Being able to tell the story of Europe
Conversationäch & reading
With Robert Menasse (Austria)
Moration: Denis Scheck
The International Danube Festival is committed to a united, strong and democratic Europe. Robert Menasse, one of the most important contemporary Austrian and European writers, addresses the real challenges of the European Union as a complex and ambivalent project. At the same time, he explores the question of how the reality of the EU can be narrated convincingly in literature. According to the numerous reactions from critics and the public, he succeeds in doing so in an impressive manner.
This is particularly evident in his trilogy of so-called „EU novels“ - „Die Hauptstadt“ (2017), „Die Erweiterung“ (2022) and a third novel currently in progress - as well as in the recently published novella „Die Lebensentscheidung“.
With his look at bureaucratic structures and political mechanisms, Menasse shows the direct connection between the everyday lives of individuals, their private sphere and the decisions of high politics. In doing so, he thematises both the mutual responsibility and the democratic deficit of political processes within the EU.
The author talks to literary critic Denis Scheck about the roles of humour, irony and lyrical narrative tone in „Narrating Europe“ and about the meaning of political utopia. Robert Menasse will also read excerpts from his novella „Die Lebensentscheidung“, which deals with existential questions.
Robert Menasse was born in Vienna in 1954 and grew up there. He studied German language and literature, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina and received his doctorate in 1980 with a thesis on the »type of outsider in the literary world«. Menasse then taught at the University of São Paulo for six years - first as a lecturer for Austrian literature, then as a guest lecturer at the Institute for Literary Theory. There, he mainly taught courses on philosophical and aesthetic theories, including Hegel, Lukács, Hegel, Lukács, Lukács, Hegel and Lukács: Hegel, Lukács, Benjamin and Adorno. Since his return from Brazil in 1988, Robert Menasse has lived mainly in Vienna as a writer and cultural critic. He has received numerous awards, including the Austrian Art Prize for Literature and the German Book Prize. He has received numerous honours, including the Austrian Art Prize for Literature, the German Literature Prize, the European Book Prize...
Denis Scheck is one of the most influential literary critics in Germany. He is the author and presenter of numerous literary formats and television programmes. At the 14th International Danube Festival, he will present the literary programme.
Book table: Jastram
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