丹尼爾• 凱爾曼，德國作傢，評論傢。1975年齣生於慕尼黑,後考入維也納大學，攻讀哲學與德國文學。1997年齣版第一本小說《貝爾宏姆的想象》。2003年，小說《我與卡明斯基》為他贏得世界聲譽。2005年，剛滿30歲的他齣版《丈量世界》。該書被譯為40多種語言，銷量突破200萬冊，被譽為“二戰”後德語文學最偉大的成就之一。2006年，丹尼爾• 凱爾曼憑藉本書獲剋萊斯特文學奬。2008年獲托馬斯•曼文學奬。

From the internationally best-selling author Daniel Kehlmann, a provocative and wickedly funny novel about two unpredictable men–one an artist and the other a journalist, who together embark on an unexpected adventure with uproarious results.

Sebastian Zollner’s failure as a journalist is matched only by his personal failures: his girlfriend is moving in a new lover before Sebastian even knows he’s been dumped. Searching for the break that will redeem him in the eyes of his peers, he heads off on a wild goose chase into the mountains to interview the eccentric, legendary painter Manuel Kaminski, with the hope of writing his biography.

Kaminski is going blind and is living in seclusion with his daughter. He could be working on his next masterpiece or easing into his final days, and his inconsistent career raises the question of whether he has been a fraud or a genius. His artistic reputation hinges on any number of factors but most prominently on a definitive biography. Enter Zollner–who has no intention of writing a puff piece. He’s out to dig dirt and to force Kaminski to confront the legacy of his work. But the secrets he uncovers will lead Kaminski, and Zollner himself, to places neither of them ever expected to go.

With edgy wit and intelligence, Daniel Kehlmann dives into the problems of what is “truth” in our celebrity-crazed times and embraces the energy and humanity that lie beneath the pretensions of the art and journalistic worlds. A firecracker of a novel.