Friedrich Christian Delius was born in Rome in 1943, grew up in Hessen, and now lives in Berlin. Die Birnen van Ribbeck ( 1991) casts a critical eye over events in East Germany shortly after reunification in 1990. The book consists of a single sentence, spanning 72 pages, and follows the course of a local villager's rambling thoughts as he observes the goings-on at a 'reunification party'.