As this issue goes to press, great things seem to be happening. The Austrian film
The Counterfeiters has just collected the Best Foreign Film Oscar, hot on the heels of last year’s German
The Lives of Others which recently added a BAFTA award to its collection and was chosen as Film of the Year by an army of critics. At the same time posters of Fatih Akin’s stunningly beautiful and thoughtful
The Edge of Heaven are adorning London’s underground stations. German-language film certainly seems to be on a roll.
As does German-language theatre, with plays by Georg Büchner, Peter Handke, Bertolt Brecht and a production of Ibsen performed by the Berlin Schaubühne ensemble currently in repertoire in London, not to mention recent productions of work by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Max Frisch and Peter Weiss, the sell-out run two years back of Schiller’s
Maria Stuart and
Don Carlos and last year’s acclaimed season of Brecht at the Young Vic. We are delighted to be offering, in this connection, articles by playwright and translator
Alistair Beaton and drama expert
David Barnett.
Is the same success paralleled in literature? Curiosity in one genre can go hand-in-hand with an increasing awareness in another and Guardian Hay Festival Director
Peter Florence’s statement would endorse that: ‘It feels like a breakthrough year [for German literature in translation].’ It is hugely encouraging to see the attention being paid to German writing at both the Hay and Edinburgh festivals, creating that all-important personal connection between writers and their readers. In our centre section you will find more information on this matter, and also on other books we can look forward to in English translation as the year unfolds.
Spring is always a time of hope and new life, of course, and this Spring’s selection carries with it, I hope, the promise of fresh voices and new tales that have a strong chance of finding British and other homes: Cornelia Schleime and Jan Böttcher offer startling novels concerned with aspects of the GDR, a time and setting for which there is an increasing appetite among readers. One of the most surprising debuts is by the young Austrian writer Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker, capturing an unfamiliar side of post-war Austria with poetic calm, while fellow Austrian Sabine Gruber, still to be translated into English, would reach a different readership with a fine novel touching on affairs of the heart. Among writers already known here, Peter Handke’s new novel is a feast and a return to form, while Pascal Mercier’s short tale will haunt and delight his readers.
We’re pleased to offer a strong hand of non-fiction titles, too, from a searing look at what human nature combined with climate change may reap to studies of the fascinating Ernst Jünger and the enigmatic founder of Germany’s leading news magazine
Der Spiegel, Rudolf Augstein, proving that recent history is sometimes most scintillatingly illuminated by some of the figures moving through it and shaping it.
This year Rowohlt Verlag celebrates its 100th anniversary and
Philip Oltermann takes us through some of the highs and lows of that journey, while the literary editor of the
Neue Zürcher Zeitung Roman Bucheli urges us to take a closer look at one of the finest of contemporary Swiss writers, Urs Widmer. Professor
Rüdiger Görner suggests we also consider the considerable charms of a Swiss writer of earlier years: Gottfried Keller is the subject of this issue’s Forgotten Gem.
Thinking of a break and keen to combine it with literature? Vienna comes warmly recommended (page 36) and please note the ‘Dates for the Diary’ section opposite. Turning to the centre pages you’ll find detailed information, if you are a publisher, on how to apply for translation grants. Remember special conditions are in place for titles featured in NBG.
Finally, we hope you’ll enjoy the new look of the journal and most of all what it contains. We say a big ‘Thank You’, as ever, to all those who support and encourage our work, and here’s to another year of books and conversation!
Yours sincerely,
Rebecca K. Morrison
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