Goethe-Institut

About the project

Decisions about which titles are deemed to be part of the literary canon are not neutral. Canonical literature reflects power structures. Which aesthetic characteristics are considered to be ideal? Which authors do we pay attention to? With which eyes do we read their books? In music, accidental notes, such as a ♯ or a ♭, mark a shift to a different key. Vorzeichen aims to provide impulses which disrupt the idea of a standardised, closed corpus of texts and voices. Through online readings and talks, as well as book reviews on Instagram, the series intends to open up spaces for texts and readers, different ways of reading and new perspectives on literature.

Next online events

Collage with three portraits. On the far left, drag queen Vicky Voyage in a white dress; in the centre, a selfie of Wassan Ali; on the far right, Gabriela Salas Vidal standing in a meadow, with clouds and trees in the background.

13.11.2024 Queering Libraries

27.11.2024 Musa Okwonga

Videos

Jeannette Oholi smiles at the camera and wears a black jacket with red and white stripes.

Online Lecture #1
Jeannette Oholi

How does relational reading disrupt the canon? This question was explored by literary scholar Jeanette Oholi (Dartmouth College) at the first online lecture in the #Vorzeichen series on 30 April 2024.

The picture shows the author Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus against a black background. In the top left corner is the lettering "Vorzeichen" with a hashtag in the background. On the right is the book cover of "Birobidschan".

Meet the Author #2
Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus

At the second reading in our series #Vorzeichen, the German-Israeli author Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus was our guest. He engaged in conversation with moderator and curator Maha El Hissy about his novel Birobidschan.

Necati Öziri looks down into the camera; the sky and a small section of a tower block can be seen in the background.

Meet the Author #1
Necati Öziri

On March 19, 2024, our new series #Vorzeichen, curated by Dr. Maha El Hissy, opened with a conversation with author and playwright Necati Öziri. The event included discussion of Öziri’s recent debut novel Vatermal [Father’s Mark], as well as Öziri’s efforts to deconstruct classical canonical literary texts through contemporary theatrical restagings.

Book Reviews by Armin, Yeama und Charlott

This picture shows the book cover of ‘Übergangsritus’ by Abdalrahman Alqalaq.

Book Review #10
Armin reads 'Übergangsritus'

In his latest review for #Vorzeichen, Armin takes us on a journey through Abdalrahman Alqalaq's poetry collection Übergangsritus, which is full of vulnerability and writes about friends who have been killed and lost cities.

The picture shows the cover of the book, which features an abstract green and blue pattern on a white background.

Book Review #11
Yeama reads 'Adikou'

A young black woman somewhere between New York and Paris in search of herself. Join Yeama in her latest review for #Vorzeichen and follow the protagonist of Raphaëlle Red's debut novel Adikou on her journey.

Blue-coloured sketches and pictures can be seen in the background of the book cover. The book title ‘Not the First - Movement Stories of Queers of Colour in Germany’ and the name of the editor are written in large blue letters. The lower edge of the book cover is coloured neon green and contains the name of the publisher.

Book review #12
Charlott reads 'Nicht die Ersten'

Experiences of discrimination (can) feel isolating. But Tarek Shukrallah’s collected volume, Nicht die Ersten—Bewegungsgeschichten von Queers of Color in Deutschland, demonstrates that we’re not alone. Charlott’s new contribution to #Vorzeichen reviews this collection.

The project Vorzeichen is curated by the independent literary scholar and critic, Maha El Hissy.

Accidental Portents A concept by Dr Maha El Hissy, curator of the project

In music theory, a song composition containing multiple iterations of the same melody is called a canon. The leader sings and provides the tune; other voices then repeat the melody at staggered intervals. Regardless of whether these other voices sing the exact same melody or a variation, participating in a canon always means acknowledging one’s dependency on a single origin or source.

Vorzeichen