In their novels, Eli Beneš and Nora Bossong revisit the turning points of the 20th century. Beneš’s debut novel Unmerklicher Verlust der Einsamkeit (Karl Rauch Verlag) deals with the return of survivors from the concentration camps to Prague in 1945, whilst Bossong, in her novel Reichskanzlerplatz (Suhrkamp Verlag), examines the mechanisms of human failure and the rise of fanaticism against the backdrop of the crumbling Weimar Republic. Their dialogue on guilt, memory and the search for humanity was moderated by Zuzana Lizcová.
The literary debate was followed by a friendly Czech-German slam poetry competition, featuring performances by Jaromír Konečný, Večerka, Daniel Wagner and Vašek z Aše. The competition also focused thematically on the ‘past retold’.
The event took place in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut in the Czech Republic, Slam Poetry CZ and Argo-Verlag.
Pictures: Pavlína Jáchimová