Considering contemporary conditions, what possibilities does a writer have of effecting change? On intimate terms with all literary traditions, Volker Braun makes use of tried and tested prose forms to come closer to an answer: aphorisms, pieces of dialogue, quotes. In his workshop dreams, puzzling fragments, and stubborn truths all come to light.
This series of coup-like attacks unfolds from a rogue’s-eye-view: for a rogue founds his thinking and actions on the practical plane...
Considering contemporary conditions, what possibilities does a writer have of effecting change? On intimate terms with all literary traditions, Volker Braun makes use of tried and tested prose forms to come closer to an answer: aphorisms, pieces of dialogue, quotes. In his workshop dreams, puzzling fragments, and stubborn truths all come to light.
This series of coup-like attacks unfolds from a rogue’s-eye-view: for a rogue founds his thinking and actions on the practical plane of how to deal with things, making use of coarse appeals, attacks and defences, burlesques, manipulations, hints, and jabs to the ribs.
»Here, his tricky, informative-conceptual tone, which gives free reign to the reader’s imagination at the same time, is concentrated on short sentences.« Helmut Böttiger, Süddeutsche Zeitung
»The poet, playwright, novelist and essayist Volker Braun impresses with polemic poignancy, literary elegance and intellectual finesse.« Cornelia Jentzsch, Deutschlandfunk
»On his 80th birthday, Volker Braun is giving his readers a gift.« SWR
»The exceptional thing about Volker Braun’s texts is how they venture into depths and from the historical underground bring to light the hope that was buried with the dead.« Michael Opitz, WDR
»a powerful voice, influential and smart« Leipziger Volkszeitung
»the most important German political poet after Bertolt Brecht« Christian Eger, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
»Volker Braun is a dissenting spirit that won't let himself be tied down.« Tomas Gärtner, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten
»He is still powerfully eloquent.« Welf Grombacher, Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung
» […] these ›nudges‹ definitely have the power and the originality to tempt you to ponder the time(s).« Roland Gutsch, Nordkurier
»Braun’s trenchant puns, his profound humous and his cheerfulness that invokes Karl Marx, who called it the ›essential mode of the mind‹, make reading this short volume a (thoughtful) pleasure.« Christiane Baumann, schattenblick.de
»Here, his tricky, informative-conceptual tone, which gives free reign to the reader’s imagination at the same time, is concentrated on short sentences.« Helmut Böttiger, Süddeutsche Zeitung
»The poet, playwright, novelist and essayist Volker Braun impresses with polemic poignancy, literary elegance and intellectual finesse.« Cornelia Jentzsch, Deutschlandfunk
»On his 80th birthday, Volker Braun is giving...
Born in Dresden in 1939, when he was younger, Braun worked as a printer and in an open pit mine. Subsequently, he studied philosophy in Leipzig and worked at the Berliner Ensemble until 1990. Volker Braun lives in Berlin.
Born in Dresden in 1939, when he was younger, Braun worked as a printer and in an open pit mine. Subsequently, he studied philosophy in Leipzig...
»What did you do in 2020?« The year when the world is »moved, all of a sudden, to stand still«. When the streets are »humanless«, the city is quietened and...
UK & ANZ (Smokestack Books)
Relocating the Secret Point gathers underground texts and speeches. The collection opens with a satire of expatriation written in January 1977 and is followed by the radical pamphlet Büchner’s Letters; it contains essays on Shakespeare and Rimbaud, Goethe and Kafka: poetry and politics, and points to a shift in the work that will grow into a radical change.
Arabic world rights (Kalima), France (Métailié)
Giorgio Badini, son of a Tuscan mason, now professor emeritus and owner of a country estate, is enjoying retirement with his wife. But the two pensioners suddenly find their house occupied by a...
Greece (Enastron)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: France (Inventaire)