Summer Reading 2023

Thomas Brussig’s iconic GDR novel appears for the first time in English with Jonathan Franzen’s translation and introduction. This iconic story of adolescents in East Germany is a humorous and affirming testament to the power of humanity under conditions of adversity. (Picador, 2023)

 

Acclaimed author Jenny Erpenbeck’s latest novel Kairos, translated by Michael Hofmann, has been widely hailed as the great post-Unification novel. Charting a tumultuous decades-long romance which began in the 1980s, Erpenbeck explores the depths of an ambivalent relationship against the backdrop of the upheaval wrought by the dissolution of the GDR. (New Directions, 2023)

 

Werner Herzog’s long-awaited first novel The Twilight World, translated by Michael Hofmann, tells the remarkable and quixotic story of a Japanese soldier stationed in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware that the war had ended. Herzog’s inimitable, oneiric style will appeal to lovers of the eccentric German filmmaker. (Penguin Press, 2022)
 

Ross Benjamin’s new translation makes available for the first time a wealth of Kafka’s diary entries, including material omitted from previous publications. This sheds new light on his inner life and is a must-read for lovers of Kafka and modern literature. (Schocken, 2023)
 

Esther Kinsky’s eloquent novel, translated by Caroline Schmidt, records the aftermath of the 1976 Friuli earthquake, which killed hundreds. Seven survivors tell their stories in a densely woven collage which speaks to the fragility of memory and the loss of everything familiar. (NYRB, 2023)