Acting and Writing. Written by Stephen Heyman in the NY T 8/24/16

In Paolo Sorrentino’s recent movie “Youth,” Robert Seethaler had a brief but memorable turn playing a big-bearded mountain climbing instructor who falls hard for Rachel Weisz. While the Austrian-born Berliner may moonlight as a European character actor, he spends most of his time writing. Mr. Seethaler’s latest book, “A Whole Life” (Ein ganzes Leben) was a huge bestseller in Germany. Its English translation (by Charlotte Collins), short-listed for the Man Booker International Prize, comes out next month in the United States via Farrar, Straus and Giroux. At 150 pages, the story is something like a heroic saga in miniature, recounting the life of a plainspoken farmhand whose pastoral solitude in the Austrian Alps is disrupted by the arrival of war, tourism and industry. The book has been compared to a slew of famous works from the “Into Their Labours” novels of John Berger to the late-blooming classic “Stoner” by John Williams. The following is an edited transcript of an interview with Mr. Seethaler, which was translated from the German by Ms. Collins.

Q. How did you wind up playing an alpine instructor in Mr. Sorrentino’s latest film “Youth”? 

A. Sorrentino invited me to Italy for a casting. At first I didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to travel all the way to Rome. Then I saw “La Grande Bellezza” — Sorrentino’s previous film, which won an Oscar — and I realized: This man makes great classical cinema! And that was what happened. My character, Luca Moroder, is a good mountaineer, but he doesn’t have a clue about women. It’s a little story of love at first sight. And of course it was great dangling on a rope over an abyss with Rachel Weisz.

Your new novella, “A Whole Life,” is also set in the mountains, in this case the Austrian Alps . Was the village and the landscape based on places that you knew firsthand?

I invented all the places in the book, and all the place names. In a way, they’re mythical places. This life, or something very like it, could have been lived anywhere at any time. But of course I do have memories, or emotional memories, of my childhood experiences in the mountains. The wonderful silence of the snow; and also the dangers of the mountains themselves — you don’t forget things like that. Nature can often be enjoyed, but sometimes you have to endure it, too. It can fill you with dread. There’s more to it than just its beauty; it’s also inconceivable and frightening.

Many readers have discussed the contrast between the book’s imposing title and its short length. Was it a challenge to squeeze such an extraordinary life story into such a small space?

It has nothing to do with squeezing, more with carving out. Where do you begin? What do you select? What do you leave out? In the end it all revolves around the question: What are the things that go to make up such a life? It’s like carving wood or sculpting stone. You don’t get many chances. Every cut, every blow of the chisel has to sit right. In a way I was carving Andreas Egger, the book’s central character, out of my heart. Every life, when you look back on it, reduces itself to a few moments. The moments are what stay with us.

“A Whole Life” is an international best seller. Do you have any theories about why this story has resonated so widely?

I don’t have any theories. I can’t think about things like that. I just wanted to tell the story of a simple man. Of course I’m pleased that the book has touched such an incredible number of people. But there’s no intention behind it. I believe many people find in it something like consolation.

Is there a lot of crossover and shared themes between your acting and writing careers? Or do you consider them very separate?

I grew up with a severe visual impairment and went to a school for the blind in Vienna. As a child I always lived in my own little world. That’s probably why I prefer writing. It’s more of an internalization. With acting you have to externalize, or enlarge the internalizations, make them visible. That was never really my strong point. Whenever I performed in the theater I always felt so ashamed I just wanted the boards to swallow me up. It’s all right with film; the camera’s silent discretion protects me.

Can you tell me a bit about your current projects — literary, cinematic or otherwise? 

I’m writing a novel about a small town — particularly its graveyard. It’s a hell of a job. After this I’ll probably need to rest for a few years and laugh as much as possible.