Reading List # 116
An entirely subjective list of things happening in Berlin
March 10
Reading: Geetanjali Shree
The acclaimed writer and current DAAD-Literature Fellow in conversation with Thomas Meaney, editor of Granta.
The evening will explore Shree’s writing and her recent work, focusing on her distinctive use of language and form, and on the ways her fiction engages with memory, gender, and history. Writing in Hindi as a deliberate literary and political choice, Shree often begins from images and fragments, allowing stories to unfold that question borders — between nations, generations, and genres — while remaining closely attuned to everyday lives.
Geetanjali Shree is the winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, awarded jointly with her translator Daisy Rockwell for Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi). The novel’s French translation was shortlisted for the Prix Émile Guimet. Shree is the author of several novels and short story collections, and her work has been translated into many Indian and international languages.
(EN)
8 pm | daadgalerie, Oranienstraße 161
March 11
Schreiben für die Katz – Robert Walsers Feuilletons
Swiss author Lukas Bärfuss, American literary scholar Susan Bernofsky, and Kurdish-German filmmaker Ayşe Polat present Robert Walser’s feuilleton texts – together with Reto Sorg, director of the Robert Walser Center in Bern.
The occasion is the publication of Walser’s collected feuilleton texts in the “Berner Ausgabe” (Suhrkamp). For decades, Walser devoted himself to “writing for nothing” and wrote articles with “the most sincere pleasure” for all kinds of newspapers, from Bern to Berlin, from Prague to Vienna. Susan Bernofsky of Columbia University, Walser’s translator and biographer, describes him as one of the first bloggers of the modern age. For Lukas Bärfuss, Walser is a mentor when it comes to mindfulness towards the ordinary and everyday. Ayşe Polat is working on a film adaptation of Robert Walser’s Der Gehülfe, starring Devrim Lingnau, among others.
The event is followed by a reception hosted by the Swiss Embassy, with Swiss wine and cheese.
(DE)
7.30 pm | Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, Am Sandwerder 5
March 11
Eva von Redecker: Dieser Drang nach Härte
Contemporary fascism has taken on a new form that is not easy to recognize and even more difficult to explain. In Redecker’s groundbreaking analysis, its diffuse nature takes shape—and becomes exposed to counter attack. Redecker locates its core in the invocation of an unconditional claim to ownership, defended at all costs.
At her book premiere at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, the author will discuss the following questions with Margarita Tsomou, HAU curator for theory and discourse: What continuities or turning points connect fascism with capitalism and colonialism? How can we recognize fascism, and how can its concept and theory be updated now that the West has betrayed the protective measures of international law? And to what extent is the authoritarian breakdown of the liberal order already inherent in it?
(DE)
8 pm | HAU1, Stresemannstraße 29
March 11
»Oben rechts. Rechtspopulismus als Klassenprojekt«
How can the rise of right-wing populism be understood—as a protest by those who feel “left behind” or as a deliberately promoted class project?
Sebastian Friedrich and Nils Editors Schniederjann discuss this question with Heinrich Geiselberger and author Thomas Biebricher, whose book “Oben rechts. Rechtspopulismus als Klassenprojekt“ opens up new perspectives.
The book operates under the hypothesis that the focus on the ‘woke’ left and the “losers” in debates about Trump & Co. has created a blind spot. Assuming that politicians such as Trump, Tino Chrupalla, or Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš also elect themselves, another “class faction” comes into view: conservative men who run their own businesses. This milieu has produced not only precursors such as Silvio Berlusconi and Christoph Blocher, but also supporters such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. It is precisely this group of small and large political entrepreneurs that the contributions in this volume examine closely. The thesis pursued here is that right-wing populism is not primarily a spontaneous revolt by “poorer voters,” but rather a deliberately pursued project.
The event marks the start of the series ”Zeitanalyse: Analytische und theoretische Perspektiven auf Rechtspopulismus und Rechtsextremismus”
(DE)
8 pm | Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, Chausseestraße 125
„Nils Editors Schniederjann“ gefällt mir sehr!