PERSPECTIVES

Since 2015, the ‘Perspectives’ series has addressed timely cultural and social topics. This year’s edition features 15 writers, scholars, commentators, and translators.

THE NEW CULTURE OF PROFESSING VALUES
How did it come about that we constantly talking about values values? Professing one’s values and acting accordingly brings a pleasant feeling of doing good. But is that enough?
Wolfgang Ulrich’s thesis: professing one’s values is popular because it flatters one’s ego. One can feel moral and even creative when professing one’s values. In his book, Wolfgang Ulrich shows how today’s culture of professing values endangers social harmony.

LUKAS BÄRFUSS in conversation with
WOLFGANG ULLRICH

THE ‘WHITE SPACES’ IN POETRY TRANSLATION
When translating poetry, the differences between languages become particularly noticeable. Whereas one can paraphrase or describe in prose translation, one must find other means in poetry that will also follow the sound and rhythm of the original. The two renowned translators and writers, Esther Kinsky and Roberta Dapunt, will plumb these and other ‘white spaces’.

ESTHER KINSKY in conversation with
ROBERTA DAPUNT

“NOW”
Karl Heinz Bohrer, the great German thinker and ‘last aesthete’ in conversation with Stefan Zweifel. His adventures with the imagination are legendary. Now, almost 85 years old, he is writing his memoirs: five decades of Germany seen from the inside and the outside. The title: “Now.”

KARL HEINZ BOHRER in conversation with
STEFAN ZWEIFEL

THE WOMAN ON STAGE: FICTION, PROJECTION, AND PRESENCE
Hoffmannsthal’s Elektra and Brecht’s Polly bring to the stage female characters who embody their own particular emotional orders. They laid the groundwork for today’s experiments. Karin Wieland and Sasha Maria Salzmann are two important voices on female roles and role models in the theater and in the present day.

With KARIN WIELAND and
SASHA MARIANNA SALZMANN
Moderated by Lukas Bärfuss

MY ’68 — YOUR ’68: ON THE DOMINANT INTERPRETATIONS AND TOPICALITY OF AN ERA
Peter Schneider, activist, spokesman and companion in arms of Rudi Dutschke, experienced intensively all the phases of the protest movement from 1966 to the 1970s. But at the same time, he was also an important chronicler of this revolt.
Stefan Zweifel is organizing a large exhibition on 1968 for the Zurich Landesmuseum.

PETER SCHNEIDER in conversation with
STEFAN ZWEIFEL

‘SHINING DETAILS: A STORYTELLER’S MEMOIRS’
A major and significant work by Péter Nádas, presented in Christina Viragh’s translation.

PÉTER NÁDAS in conversation with
ILMA RAKUSA und
CHRISTINA VIRAGH

WHAT IS THE INTELLECTUAL SITUATION IN PRESENT-DAY TURKEY?
The three Turkish authors will speak on the current situation of writers and publishers in Turkey and about the position of women in Turkish society today.

With ECE TEMELKURAN,
ASLI ERDOĞAN and
MURATHAN MUNGAN
The conversation will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation.
Moderated by Christine Lötscher

ON THE CHRISTIAN THANHÄUSER EXHIBITION
On the fascination of drawing, the meaning of book illustration, and Robert Walser, whose work Christian Thanhäuser has newly illustrated in a kindred spirit. His pen and ink drawings, woodcuts, and books have been shown world-wide and have won numerous awards.

CHRISTIAN THANHÄUSER in conversation with
RETO SORG

See detailed programme for time and venue