Cherrypicker | Literature
Sleepless through the night

Theresia Enzensberger lies awake all night involuntarily. So she reflects on the unique physical phenomenon called sleep, which leaves us vulnerable and weak – and without which we are incapable of any performance.

Susan Sontag, Sylvia Plath, Fyodor Dostoyevsky: great minds who were all unable to sleep well or at all. Who should not be missing from this list? Franz Kafka, of course. He wrote:

The restless society

A condition that the literary superstar, the centenary of whose death falls 2024, shares with a growing number of people in Germany. In its 2017 health report, the health insurance company DAK diagnosed that sleep disorders among working people aged between 35 and 65 have risen by 66 per cent since 2010. It can be assumed that these figures have not decreased to date. A non-representative sample is easy to conduct: If you ask those around you in a social gathering how they slept, the stories about difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep will hardly come to an end.

In view of this social diagnosis and her own sleep problems, Theresia Enzensberger decided to get closer to sleep – and its absence – with a slim yet varied book called Schlafen.

The result is not a how-to guide. Although there are some collected experiences in tip form on p. 65f. – “Not drinking alcohol doesn't hurt” “Camomile and Bach flowers don't help at all” – they only make up a fraction of the 110 pages. Instead, the work contains essayistic passages, personal observations and a nightmarish story. The four chapters are labelled with the names of the sleep phases – falling asleep, light sleep, deep sleep, dream sleep – and are related in an instructive way. Because it is during the phase of light sleep, for example, that “the brain is under heavy strain and memory is consolidated”, Theresia Enzensberger makes an excursion into theory and politics here.

Logic of utilisation

She reflects on the fact that sleep in capitalism is subject to a paradox. Because as long as we sleep, we can neither work nor consume. On the other hand, only those who jump out of bed well-rested in the morning to start the working day are productive to the desired extent. When we are tired, the wheels don't turn as well as they should.

But you can't do it without control. If people have to fall into this state of being isolated from the world on a regular basis for the sake of their health, this phase of doing nothing must at least be limited and optimised. This is why even late and midday sleepers violate the norm and are pilloried in society as lazy and weak-willed. And for all those who are sensitive and sleep-disordered, there are aids available for purchase: earplugs, valerian capsules, melatonin, special bedding and much more. “The pathologisation of deviation from the norm,” says Enzensberger, “is therefore quite profitable.”

Fear of losing control

In addition to these economic explanations, the author offers thoughts on the connection between sleep and the fear of losing control. For the hours of sleep are those without control over body and mind – keyword sleepwalking, keyword dream world – and this frightens many people. After all, we live under the assumption that we are in control of our physical needs, states of consciousness and time. Sleep, however, only postulates the opposite through its existence. Perhaps, as Theresia Enzensberger muses at the end of her remarks, her insomnia is also due to the fact that she does not want to slip into the uncontrollable intermediate realms. By means of sleep twitches, she recognises, “my body pulls the ripcord. It's a last resort to keep control, to avoid sinking, slipping, falling into the incapacity of the dream realm.”

In her story Stallgeruch, Theresia Enzensberger plays out just how harrowing and frightening nightmarish conditions can become. This poignantly rounds off the stimulating and often fact-based reflections on a phenomenon for whose success the individual is otherwise often held solely responsible: “No coffee after 2 pm!” The critical examination of sleep norms and the attempt to change perspectives on the topic of insomnia set productive reflection in motion while reading – which ideally leads to a restful night's sleep.