"Colours of Farewell" is a collection of stories about depressing farewells, liberating farewells, about the success and failure of love, about trust and betrayal. They are stories from people in different phases of life, about their fears and their hopes. Schlink also talks about Stasi employees, how friendships are exploited and more. The stories lean toward melodrama while remaining easily accessible. Schlink's language is calm and clear, needs no stylistic effects. The "Colours of Farewell" are literarily successful.
Bernhard Schlink (*1944, Bielefeld) - AUthor
Photo: Gaby Gerster / © Diogenes Verlag
was a Professor of Public Law and Philosophy of Law at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Schlink has published several novels. He achieved international fame with his bestseller "The Reader". This novel was translated into Vietnamese in 2006. Since then, Schlink has had a Vietnamese readership for "The Woman on the Stairs" (2017), "Flights of Love" (2018), "Summer Lies" (2019) and this year "Colours of Farewell".
Le Quang (*1956, Hanoi) - Translator
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studied and worked in Germany from 1974 to 2001. He supports the Vietnamese German dialogue as an interpreter and beyond that he has translated over 40 books from German.
Pham Xuan Nguyen (*1958, Hanoi) - Moderator
© Pham Xuan Nguyen
Pham Xuan Nguyen studied literature at the University of Hanoi. He was drafted into the military in 1978 and served as a lecturer at the military academy. After the war he continued his studies and graduated in 1983. He is self-taught in English, French and Russian. He translated various novels and theoretical writings into Vietnamese. In 1984 he was appointed to the Academy of Vietnamese Sciences, Department of Literary Studies. Since 2010 independent literary critic.
Tran Le Thuy Linh (*1985, Hanoi) - Guest
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Tran Le Thuy Linh is senior editor at Nha Nam. She is the editor of many important works: Catch 22, The remains of the day, The picture of Dorian Gray, Midnight Children... She also translate several literary works into Vietnamese: Everyman (Philip Roth), Changing Places (David Lodge).