Perspectives
The ‘Perspectives’ series was launched in 2015 for the 20th anniversary of the Leukerbad Literary Festival. It has now become a festival fixture for what better medium is there than literary language to help us find the exact and clarifying words and means of expression in an area in which many believe politics are failing: in the development of new perspectives? This year’s discussions between Swiss writers and writers from around the world will focus on two forms of literary journalism: the essay and reportage. The writers will speak about other aspects of their work in the ‘Literary Horsd’Oeuvres’.
An essay is an extended and ingenious treatment of scientific, cultural, and social phenomena. At its heart is the writer’s particular confrontation with his or her subject. The essay does not have an immutable view of the world, nor does it offer a fixed image of the world. It is, rather, a constant search that resists all parti-pris. The criteria of scientific inquiry, therefore, do not apply; the author enjoys a greater freedom.
Reportage – which can take many forms – is not written at one’s desk, but relies on direct witness. Whereas news reports maintain a certain distance, reportage hews close to its subject and allows room for its protagonists’ observations and perceptions. Reportage seeks not only to inform readers, but to pass on experiences they cannot or would rather not have themselves because of geographic or social barriers. It describes the experience of one or more events, which the reporter has put in context.
FREEDOM IN THE ESSAY
What is the significance of the author’s freedom to choose his or her subject and approach in an essay? Are there limits that should not be crossed? How are topics chosen? When is an event or an experience the source of a good essay?
I. | LUKAS BÄRFUSS and ELIOT WEINBERGER Moderator: Christine Lötscher |
II. | JONAS LÜSCHER and YOUSSEF RAKHA Moderator: Thorsten Dönges |
III. | JAN PHILIPP REEMTSMA and ADOLF MUSCHG Moderator: Reto Sorg |
REPORTAGE: NEWS WITH ATTITUDE
Reportage – journalism’s supreme discipline – comes from the French word reporter, which means ‘to take or bring back’. What does reportage mean today? How important are images to reportage?
I. | URS MANNHART Moderator: Daniel Puntas Bernet |
II. | PANKAJ MISHRA and DANIEL SCHWARTZ Moderator: Daniel Puntas Bernet |
I. | DUBRAVKA UGREŠIĆ and BORA ĆOSIĆ Moderator: Dragica Rajčić What can literature bring to the reappraisal and critical analysis of a country’s history and its present? What is the connection between perception, memory, and literary creation? |
II. | CLEMENS J. SETZ Stefan Zweifel and Clemens J. Setz will discuss “the abysses of the human psyche and co-existence.” |
III. | MAXIM BILLER Stefan Zweifel and Maxim Biller will speak about “literature as an intellectual center” and/or “in praise of laconism.” |