Suhrkamp Insel Rights List Frankfurt Book Fair 2019
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Suhrkamp
Insel Rights List
Frankfurt Book Fair 2019
www.suhrkamp.de/foreignrights
Authors and Estates
represented by Suhrkamp/Insel
A selection
Theodor W. Adorno Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht Angelika Neuwirth
Robert Alexy Jürgen Habermas Hans Erich Nossack
Juri Andruchowytsch Anna Katharina Hahn Albert Ostermaier
Friedrich Ani Michael Hampe Katja Petrowskaja
Ingeborg Bachmann Peter Handke Andreas Pflüger
Zsófia Bán Christoph Hein Marion Poschmann
Wolfgang Bauer Heinz Helle Doron Rabinovici
Ulrich Beck Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Andreas Reckwitz
Jurek Becker Dieter Henrich Bärbel Reetz
Ulla Berkéwicz Hermann Hesse Christoph Ribbat
Thomas Bernhard Wolfgang Hildesheimer Hartmut Rosa
Barbara Beuys Ludwig Hohl Ralf Rothmann
Marcel Beyer Axel Honneth Sasha Marianna Salzmann
Ernst Bloch Eva Illouz Judith Schalansky
Hans Blumenberg Rahel Jaeggi Wilhelm Schmid
Felix Bohr Uffa Jensen Gershom Scholem
Karl Heinz Bohrer Hans Joas Lutz Seiler
Szilárd Borbély Uwe Johnson Clemens J. Setz
Friedrich von Borries Hans Jonas Peter Sloterdijk
Nora Bossong Dževad Karahasan Manfred Sommer
Volker Braun Anna Kim Andrzej Stasiuk
Bertolt Brecht Esther Kinsky Maria Stepanova
Hermann Broch Julia Kissina Wolfgang Streeck
Simone Buchholz Alexander Kluge Carlo Strenger
Bernd Cailloux Wolfgang Koeppen Peter Szondi
Paul Celan Siegfried Kracauer Uwe Tellkamp
Ann Cotten Benjamín Labatut Philipp Ther
Sigrid Damm Christian Lehnert Stephan Thome
Zoltán Danyi Svenja Leiber Hans Traxler
László Darvasi Gertrud Leutenegger Hans-Ulrich Treichel
Ljubko Deresch Sibylle Lewitscharoff Galsan Tschinag
Ulrike Edschmid Niklas Luhmann Ernst Tugendhat
Nana Ekvtimishvili Thomas Macho Peter Turrini
Hans Magnus Enzensberger Enis Maci Siegfried Unseld
Urs Faes Nicolas Mahler Kevin Vennemann
Erika Fischer-Lichte Andreas Maier Martin Walser
Marieluise Fleißer Philipp Manow Robert Walser
Rainer Forst Friederike Mayröcker Peter Weiss
Photo: Heike Steinweg
Manfred Frank Thomas Meinecke Philipp Weiss
Max Frisch Robert Menasse Lambert Wiesing
Valerie Fritsch Christoph Menke Josef Winkler
Markus Gabriel Winfried Menninghaus Katharina Winkler
Gunther Geltinger Andreas Michalsen Christa Wolf
André Georgi Alice Miller Raul Zelik
Literary Fiction
Dagmar von Gersdorff Heiner Müller Serhij Zhadan
Rainald Goetz Stefan Müller-Doohm Ulf Erdmann Ziegler
Durs Grünbein Melinda Nadj Abonji Slavoj Žižek
Literary Fiction
»Where others might still be searching for the appropriate
language to capture and describe the mess of the big wide Nora Bossong Longlisted
Rules of Engagement
for the
world, Bossong has found it in that very place.« SZ German Book
Prize 2019
»You don’t even know what people are capable
of when they’re not crying.«
2017: After postings with the UN in New Nora Bossong
York and Burundi, Mira is working for Rules of Engagement
the United Nations Office at Geneva and Novel
(Original title: Schutzzone.
mediates talks on the reunification of
Roman)
Cyprus. At a reception at the luxury hotel
332 pages
Beau-Rivage, she encounters Milan, with Clothbound
whose family she has lived for a few months September 2019
after her parents’ separation in 1994. Even
though Milan is married with a son and is International Sales:
soon going to move his family to The Hague, Netherlands (Wereld-
the two begin an affair.
Photo: Heike Steinwegr
bibliotheek); Domestic
2012-2017: During her years of working
Rights Sales: German
for the UN, Mira has often asserted herself
Audiobook (DAV)
against the doubts of her superiors and was
deployed to conflict areas time and again.
Nora Bossong, born in 1982
One of her talents has helped her with that: in Bremen, is a writer of poetry,
Mira gets the most tight-lipped people to talk
»Nora Bossong is one of
novels and essays, and has
– generals, militiamen, important politicians been the recipient of several
who unexpectedly confide in her. During her the intellectually most awards for these, including
the Peter Huchel Prize, the
time in war-torn Burundi, Mira covered for a
general who had taken part in a massacre for stimulating and curious Art Prize Berlin and the
months because she believed that he could voices of her generation.« Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis
2019. Her works have been
be an important agent in the democratic Denis Scheck translated into various
restoration of the country. But in light of the languages.
renewed crisis the country finds itself in, her Selected Backlist:
decision seems all the more unjustified. Her
Kreuzzug mit Hund (2018)
actions in the past could not just have ethical
International Sales: English
but also legal consequences in the present. world rights (Seagull)
Rules of Engagement is told in premoni-
tions and flashbacks from Mira’s perspec-
tive. In her masterfully crafted novel, Nora
Bossong explores fundamental questions
in private relationships as well as on the
grand stage of politics in a clear-sighted
and empathetic manner and juxtaposes
the conflicts of the past with the hopes
for reconciliation. What do trust and
responsibility mean? In what way are
protection and authority intertwined?
»Nora Bossong finds poetic images for the How does testimony relate to truth?
Who sits in judgement on that? And is
dilemmas of our time.« Frankfurter Rundschau peace a corruptible makeshift solution or
something that can succeed permanently
after all?
2 3
Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Emma Braslavsky Ann Cotten
The Night Was Pale, the Lights Lyophilia
Were Twinkling »We wanted to be better, but at the same time
An urban fairy tale with a morbid sense of humour didn’t want to change.«
Berlin, in a near future. The city thrives Emma Braslavsky Ann Cotten has grown up, a fact which Ann Cotten
thanks to the Hubot industry: Robotics The Night Was Pale, the catapults us somewhat into the future. She Lyophilia
companies create artificial partners indis- Lights Were Twinkling claims that all she is interested in now is (Original title: Lyophilia)
Novel a constructive approach to a functioning, 463 pages
tinguishable from real humans; every kind
(Original title: Die Nacht Clothbound
of wish for a relationship can be fulfilled, reasonable life for everyone (if possible).
war bleich, die Lichter March 2019
unconditional private bliss and the complete A philanthropic robot, so to speak. But her
blinkten. Roman)
abolition of loneliness are just about to strangely labyrinthine yet overly respectful
270 pages Rights available
become reality. But the number of suicides Clothbound way of confronting problems still shows
has increased tenfold. Because the new August 2019 traces of the experiences she gathered as a
Ann Cotten, born in Iowa in
beings have mastered the art of simulating young poet. 1982, grew up in Vienna. She
love, but they can’t take any responsibility Rights available has been living in Berlin since
In Proteus both the eternally young
for those they live with. More and more 2006. In 2011, she spent four
protagonist and his lover, a successful
people perish of social alienation. That’s why Emma Braslavsky, born months in Nagoya, Japan. For
in Erfurt in 1971, has been Slovenian politician with two children, are her first poetry collection,
Roberta comes on the market: She is designed
working as a free-lance author exported into a parallel universe in which Fremdwörterbuchsonette
to find the relatives of the people who have and curator since 1999. In any thought at all becomes reality. (2007), she was awarded the
committed suicide to save the social welfare 2007, her debut novel Aus Reinhard Preissnitz Prize and
In the meantime, however, the aging
department the funeral costs. If she fails, she dem Sinn was awarded the the Clemens Brentano Prize
inhabitants of the settlement asteroid Amore
will be taken apart and her components sold Uwe-Johnson-Advancement for Literature of the city of
Award as well as the Franz (KAFUN), which went bankrupt shortly after Heidelberg. For Florida-Räume
to manufacturers of domestic robots. And
Tumler Literary Prize and its foundation, continue to hold to clichés (2010), she received the
not everyone is invested in the success of her
was nominated for the and running gags. They hope to discover an Hermann Hesse Literature
investigations. Buddenbrookhaus Debut Prize. end to grief, which proves to be a greater Prize. In 2014, Ann Cotten was
Her second novel, Das Blaue awarded the Adelbert-von-
danger than being without the Internet,
Emma Braslavsky takes a look into the vom Himmel über dem Atlantik, Chamisso-Prize; in 2015, she
cosmic radiation or humanitarian instant
night life of a city and takes us on the was published in 2008. Emma was the first recipient of the
Braslavsky lives in Berlin. noodles combined. However, an Antigone- newly founded Klopstock-Prize
dark side of an energetic metropolis. Her
like mission saves the heroes from going to for Contemporary Literature.
novel is an urban fairy tale and crime
Selected Backlist: ground in their own survival. In 2017, she was awarded the
story in one and talks about the radicali- Hugo-Ball-Prize for her œuvre.
zation of the individual, about the fine Leben ist keine Art mit A collection of stories like a shot in the
einem Tier umzugehen
line between natural and artificial life knee. What Ann Cotten has somewhat Selected Backlist:
(2016)
and about the omnipotence of algorithms cheekily referred to as »science fiction Verbannt (2016)
in a witty and fast-paced manner. on a Hegelian basis« over the last few Der schaudernde Fächer
Photo: Inge Zimmermann
years has finally arrived. Lyophilia is like (2013) International Sales:
Photo: Stefan Klüter
the special effects in a Tarkovsky film: a Netherlands (Leesmagazijn)
formulation held up to the real world, Florida-Räume (2010)
where, once the possibly realistic has
come to an end, hot and throbbing emo-
tion bursts forth.
»Everything gets better, and this is especially true for »Politics, philosophy and
intelligent machines. Emma Braslavsky explores the aesthetic calculation come
consequences of this in an intelligent novel.« together in oscillating
Paul Jandl, Neue Zürcher Zeitung structures which are as
engaged in revolt
as they are in beauty.«
From the decision of the jury for the
Hugo-Ball-Prize 2017
4 5
Literary Fiction
Helga Bürster
Luzie’s Legacy
A big, forbidden love in tumultuous times
Shortly after the invasion of Poland in the Helga Bürster
autumn of 1939 the Polish soldier Jurek Luzie’s Legacy
Mazur is captured and deported to Northern Novel
Germany as a forced labourer. He ends up (Original title: Luzies
Erbe. Roman)
on a farm in Lower Saxony. Concurrently,
288 pages
the novel tells the story of the rural worker
Clothbound
Luzie Krusenbusch and her family. The
September 2019
Krusenbusch family is long-established in
the village and fully integrated. This changes
Rights available
when it becomes known that Luzie is
pregnant with Jurek Mazur’s first and later
Helga Bürster, born in 1961,
his second child. After that, the young family
grew up in a village near
lives in constant mortal danger because Bremen, where she lives again
relations between Germans and forced today. She studied Theatre
labourers constitute »racial defilement«, a Studies, Literary History and
criminal offence. With the help of Luzie’s History, worked as an editor for
radio and television, and has
father, who knows the police officer in
been a freelance author since
charge, they survive and are married in 1996. Her publications include
July 1945. But it is not a happy end. Jurek works of non-fiction, crime
is mobbed by the village. And then Luzie’s novels, and radio dramas.
fiancé, who was presumed dead, returns to
the village.
When Luzie dies 70 years later, her Helga Bürster describes with wonder-
granddaughter Johanne decides to explore ful delicacy and in a deeply moving way
the story of her grandparents in more detail how a fate can outlast decades and how
in order to put an end to the family’s long staying silent about the past over-shad-
silence. Johanne knows about Jurek, but he ows a family. She talks about four gen-
remains a spectre that no one ever talks erations of strong women – and about
»When Luzie realized that they were no about. When she finally finds out Jurek’s how it’s never too late for reconciliation.
longer German, she cared little about it in address and goes to visit him, she finds him
desolate and lonely. He is already suffering
this first summer of peace that was like from the early stages of dementia; but
a waltz and smelt of wheat. What did it Johanne still recognizes a few pieces of the
matter? They had survived the war.« puzzle in his confused stories. In the end, Based on a true story
she knows more, but not everything. Yet
what she discovers is enough to make peace A German family history across
with the family history and the whispers in
the village that have lasted to this day.
four generations of women
For readers of Dörte Hansen
and Katharina Hagena
photo: Uwe Stalf
7
Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Gunther Geltinger Kristin Höller
Fuel Better Than Anywhere Else
A gripping road trip through southern Africa Existential, comforting, captivating
A brilliant novel about growing up
This isn’t the first time Alexander and Vinz Gunther Geltinger It starts like a road movie: Martin and his best Kristin Höller
have taken a trip together because their Fuel friend Noah are driving along the autobahn Better Than Anywhere
relationship has reached a crisis point. The Novel in a rented van. Their cargo: the spear of the Else
road trip through South Africa is meant to (Original title: Benzin. bronze Athena on König Square in Munich, Novel
Roman) (Original title: Schöner als
give them clarity, and Vinz, the writer, hopes a trophy of an ecstatic summer’s night. Six
377 pages überall. Roman)
to get a new idea for a novel. Careening past hours later they are back at the places of
Clothbound 219 pages
street markets, Chicken Inns and hitchhikers, their childhood: The play streets, the fennel
March 2019 Clothbound
the two Germans make their way through a fields, the gravel quarry they left behind August 2019
country where wealth and poverty collide, years ago. Mugo is back too, smart, angry
Rights available
where homosexuality is taboo, and where Mugo who always dreamed about escaping Rights available
they must face up to the part they too play in Gunther Geltinger was born
the backwoods and infected Martin with
the general obliviousness of the white tourist. in 1974 in Erlenbach, and that dream. She wanted to leave the small Kristin Höller, born in 1996,
After running into a young man, they are currently lives in Cologne. He town, the apartment block with a view of the grew up in Bonn and has
dragged ever deeper into contradictions: on studied Script-Writing and single-family homes and carports. Now she been studying Philology,
the one hand, they feel responsible towards Drama at the University of works at the petrol station on the outskirts Literary and Cultural Studies
Music and Performing Arts in in Dresden since 2015. She
him and pay him when he offers to be their of the town and doesn’t want anything to do
Vienna and at the Academy of worked freelance for numerous
guide. On the other, their new companion Media Arts in Cologne. with Martin. Even Noah becomes a stranger newspapers and magazines,
increases the tension between them, and His critically-acclaimed debut in the familiar environment. Left to his was the Artist in Residence
Vinz begins to fear more and more for their Mensch Engel was published in own devices, Martin is forced to rethink his at the Prosanova Festival in
own safety. When he finally comes upon an 2008, followed by his second relationship with his origins. 2017. She is the winner of the
novel, Moor, in 2013; Fuel is his Audience Award and the Preis
idea for his novel that will take him to the In her debut novel, Kristin Höller talks about
third novel. des Buchhandels at the 10.
Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, all three toss growing up, empathetic and witty: about
Poet|bewegt as well as the
their original plans to the wind. Selected Backlist: vulnerability, curiosity, about love and anger, prize of the Swiss literature
about big plans and the dead ends they often festival Literaare 2018. Since
With Fuel Gunther Geltinger articulately Moor (2013) International
lead to. She talks about the determination of October 2017 she has been co-
and hauntingly depicts what it means for Sales: English world rights
(Seagull) the mothers and the pressure of the fathers’ organiser of OstKap, a series
one’s own world to fall apart. He spells of readings for contemporary
expectations, about the end of a friendship
out the inner turmoil of his figures in literature in Dresden. Better
and the beauty of small-town train stations.
twenty-six chapters, from A to Z, while Than Anywhere Else is her first
Existential, comforting, captivating. novel.
conjuring up atmospheric images that,
little by little, lead to a larger whole –
a story about stereotypes and sovereign-
Photo: Heike Steinweg
ty, trust and betrayal.
Photo: Jürgen Bauer
»The world of Fuel is hopeless, but it is crafted brilliantly.« »The idea that everyone used to be a child once,
Christoph Schröder, Süddeutsche Zeitung that everyone used to have parents who maybe
cried with emotion when they were born, every
»Fuel is an existential novel, disturbing, gripping, pervaded by soldier, every president, every janitor – all of this
brutality and desire, shaped by profound humaneness. gives me such a vague sense of the contradictions,
And it’s a linguistic masterpiece. A great book written by an of all the false bottoms underneath us and the
important author.« Dirk Kruse, BR certainty that everything is somehow connected.«
8 9
Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Dževad Karahasan Sibylle Lewitscharoff
A House for the Wearied From Above
Masterful short stories by one of the great European writers The new novel from the recipient of the Georg-Büchner-Prize
Sarajevo, September 1914. In a newspaper Dževad Karahasan »Before death. After death. Those are two Sibylle Lewitscharoff
editorial office, at the national bank and in A House for the Wearied fundamentally different ways of experiencing From Above
other official locations, letters arrive with Five Stories and looking at one’s own existence. I know Novel
considerable delay, often years later. Yet it (Original Bosnian title: what I’m talking about, because I am above.« (Original title: Von oben)
Kuća za umorne. Pjesme o 240 pages
is not the war that has thrown the imperial Sibylle Lewitscharoff’s narrator is looking
ljubavi u smrti) Clothbound
and royal mail into confusion, but rather down onto his own grave, the bereaved
(Translated German title: September 2019
a postman in love who has fallen on the friends and neighbours, onto the strange
Ein Haus für die Müden.
battlefield of the world war just unfolding. Fünf Geschichten) and the familiar in the city that is moaning
Rights available
239 pages under the oppressive heat from a bird’s-eye
Love and loss, progress and memory are the
Clothbound view. With no body and no will of his own
themes of these five long short stories with Selected Backlist:
Release of the German he drifts through the sky above Berlin,
which Dževad Karashan leaves the far-distant Abraham trifft Ibrahîm (2018)
edition by Suhrkamp: appears here and there, a silent messenger,
epoch of the setting of his opus magnum, International Sales: Russia
January 2019 witness to beautiful and horrible things,
The Solace of the Night Sky and returns to the (Medina)
with supernatural hearing and vision, but
twentieth century. Communism arrives in Rights available Das Pfingstwunder (2016)
condemned to the complete inability to
the backwoods of Bosnia. In the small towns,
act. His memories are sketchy, his future
surrounded by lonely, majestic landscapes, Dževad Karashan, born in International Sales:
uncertain. What can he hope, what does
Karahasan’s protagonists sense that a time Duvno, Yugoslavia, in 1953, English world rights
lives in Graz and Sarajevo. He he have to fear: Hell? Purgatory? Heavenly
is beginning in which there will not be a (Seagull), France
is a great romancer, short story paradise?
place for them any more. They are in denial – (Piranha); Domestic
writer, a dramatist, essayist
radical old men, stubbornly facing the world, In her new novel, Sibylle Lewitscharoff – »the
and academic. His works have Rights Sales: German
insisting on their right to dream, to grieve, been translated into more than shrewd lock keeper between this mortal world Audiobook (Audi-
and to be tired, quite simply. ten languages. In 2004, he was and the beyond« (Süddeutsche Zeitung) –
awarded the Leipzig Book Prize obuch); German Entire
fearlessly questions our conception of God
Letters that do not reach their destina- for European Understanding. Radio Reading (NDR)
and our existence, our perception of self
tion because death and world history
and world, of living and dying. At the end
get in the way of love, are a leitmotif in Selected Backlist: Apostoloff (2009) International
of this bold journey of the soul through Sales: English world rights
A House for the Wearied. Karahasan de- Što pepeo priča (Simurg
contemporary Berlin, into the intermediate (Seagull), Spanish world rights
scribes growing older – a looking back at Media, 2015) (German: Der
Trost des Nachthimmels, realm of the living and the dead, every sense (Hidalgo), Chinese simplex
a world changing more quickly than the rights (Beijing Qingyan),
Suhrkamp 2016) International of order is dissolved: It ends in an apotheosis
individuals in it can keep up with. Chinese complex rights (China
Sales: Chinese simplex that holds a surprising understanding of Times Publishing), France
rights (Shanghai Translation ourselves. (Piranha), Italy (Del Vecchio
Publishing House), Bulgaria
Editore), Hungary (Bookart),
(Paradox), Slovenia (Beletrina),
»A brilliant storyteller.«
Sibylle Lewitscharoff, born in Stuttgart in 1954, Bulgaria (Atlantis), Republic of
Photo: Claus Gretter
Photo: Jürgen Bauer
Turkey (Iletisim), Greece
lives in Berlin. Moldova / Romanian Rights
(Hestia), Iran (Donya-e-
Der Standard Eqtesad), Part 1: Macedonia
(Cartier), Estonia (Atlex),
Serbia (Presing Izdavastvo),
(Templum)
Macedonia (Ars Lamina);
»An event of the decade.« Domestic Rights Sales: German
Book Club (Bertelsmann),
NZZ about The Solace of the Night Sky
»Lewitscharoff’s great mastery consists of blending realistic German Audiobook (Der
Hörverlag)
narration with the sphere of the supernatural in such a way that
even the world beyond the rationally perceptible seems entirely
rational and believable.« Sigrid Löffler
»Sibylle Lewitscharoff is a linguistic temptress.« Joachim Dicks, NDR
10 11
Literary Fiction
Benjamín Labatut
Blind Light
Strayings of Science
In his literary exploration Blind Light, Benjamín Labatut
Benjamín Labatut writes about the fine line Blind Light
between genius and insanity and about the Strayings of Science
ambivalence of scientific discoveries in four (Original title: Un Verdor
Terrible, to be published
chapters that are as sensuous as they are
by Anagrama, Barcelona
bizarre. The text portrays the life of scientists
in 2020)
Fritz Haber, Werner Heisenberg, Alexander
(Title of the German
Grothendieck and Erwin Schrödinger as edition by Suhrkamp: Das
that of daredevil dreamers and passionate BENJAMÍN blinde Licht. Irrfahrten der
trailblazers. We read of their Eureka!- Wissenschaft )
moments, their triumphant epiphanies,
LABATUT approx. 184 pages
but also of their ethical shortcomings, their Clothbound
mental lows and their narcissism. With Release of the German
virtuosity, in rich and strikingly vivid detail, edition by Suhrkamp in
Labatut unlocks historic connections and DAS Spring 2020
writes, seemingly en passant, a history of BLINDE
20th-century European science that is not International Sales: UK
only shaped by the great wars, but that,
LICHT & ANZ (Pushkin Press),
Irrfahrten
in turn, also has a major influence on the der Wissenschaft Suhrkamp Spanish world rights
course of those wars. A literary gem about (Anagrama), Portu-
human eccentricity and the glorious yet guese rights (Elsinore),
terrifying power of science. France (Seuil), Italy
(Adelphi), Netherlands
(Atlas|Contact)
»Among the few possessions Fritz Haber had with him when he
Benjamín Labatut was born in
died was a letter written to his wife. In it, he confessed that he Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in
felt an unbearable guilt; not for the part he had played, directly 1980. He grew up in The Hague
or indirectly, in the death of untold human beings, but because and Buenos Aires and currently
lives and works in Santiago de
his method of extracting nitrogen from the air had so altered Chile. His literary works have
the natural equilibrium of the planet that he feared the world’s been awarded various prizes,
including the 2013 Premio
future belonged not to mankind, but to plants, as all that was Municipal de Literatura de
needed was a drop in population to premodern levels for just Santiago de Chile. When We
Cease to Understand the World
a few decades to allow them to grow without limit, taking is his third book.
advantage of the excess nutrients humanity had bestowed upon
them to spread out across the earth, increase in number, be
fruitful, multiply, and finally cover it completely, suffocating all
forms of life beneath a terrible verdure.«
photo: Juana Gomez
13
Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Andreas Maier Clemens J. Setz
The Family The Comfort of Round Things
On the madness of family life On the absurd and the grotesque of human coexistence
Andreas Maier describes the self- Andreas Maier An Alsatian soldier in the First World War Clemens J. Setz
destruction of the familial idyll in a highly The Family discovers the constellation of the Great The Comfort of Round
comical and profound way. Where the Novel Young Kid in the night sky, but it is so Things
ancestors used to drink the family’s own (Original title: Die Familie. awful that he can’t tell anyone about it. A Stories
Roman) With illustrations
apple cider, most comfortably it seems, young man, who has fallen in love with the
166 pages (Original title: Der
surrounded by fruit trees and chickens and blind Anja, discovers that her apartment is
Clothbound Trost runder Dinge.
goats, the later generations have to deal with covered with insults from floor to ceiling.
June 2019 Erzählungen)
inheritances, a huge plot of land, a malicious Marcel, sixteen years old, leaves his mobile 320 pages
monument preservation office, excavator number behind in the toilet-stall of a sex Clothbound
Rights available
operator in tow, with weird children and shop along with the name Suzy. February 2019
chaotic grandchildren constantly – or so it Andreas Maier, born in Bad
seems. Everybody appears infected with a The completely unexpected smashes into
Nauheim in 1967, lives in
the lives of Clemens J. Setz’ figures. Their International Sales:
destructive virus until the narrator, born in Hamburg. Among numerous
creator compassionately, almost tender- France (Jacqueline
1967, finally realizes as a representative of other honors, he was awarded
the ZDF aspekte Prize, the ly, tells their stories. Through trapdoors Chambon), Denmark
his entire generation: »We are the children of
Robert Gernhardt Prize, the he allows us glimpses into the puzzling (Vandkunsten), Greece
the children of silence.« The understanding
of his own family history begins in front of a
Wilhelm Raabe Prize and the occurrences and secret abysses of eve- (Gutenberg); Domestic
Franz Hessel Prize.
tombstone, far beyond the familiar city. ryday life, while we run into revenants Rights Sales: German
Selected Backlist:
and sentences that make us click our Audiobook (Griot)
tongues. The Comfort of Round Things is
Die Universität (2018)
a book full of will-o-the-wisps and false Clemens J. Setz, born 1982,
Der Kreis (2016) floors – radically told and full of thrilling lives in Graz.
Der Ort (2015) International details.
»Maier’s books are slim; Sales: Italy (Del Vecchio),
Prizes and distinctions
marking the by-now familiar Denmark (Batzer)
»›I was never sixteen.‹
(selection):
Berliner Literaturpreis 2019
with sketch-like sentences Die Straße (2013)
›You weren’t?‹ Literaturpreis der Steiermark
they prefer instead to deepen International Sales: Italy (Del
Vecchio), Denmark (Rosenkilde ›No. Why should I have been? I simply 2017
themselves in analytical & Bahnhof) upgraded from fourteen to eighteen, Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis
2015
observations that circle around Das Haus (2011) International bam, like that.‹
Longlisted for the German Book
the self.« Die Welt Sales: Italy (Del Vecchio),
Denmark (Rosenkilde &
And Gregor smiled, which made Prize 2015 (for Die Stunde
endearing little wrinkles appear around zwischen Frau und Gitarre)
Bahnhof)
Photo: Markus Kirchgessner
his eyes.
»Andreas Maier continues his Das Zimmer (2010)
Literaturpreis des Kulturkreises
›Ah, I see‹, I said, though I didn’t der deutschen Wirtschaft 2013
eleven-part Heimat saga, as
Photo: Max Zerrahn
International Sales: English
understand a thing.« Shortlisted for the German
excellent as it is profound.« world rights digital (Frisch
& Co.), Spanish world rights
Book Prize 2012 (for Indigo)
Frankfurter Rundschau (Adriana Hidalgo), Italy (Del Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2011
Vecchio), Denmark (Rosenkilde (for Die Liebe zur Zeit des
& Bahnhof), Norway (Hovde Mahlstädter Kindes)
» Each of his […] memory sketches is chosen with care. And & Brekke), Czech Republic Selected Backlist: Literature Prize of the City of
(Archa), Macedonia (Goten)
[each of them] unfailingly leads to metaphysical Proust-like Die Stunde zwischen Frau und Gitarre (2015) International Sales: Spanish world rights (Malpaso), Bremen 2010
France (Jacqueline Chambon), Italy (La Nave di Teseo), Bulgaria (Paradox) Shortlisted for the German
moments.« Gerrit Bartels, Der Tagesspiegel Indigo (2012) International Sales: USA (W. W. Norton / Liveright), UK (Serpent’s Tail), Chinese complex rights Book Prize 2009 (for Die
(China Times), Japan (Kokusho Kankokai), France (Jacqueline Chambon), Denmark (Vandkunsten), Czech Republic Frequenzen)
(Fra), Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Funtasy), Croatia (Hena Com) Ernst-Willner-Preis 2008 at
Die Liebe zur Zeit des Mahlstädter Kindes (2011) International Sales: Arabic world rights (Al‘Asreya), the Ingeborg-Bachmann-
France (Jacqueline Chambon), Denmark (Vandkunsten), Czech Republic (Fra), Hungary (Europa), Wettbewerb
Bulgaria (Funtasy), Romania (Univers), Macedonia (Blesok)
14 15
Literary Fiction
Deniz Utlu
Towards Morning
What is the cost of life?
When Kara flies from Berlin to Frankfurt, Deniz Utlu
the plane gets caught up in a heavy Towards Morning
thunderstorm. In face of the looming crash, Novel
he suddenly sees Ramón sitting a few rows in (Original title: Gegen
Morgen. Roman)
front of him. Ramón, who was never invited
269 pages
but still came, who stayed on the couch in
Clothbound
Kara’s and Kara’s best friend Vince’s kitchen
September 2019
until he disappeared from one day to the
next. After the emergency landing, Kara
Rights available
restlessly returns to Berlin where he sets out
on the search for Ramón and therefore on
Deniz Utlu, born in Hanover
retraces his own past. He finds the long-lost in 1983, studied Economics in
friend in an estate of prefabricated houses Berlin and Paris. From 2003
and offers him to move into Vince’s former to 2014 he was the publisher
room. That’s where Ramón is paid a visit of freitext, a magazine on
by some strangers one night. Shortly after culture and society. His debut
novel Die Ungehaltenen (The
that he disappears again. Kara realises that
Indignant) was published in
Ramón is gone for good when he follows 2014 and was adapted for
him to Paris but finds nothing but a city in the stage at the Maxim Gorki
turmoil. Theatre in Berlin in 2015. From
In Towards Morning, Deniz Utlu presents 2017 to 2019 he wrote the
column Einträge ins Logbuch
a profound shock and asks what defines
(Entries to the Logbook) for the
us: that which we have left behind or that newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.
which lies ahead of us. In shimmering In addition, he is the author
images he traces the mistakes and the of plays, poetry and essays
potentials of a life as well as humanity, (for newspapers such as FAZ,
which starts at the point where we don’t SZ, Der Tagesspiegel und
Der Freitag). He conducts
pay attention to ourselves but to others.
research at the German
Institute for Human Rights and
is the organiser of a series of
readings entitled Prosa der
Verhältnisse at the Maxim Gorki
Theatre.
Photo: Heike Steinweg
Atmospheric and moving, full of overtones and nuances
16
Letters & PoetryModern Classics Poetry
Nelly Sachs A New Divan A Lyrical Dialogue
On the 50th anniversary of the death of poet Nelly Sachs in between East and West
May 2020, Suhrkamp Verlag honours its author with various A New Divan is a project that will celebrate the
200th anniversary of Goethe’s West-Eastern
editions and memorial events. Divan (1819). This ambitious anthology
brings together new poems by twenty-four
»Your lyrical and dramatic leading poets – 12 from the ›East‹ and 12
from the ›West‹ – in a truly international
writing now belongs to the A New Divan
poetic dialogue inspired by the culture of the
great laments of literature, but other. The poets come from across the East
A Lyrical Dialogue
between East and West
the feeling of mourning which (from Morocco to Afghanistan) and from Forewords by Daniel
inspired you is free from hate across the West (from Estonia to Brazil). The Barenboim and Mariam
and lends sublimity to the new poems respond to the titles of the twelve Said
books of Goethe’s original Divan, including Edited by Barbara
suffering of man. We honour The Poet, Love, Ill-humour, The Cup-Bearer, Schwepcke and Bill
you today as the bearer of a The Tyrant and Paradise, and draw on the Swainson
message of solace to all those distinctive poetic forms of the cultures of approx. 200 pages
Clothbound
who despair of the fate of the poets taking part. For the English edition
Release of the English
published by Gingko Library, twenty-two
man.« Ingvar Andersson, laudatory English-language poets have created English
edition by Gingko Library:
speech on the bestowal of the Nobel Prize June 2019
versions of the poems not originally written Release of the German
in English, either by direct translation or by edition by Suhrkamp:
Sachs’ volumes of poetry, greatly influenced
working with a literal translation. For the October 2019
by the experience of the Shoah, have
German edition 21 well-known writers have
received profound reception throughout the
created translations to the German in the Rights available
world: In the Habitations of Death, Flight and
same manner. All poems are printed both
Metamorphosis, Journey into a Dustless Realm,
in the original language and the translation.
and Sternverdunklung first and foremost. Her Barbara Schwepcke obtained
Other international editions are supposed Eastern Poets her doctorate from the London
close personal and artistic relationship with
to contain the 24 poems in their respective Abbas Beydoun (Lebanon) School of Economics after
Paul Celan deeply influenced both authors’
original languages as well as adaptations in Adonis (Syria) which she started working as
poetry. But Nelly Sachs’ association with
the respective target language. Fadhil Al-Azzawi (Iraq) a journalist. Today, she is a
Swedish authors, most of all Selma Lagerlöf,
Amjad Nasser (Jordan) publisher and editor.
have contributed to the fact that her work A New Divan is accompanied by six essays
has been translated into more than 40 Fatemeh Shams (Iran)
exploring the differences and similarities Bill Swainson, having worked
languages. She maintained a lively exchange Gonca Özmen (Turkey)
between Eastern and Western poetry and for numerous publishing
with Siegfried Unseld and Hans Magnus Hafez Mousavi (Iran)
discussing the challenges of literary and houses, is now a freelance
Enzensberger, whom she named trustee of Iman Mersal (Egypt)
cultural translation. The essays enhance editor.
her estate, as evidenced by the exhaustive Mohammed Bennis (Morocco)
and complement the poems, mirroring
correspondences. Mourid Barghouti (Palestine)
Goethe’s original notes and commentary.
Sachs remains topical for as long as people Nujoom Al-Ghanem (UAE)
Contributors are Robyn Creswell, Narguess
hurt one another and the power of the lyrical Reza Mohammadi (Afghanistan)
Nelly Sachs was born into a liberal Jewish family of entrepreneurs on Farzad, Rajmohan Gandhi, Kadhim Jihad
word is required to communicate this. December 10, 1891 in Berlin. In 1940, after the death of her father, Hassan, Stefan Weidner and Sibylle Wentker. Western Poets
she went into exile in Sweden with her mother and became a Swedish
Countless poems of hers have been set The anthology offers a polyphonic pan- Antonella Anedda (Italy)
citizen in 1953. She was the first woman to receive the Peace Prize of
to music and dramatic poems have been orama of global poetry and shows lit-
Photo:
the German Book Trade in 1965 and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Homero Aridjis (Mexico)
inspired by her around the world and Literature in 1966 together with Samuel Agnon. Nelly Sachs died in erature’s power to eliminate borders. An Angélica Freitas (Brazil)
bear witness to the power, spirituality and Stockholm on May 12, 1970, the day of Paul Celan’s funeral. important contribution at a time when Durs Grünbein (Germany)
topicality of Nelly Sachs’ oeuvre. some prefer to create rather than over- Clara Janés (Spain)
Representative editions of the collected come boundaries – and at the same time Jaan Kaplinski (Estonia)
works and volumes of selected poems have a celebration of the shared cultural herit- Khaled Mattawa (USA)
been published in numerous countries. A age of Orient and Occident. Gilles Ortlieb (France)
complete and commentated edition of the Don Paterson (UK)
collected works of Nelly Sachs, edited by Raoul Schrott (Austria)
Aris Fioretos, was published by Suhrkamp Aleš Šteger (Slovenia)
Verlag in 2011. Jan Wagner (Germany)
18 19Letters / Poetry
Paul Celan
Celan Year 2020 – 100th birthday and
50th anniversary of his death
»Actually, there is nothing I would rather do than writing letters.« Paul Celan
»an entirely personal
Paul Celan’s exceptional oeuvre of letters – half of them unpublished so far matter«
Letters 1934-1970
An oeuvre, on par with the poetic works, of immense stylistic range Edited and commented by
Barbara Wiedemann
Biographically insightful and poetologically fruitful
(Original title: »etwas ganz
und gar Persönliches«
Paul Celan, the most-interpreted German-speaking poet after 1945, is also the author of an
Briefe 1934-1970)
eminent opus of letters. In this edition, it becomes visible as its own oeuvre for the first time: approx. 1282 pages
in 691 letters, 330 of them unpublished so far, to 252 addressees. Who are these addressees? Clothbound
They are members of Celan’s family, women he loved, authors he was friends with, young Release: December 2019
and enthusiastic readers, fellow translators, French philosophers as well as German scholars
and the employees of numerous publishing houses. All of these letters create a life in letters Rights available
in chronological order spanning across four decades.
Paul Celan was born in 1920
They show Celan as an exceptional correspondent with an immense stylistic range, dis- in Czernowitz and passed
tinguished by his ability to defer to strangers. The letters reveal a multitude of thus far away in April 1970 in Paris.
unknown biographic facts, allow for the specification of his poetology while showing him as He is internationally recognized
a person in his ordinary everyday life at the same time. as one of the most important
authors of the twentieth
century.
Celan’s collected poems – for the first time in their entirety and with new commen- Paul Celan
tary. Close to 60 more poems than the 2003 edition. Poems
New complete and
The history of their origins, sources, cross-references: broken down with summa- annotated edition
ries and individual notes. Edited by Barbara
Wiedemann. With 25
For Paul Celan reading was always an experience as well: the books, journals, and daily etchings by Gisèle Celan-
newspapers he read were as much a source of his poems as personal encounters and Lestrange
political events. When a complete and annotated edition of Celan’s poems first appeared (Original title: Die
Gedichte. Neue
in 2003, the indexing of such sources was still at its beginning. In the meantime editions
kommentierte
of his most important epistolary exchanges have been published, the critical editions
Gesamtausgabe)
have been completed, and research in Celan’s bequest library with its literary traces and
1.262 pages
annotations has forged ahead. Clothbound
Photo: Wolfgang Oschatz
July 2018
On this basis, the 2003 edition could be expanded by close to 60 poems, some of them
appearing for the first time, and all of his texts underwent careful examination. The com-
Rights available
mentary has also been reorganized and expanded considerably, especially thanks to the
editor’s intensive research of Celan’s reading of the press. Special attention has been Barbara Wiedemann, literary
paid – in line with his poetology – to the ›inscribed date‹ of every poem. With this new scholar and a professor at the
edition the reader is given a great wealth of clearly demonstrable information for University of Tübingen, is the
Biography, Memoirs & Diaries
understanding Celan’s poetry. editor of Paul Celan’s works
and letters.
20Memoir
Maya Lasker-Wallfisch
with Taylor Downing
Letter to Breslau
Maya grows up in silence. The German past, This book is a unique exploration of Maya Lasker-Wallfisch
the Holocaust that her mother survived the impact of the Holocaust on three with Taylor Downing
as a cellist in the Women’s Orchestra of generations of one family. The grandparents Letter to Breslau
Auschwitz – nobody talks about these things. were murdered; the parents suffered but My Story across Three
survived; Maya in the post-war generation Generations
And yet, Maya cannot escape the wounds
experiences transgenerational trauma and (Original title: Briefe nach
of her parents, a stable life impossible she
Breslau. Meine Geschichte
drifts through 1970s London. The nights her life unravels. Now she has put it back
über drei Generationen)
too long, drugs, debts, the wrong guys, an together she reveals how one’s own history
approx. 260 pages
escape to Jamaica where she almost dies … always depends on what happened in the
Clothbound
In order to survive, she suddenly realizes past. Release: Spring 2020
that she needs to overcome the silence. She
starts to write: letters to her grandparents Rights available
who were murdered by the Nazis, a direct
way of setting up a dialogue with her past. Maya Lasker-Wallfisch lives in
Piece by piece her words bring the family London where she works as a
together and help her understand that her psychoanalytic psychotherapist
and educator. She has
own future lies in returning to Germany.
specialized in working with
people whose lives have been
impacted by the Holocaust and
other displacement trauma.
Taylor Downing is a historian,
freelance writer and film
producer. He studied History in
Cambridge and went on to work
at the Imperial War Museum.
He is the author of numerous
books on historical subjects,
his works include Spies in the
Sky (2012), The World at War
(2012) and 1983–The World at
the Brink (2016). His film and
TV productions have received
numerous prizes.
Photo: Stephan Pramme
23Biography Biography
Peter Goßens Philipp Lenhard
Paul Celan Friedrich Pollock
100th birthday on November 23, 2020
Paul Celan’s work has been cultivated at Peter Goßens Philipp Lenhard’s book is the first biog- Philipp Lenhard
Suhrkamp Verlag for more than six decades: Paul Celan raphy on Friedrich Pollock (1894–1970). Friedrich Pollock
Numerous editions of the collected works Life, Work, Impact It talks about the life of a man who played The Éminence Grise of the
and many volumes of letters attest to a (Original title: Paul Celan. a defining role in German-Jewish intel- Frankfurt School
Leben, Werk, Wirkung) (Original title: Friedrich
work that has had no equal in regard to its lectual history but always kept to the
approx. 190 pages Pollock. Die graue Eminenz
impact after 1945. But what was missing background.
Paperback der Frankfurter Schule)
until now was a topical, brief and illustrated The son of an industrialist who wanted
Release: December 2019 approx. 382 pages
introduction to the life, work, and impact of to abolish private property. A Jew who Clothbound
the poet. didn’t want anything to do with Judaism. Release: November 2019
Rights available
This gap has now been filled. With an A professor who published little. An
illustrated biography and a clear account economist who squandered his wealth on
Peter Goßens, born in 1966, Rights available
of his poetry, prose and translations as the stock market. A communist who thought
is a Professor of Comparative
well as a reception history focused on the Literary Studies at the Ruhr- Marxism was anachronistic. And finally:
Philipp Lenhard, born in
most important aspects the introduction University Bochum. He was co- a critical intellectual. 1980, is an academic advisor
by Peter Goßens on the 100th birthday and editor of the Celan exhibition When dealing with the political culture at the chair for Jewish History
50th anniversary of the death of the poet »›Displaced‹. Paul Celan in of the Weimar Republic, the development and Culture at the Ludwig
Vienna 1947–1948« at the
facilitates an initial engagement with Paul of »Critical Theory« and German-Jewish Maximilian University of Munich.
Jewish Museum Vienna (2001) He is the editor of the Collected
Celan just as much as a more specialized and co-editor of the Celan
emigration to the USA, there is no way
Works by Friedrich Pollock.
reading and biographical approaches. Handbook. For Suhrkamp around dealing with Friedrich Pollock. Max
Verlag he has edited Celan’s Horkheimer’s companion and the founder of
Ungaretti translations (2006). the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt
plays an important part in German-
The much-anticipated
Jewish intellectual history as a prominent
introduction on the »I think of you with all the
representative of »Critical Theory«.
occasion of the poet’s warmth and friendship, behind
100th birthday which is not just disposition
and subjective behaviour, but
that draws its substance from
a long life that I can’t imagine
without you.« Theodor W. Adorno
24 25Autobiographical Prose Travel Literature
Max Frisch Josef Winkler
Questionnaire The City Chronicler of Kolkata
»What are you missing in order to be happy?« Exploring Kolkata with Josef Winkler – a brilliant text
Max Frisch’s legendary collection of eleven Max Frisch »Josef Winkler is somebody who negotiates Josef Winkler
questionnaires on existential topics such as Questionnaire the frontiers and transforms his anxiety into The City Chronicler of
friendship, marriage, home or humour is (Original title: Fragebogen) desire by the act of writing, and with the Kolkata
presented here in an extended version: In approx. 128 pages risky balancing act on the brink of the abyss (Original title: Der
Paperback Stadtschreiber von
addition, there are three newly discovered finds a firm equilibrium in the long term.
Release: October 2019 Kalkutta)
and thus far unpublished questionnaires on He is not glorifying the other world […] but
approx. 109 pages
technology, alcohol and ethics from the estate liberating the self in grand style. To this end,
International Sales: Clothbound
of Max Frisch. These both enlightening and however, he initiates an unsettling process Release: November 2019
entertaining questionnaires also invite you Denmark (Basilisk); evoking matters previously suppressed, and
to think about yourself and to get talking to Domestic Rights by no means does he spare the reader in the Rights available
others through the intensity of the questions. Sales: German Book process.« Süddeutsche Zeitung
Club (Büchergilde
Born in Austria in 1953
For the first time with three newly dis- Gutenberg) »On New Market two white roosters and an author since 1982,
covered, thus far unpublished question- with sickle-shaped tails and red, jagged, Josef Winkler today lives in
Max Frisch was born in 1911
naires (on the topics of technology, alco- translucent, upright combs that keep Klagenfurt.
in Zurich, where he died in
hol and ethics) 1991. flapping to one side like rubber with every
Selected Backlist:
movement are standing in a basket. All
around the shining light bulbs are coated Lass dich heimgeigen, Vater
oder Den Tod ins Herz mir
in silver foil, so that the light falls focused
schreibe (2018) International
on the piles of papayas, mangos and the Sales: Czech Republic (Archa),
Selected Backlist: fruits of the pineapples from Kerala.« This Bulgaria (Black Flamingo);
is one of the chapter headings – and right Domestic Rights Sales: German
Aus dem Berliner Journal (2014) International
Sales: English world rights (Seagull), French world
then and there we’re amidst the plethora of »Winkler captures Audiobook (Der Diwan)
rights (Zoé), Italy (Armando Dadò), Poland (Czarne), observations and shortest stories that Josef India’s raving presence Roppongi (2007) International
Winkler has noted down. Sales: France (Verdier),
Czech Republic (Archa), Turkey (Yapi Kredi); Domestic
Rights Sales: German Audiobook rights (DAV), This time, the traveler of India hasn’t set
that oscillates between Czech Republic (Archa),
German Book Club rights (Büchergilde Gutenberg) out for Varanasi to the cremation sites by the mercantile and the Bulgaria (Black Flamingo),
Serbia (Leykam), Slovenia
Entwürfe zu einem dritten Tagebuch (2010)
International Sales: English world rights (Seagull),
the holy Ganges but to Kolkata. There, he spiritual: in his Indian (Hermagoras/Mohorjeva)
France (Grasset), Italy (Casagrande Edizioni), Sweden takes his readers on his tours of the city, into notebooks written Natura morta (2001)
the electrifying, colourful hustle and bustle
(Faethon), Finland (Lurra), Poland (W.A.B.), Czech
Republic (Paseka), Bulgaria (Lege Artis) of a big food market.
with blue ink.« International Sales: English
Peter von Becker, Der Tagesspiegel world rights (Contra Mundum),
Photo: Andrej Reiser
Tagebuch 1966–1971 (1972) International Sales: In Kolkata, Winkler also visits the cremation Spanish world rights (Galaxia
English world rights (Seagull), France (Gallimard), Italy
site at the holy Hooghly River, a distributary Gutenberg), Russia (AST
(Felltrinelli), Korea (Segaellbo), Poland (W.A.B.), Czech
Republic (Archa), Slovakia (Slovensky Spisovatel),
of the Ganges River in Bengal, and describes Publishers), Arabic world
rights (Le Fennec), France
Romania (Univers), Slovenia (Studentska Zalozba the sacrifice of many small white goats.
(Verdier), Italy (Forum Editrice
Beletrina), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Macedonia (Magor Among them the favourite animals of Universitaria Udinese), Norway
Doo) children who lead them to the temple with (Solum), Czech Republic
Tagebuch 1946–1949 (1950) International Sales: Total print run of the German their parents so that the Goddess Kali can (Archa), Bulgaria (Black
English world rights (Seagull), France (Gallimard),
Italy (Felltrinelli), Poland (W.A.B.), Czech Republic
single editions of the drink the blood of the animals. Flamingo), Lithuania (Kitos
Kolkata is a metropolis of opposites: The Knygos), Croatia (Leykam),
(ERM Nakladatelstvi), Bulgaria (Bakalov), Romania Questionnaire: more than Bosnia (Vrijeme), Turkey (Pan),
former capital of the British colony makes
(Univers), Serbo-croatian world rights (BIGZ), Serbia
150.000 copies tradition within art, music and literature
Ukraine (Knihy XXI)
(AED-Studio), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Kohlias),
Azerbaijan (Alatoran) just as visible as the structural change
within the castes and the integration of the
rural population.
26 27Prose
Hans Magnus Enzensberger 90th birthday on 11 November 2019 of one of the most
influential and internationally renowned German intellectuals
Survival Artists – 99 Literary Vignettes
from the 20th Century Windfalls
A subjective-historical revue »One of Germany’s leading public intellectuals.« London Review of Books
The 20th century was the heyday of writers Hans Magnus »How’s the confidence of the financial Hans Magnus
who had survived state terror and purges Enzensberger astrologers doing? What does the gibberish Enzensberger
with all the ethical and political ambivalences Survival Artists of the daily papers tell us? How much Windfalls
that this entailed. How did they manage 99 Literary Vignettes reality is contained in the mythical models Just a Notebook
from the 20th Century of contemporary physics and cosmology? With drawings by Bernd
to do that? Were they too steadfast to bend
With 99 images Bexte
to the powers that be? Did they owe their Towards which ultimate goal is our
(Original title: (Original title: Fallobst -
survival to their foresight, their intelligence contemporaries’ pathological mobility
Überlebenskünstler. 99 Nur ein Notizbuch)
or sharpness, their belief in themselves, drifting? What is the ubiquitous craze for
literarische Vignetten aus approx. 450 pages
their connections or their tactical skill? Was dem 20. Jahrhundert) abbreviations hiding? And down which Clothbound
it serendipitous circumstances bordering 366 pages garden path are the fine arts trying to lead Release: November 2019
on a miracle that helped them escape from Clothbound us?« As shrewd as he is wise, the author
Photo: Jürgen Bauer
prison, camps and death, or was it strategies April 2018 does not claim that his answers to these
Rights available
that spanned from ingratiation to disguise? questions are fruit off the tree of absolute
If only it was possible to make a clear-cut International Sales: knowledge. »Windfalls« is what he calls
distinction! English world rights them, »which have been collected in various
(Seagull), France (Alma), big and small baskets.«
In 99 pointed, deliberately subjective
Italy (Einaudi), Serbia With sharp wit, straightforward and
portraits, Hans Magnus Enzensberger
stridently, Hans Magnus Enzens-
describes the lives and particular surviv- (Laguna); Domestic
berger confronts us with zeitgeist and
al strategies of international writers, but Rights Sales: German spirit. And last but not least there is na-
mainstream in an entertaining series
also the objective reasons for which they Book Club (Büchergilde ture in both its wondrous as well as its
of observations, notes, short essays,
managed to survive the 20th century, the Gutenberg) capricious manifestations.
memories, dialogues, poems and com-
»Age of Violence«. Despite the seemingly
mentaries. And yet, there is no short-
overwhelmingly powerful opponent of Hans Magnus Enzensberger
age of acknowledgements: of trusted and
thoroughly formed societies and authori- was born in Kaufbeuren in
1929. As a poet, essayist, beloved people, brothers and sisters in
tarian, death-or-glory governments. That
writer, publisher and translator,
we could learn from this in our present he is one of the world’s most
A Handful of Anecdotes
situation is not, according to the author, influential and internationally
out of the question. renowned German intellectuals.
Through impressions, leaps and digressions, A Handful of Anecdotes
we follow the author’s memories of his Also Opus incertum
childhood, youth and student days, from With 122 illustrations
1929 to the beginning of the 1950s. Hans (Original title: Eine Handvoll
Anekdoten, auch Opus
Magnus Enzensberger writes subjectively,
incertum)
Selected Backlist: with energy, wittily and with deliberate
239 pages
gaps about family bonds and first love, an
Clothbound
Tumult (2014) International Sales: English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Malpaso), Chinese simplex early passion for reading and an addiction to Release: October 2018
rights (Beijing Fonghong Books), Brazilian Portuguese Rights (Todavia), France (Gallimard), Italy (Einaudi), Denmark
the media, a plethora of evasive manœuvres
(Gyldendal), Greece (Hestia); Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook rights (Der Hörverlag), German Entire
around false authority, an unsuccessful
Radio Reading (HR), German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg) International Sales:
foray into explosions, desertion, the black
France (Gallimard)
Hammerstein oder Der Eigensinn (2008) International Sales: English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights market and then the happiness in academic
(Anagrama), Chinese simplex rights (Beijing Fonghong Books), Brazilian Portuguese (Companhia das Letras), freedom at university.
France (Gallimard), Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Cossée), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Norstedts), Norway
(Press), Japan (Shobunsha), Poland (Swiat Ksiazki), Croatia (Disput), Serbia (Prometej), Turkey (Everest), Greece
(Kastaniotis)
28 29You can also read
