Literature Motherly love? Not a chance. In "Queen of the Night" by Lukas Bärfuss
After his father's book "Vaters Kiste" from 2022, Lukas Bärfuss is now also dedicating a book to his mother with "Königin der Nacht". In it, he circles a blank space in his life.
15.05.2026, 09:01
SDA
When his father died, he left behind debts and a box that his son never opened. When his mother died, he was left with a balance of 60 francs. A sad little thing that arouses feelings of guilt in the son. He "is ashamed. He didn't understand how weak she was".
In "Queen of the Night", Lukas Bärfuss approaches the second "portal figure" of his life. His mother died in the Dominican Republic. She had emigrated with her partner because the small pension there was still enough. As the son stands in her bedroom five days later, he is caught in a maelstrom of emotions between guilt and vindication.
Left to his own devices
The mother is certain, it has always been said, whoever the father may be. And motherly love is just as certain, they say. The mother cares for and protects her children, who reciprocate with affection. He knows all this, "the son, the writer, me". But is it also true for him?
In his "short book about the mother", Lukas Bärfuss traces a feeling that the son does not know. Motherly love? Not at all. The key is an experience in the mid-1980s, when the 15-year-old comes home one day to find the apartment empty except for his room. His mother has stolen off to her boyfriend in another city without leaving any news. "He will make himself invisible", writes Bärfuss from the boy's perspective, and somehow manage to get by until he is eighteen so that he doesn't end up in a home. This book also tells the story of how he managed to do this.
Son survives mother
"A mother is what you can't get rid of", even if you renounce her. Caught in this dichotomy, Bärfuss has not written a brilliant book. Much of it seems somewhat unbalanced. Sometimes his descriptions are excessive, sometimes he is brief, but often he is pointedly precise. "Queen of the Night" is a tangible testament to a spasm and struggle with the figure of the mother and the biblical commandment to honor her.
Alternating between first-person and first-person speech, Bärfuss describes how the boy he was was repeatedly betrayed by his mother and therefore no longer has any feelings for her. He impressively emphasizes the difference between her selfish lifestyle and the boy's desire to simply read books, go to school and have reliable parents.
His wish was not fulfilled, and yet the boy did not fall into the pit of hopelessness, but "became strong, tough and hard". Sometimes it sounds as if he has to keep telling himself that he has "survived" his mother.
War against the poor
Literature means being careful about drawing short-cuts between the narrated characters and the author. Nevertheless, this book suggests that it describes an emotional situation that is biographically documented. Therein lies its power. Lukas Bärfuss literally works his way through a core question of life.
"My grief was without remorse," he writes succinctly and immediately pauses suspiciously. Is it that simple? He begins to search for the causes of his mother's carelessness and finds references to "gypsies" and travelers in the family tree of both his mother and father.
What this meant until recently, Bärfuss unmistakably calls a "war against the poor", which Switzerland has fought out with its "welfare" bureaucracy in all its severity. For a long time, the prevailing morality knew no mercy.
Storytelling helps
Unlike in The Father's Book, in which he developed refreshing theses on inheritance law, Bärfuss describes this scandal rather summarily. And he does not draw any conclusions from it, as he could not see exactly "how these forces affected my mother".
Despite everything, his mother left him a positive legacy. She had taught him that storytelling is a "survival strategy". Storytelling became Bärfuss' "capital" as a writer. The title can also be seen as a narrative metaphor. It may contain some mockery, but also admiration, despite everything, for his mother, who bravely stood her ground in life. But without regard for her child.*
*This text by Beat Mazenauer, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
