Are there any friendlier places than Romania or Germany, Bucharest and Berlin? Hardly. Or are there?
Carmen Francesca Banciu, Maria Bidian and Ilinca Florian – all of whom have strong personal ties to Romania and have been living in Berlin for some time – will be reading from their novels and short stories.
Host: Ernest Wichner
Three female authors have written books in which they explore their own pasts or those of family members in Romania. These are, at the very least, ambiguous reflections which, despite their literary diversity, are linked by a broader framework: Where do you come from, what is it like there, what kinds of hardships are you subjected to there, what does this mean for the individual, are there any ways out …? In Farewell, Comrades and Beloved! Death of a Patriot, Carmen Francesca Banciu depicts a reckoning with her own father, who was the party secretary in a large provincial town and thus also responsible for the entire district – a situation that drove his daughter out of the family and turned her into an opponent of the regime her father had helped to uphold. In Maria Bidian’s novel The Peacock Painting, the protagonist investigates the fate of a father who was imprisoned during the dictatorship for opposing the regime; furthermore, her novel explores the difficulties of navigating post-communist Romania, with its opaque bureaucratic structures and the corruption of its officials. In When We Learnt to Lie, Ilinca Florian recounts, from a child’s perspective, the tensions that arise between branches of the same family when – for various reasons: one branch of the family wants to emigrate, which the other branch must not know about – the truth is lost in what had previously been open and familiar circles.
Reading and discussion.
The event will be held in German!
Tickets: €5 / €3 (reduced) available only at the box office at the Maschinenhaus.
We look forward to your questions and comments during the event here: Facebook-Event
Supported by:
© Graham Hains
