t see that anymore today.
And the church? The image of Catholics and Protestants is not exactly good.
There are people who accuse me of transporting an image of the ideal world with the church in Wimmlingen. My answer is always: Take the train from Munich to Stuttgart and look out the window. There is at least one church in every town. The church in Wimmlingen is a reflection of our landscape. This has no background. I wouldn’t leave them out today either, because the churches are there.
Illustration from Rotraut Susanne Berner’s springtime hidden object book.
(Photo: Gerstenberg Verlag)
Recently, children’s books have also been the subject of debate. Astrid Lindgren’s novels were revised and adapted to today’s usage and understanding of language.
I can understand the concern, but I find the debate a bit hysterical. You can’t iron out everything and make it “nice”, nice and friendly. It’s not like that and it never was like that. One should not subsequently rewrite works. Instead, one can comment on critical passages from today’s point of view. I think that’s a better solution than pretending that racism didn’t even exist.
Can you explain that with an example?
A publisher friend of mine has republished the Southern novel “Gone with the Wind”. When the protagonists pronounce the N-word, she left that standing. Otherwise, the discrimination that blacks faced in the United States in the 19th century would have gone. Then you no longer understand the whole book. I find it difficult when you deny racism to get rid of it. We all try to learn from history and keep memories alive. But erasing the memory is unlikely to prevent things like racism from happening again.
As an illustrator and graphic designer, would you actually find it bad if we mainly communicate in emojis instead of letters in the future?
That would be bad. Because these black signs, which we call writing, allow us an incredible wealth of complexity and differentiation. Of course there are messages in the form of images. But the language that enables us to be precise, imaginative, brilliant or simple-minded would be lost without writing. For example, I find it a pity when people only speak in the staccato of the headlines without using subordinate clauses.
Not only people live in Wimmlingen, but also cats, parrots and geese. Are there animals that you find easier to handle than others?
Cats are very easy for me. I find cows more complicated, they are so square. And then guinea pigs! A very difficult case. They are amorphous, have no shape.
Do you have a favorite character in Wimmlingen?
The bookseller is very close to me, that’s one to one my late husband. And his name is also Armin. But then Oskar comes along with his goose under his arm pretty soon. Because it is somehow so weird and always remains a little mysterious.
How much of Rotraut Susanne Berner is there in the Wimmlinger and hat lover Susanne?
There’s a bit of me in there – especially the tendency to lose hats and caps.
Would a celebrity from the real world have a place in Wimmlingen?
It already exists, TC Boyle.
The American best-selling author?
Yes. Tom roaring through Wimmlingen on his red Vespa could be him. TC Boyle and I know each other quite well. That’s why I invented Tom. Incidentally, he is on the road with Susanne in the Sommernacht volume – although this is by no means meant to be autobiographical! Not that there are false rumors and that’s why his wife comes to me!