Anachronistic subjects revisited

Thomas Macho leads us through a fascinating philosophical discourse on the boundaries of fairness. On one hand it is said that “all humans are equal”, but on the other, “life is unfair”. Illnesses, disabilities, shortened life spans and causes of death constantly challenge the sociopolitical ideal of equality. What use are comp time, governmental child support and pensions, insurances and building loan agreements if some people die as children while others live to be one hundred years – perhaps even wealthy and full of happiness? The well-known philosopher investigates this and further questions in a world that may be familiar with the term “justice”, but faces a different reality. He questions the solidarity of humans, the base of democracy, and embarks on a search for answers and new paths.

This book is full of miracle and wonder! A novel filled to the brink with colors, soul, love, pathos and humor.

Annuschka is a teacher living in provincial Ukraine, Piotr is a journalist and globetrotter who is always far, far away to prove that that there is no difference between steppe and mountains. Just like there is no difference between humans and animals, men and women, happiness and unhappiness, here and there. It all depends on how far you distance yourself from plain facts. That is exactly what these two do full of ardor and passion by writing each other letters. Writing letters? They rather fire them like rockets, catapulting themselves and the world into outer space, from where things actually do look different than with your feet on the ground. And so they float and flirt and intoxicate themselves with feelings, telling each other stories that are funny and sad at the same time – because what’s the difference? This truly is no book for bureaucrats or goodie-two-shoes. Hands off!

Readings at schools are like away games: defeat must be expected.

When an author holds a reading of his books in a house of literature, a bookstore, a public library, it’s a home game for literature. The audience is full of experts and connoisseurs. Schools are the opposite: the reader steps onto difficult terrain. Bringing literature to school is like playing an away game. Defeat must be expected. Then again, games won away count double. In other words, school is a place where literature can create a life-long impact. Burkhard Spinnen recounts experiences from readings at schools. In “Reading Away” he describes the events at his readings. In his observations the author also takes the time to ponder what function literature should have at school and what role it plays today. A pointedly vivid book on the reality of the pedagogical province beyond the Pisa study.

Wo ist das Wunderkind? Im Schatten Mozarts wird sogar ein Mord zum Kunstwerk.

Where is the child prodigy? In the shadow of Mozart, even murder becomes art. Birgit has disappeared: The ten year-old musical prodigy is abducted in Salzburg, right under Mozart’s eyes, so to speak. This happens just when she is supposed to compete in the finals of an international piano competition after beating her friend Anja, daughter of a respectable family, in the semi-finals. Her friend’s father, manager of the state’s largest energy corporation, political lackey and pawn declared fair game in the local political scene, is definitely keen on seeing his daughter make a quick career. His ambition catches the attention of chief inspector Laber, who, struggling to solve his first case, must find his place in an intricate web of power and music, beauty and cruelty. From one day to the next, fingers in the city start pointing in several directions – to the murderer as well? All the while, Mozart silently weeps on his pedestal: full of anger, but also full of laughter and ardor for this book.

A family saga without a family, told exhilaratingly clear and touchingly sober.

It all begins with a family reunion, which is in fact a farewell party: Clarissa’s parents are dropping out – out of their kids’ lives as well. Clarissa and the others are all in the prime of their lives, but only sort of and somehow. They are searching for their place in life in ever-changing circumstances, between one project and the next, with little results other than an unstable network of contacts and relationships. Precarious ensembles. Of course, stable family life is also an option for her – in a house that friends have just inherited. She can have a room in the basement, for now, as long as she wants to stay. But one day she leaves, drops out, as if she was never involved in her life and the life of those surrounding her. A broad panorama of a present time marked by new living and working conditions, in which everything is temporary. And this novel hits its nerve.

A personal view on the life story of a fascinating woman - this new novel by Erika Pluhar describes desires and fears of growing older in a sensitive but nevertheless frank way.

Paulina Neblo can look back on an eventful life. As a choreographer, she founded a successful dance company, she had numerous affairs and a daughter, who she loves more than anything, and finally, as a mature woman, led a fulfilled marriage. But when she loses her husband in a fatal car accident and is hit by the next blow of fate – her daughter’s death – shortly after, Paulina retreats from an active life. At the age of 70, she decides to become a chronicler of her present, noting daily tidbits and facing the fact that old age holds no future. But her memories of the past cannot be cast aside and those surrounding Paulina do not accept her chosen isolation… Erika Pluhar has written a sensitive, yet brutally honest book about aging, desires and fears. Poetic, true-to-life and intense.

A breathtaking love story full of transcendental beauty!

It is only by coincidence that Valentin, a successful TV journalist working for the international Parisian broadcasting network “Channel 8”, discovers that his disturbing dreams are in fact reality. Confused, he embarks on a search for the strange visions that haunt his nightly dreams. He travels to the city where these nightmares are obviously taking place: St. Petersburg. Valentin has an uncanny connection to a Russian artist, who makes her living as a pickpocket. The mundane reporter and the melancholic beauty dream of each other. Like two radio stations tuned to the same frequency, they each experience the life of the other in their dreams. Searching for the strange, yet familiar woman, the line between dream and reality begins to blur as both begin to cross boundaries that they never even thought existed. The ensuing love story between the two highly opposite characters turns into a balancing act between life and death.

FRIEDRICH GLAUSER PRIZE 2011! A provincial, political crime grotesque, a Bad Fucking nightmare!

Things are brewing together in Bad Fucking: first, Vitus Schallmoser (weirdo) is found dead in his lair. Then Camilla Glyck (Federal Office of Criminal Investigation) is ordered to find the whereabouts of Marie Sperr (interior secretary), who, more or less on the side, works as a building contractor and has planned to have an asylum seekers’ hostel built in Bad Fucking. And while a team of cheerleaders practices on the sports ground of Bad Fucking, Jagoda Dragicevic (cleaning lady) decides to blackmail Dr. Ulrich (dentist) with a nude picture. In the meantime, Ludmilla Jesenská (burglar) flees from her pursuers to Vienna: she took photographs of mysterious cave paintings in Bad Fucking. All this (and more) happens while a heat wave brings almost all of Europe to a standstill and thousands of eels as well as a killer thunderstorm move towards Bad Fucking.

Anachronistic subjects revisited

Being merciful – what role does this term play in our society today? Or does it no longer play a role at all? In four short essays, Dimitré Dinev investigates this subject. He tells of personal experiences, of beggar-children who were hauled off to the West to serve Capitalism, of a country where people speak of security instead of freedom… Dimitré Dinev illustrates a society that cannot be merciful and confronts it with a person who is willing to take on responsibility. He pointedly beds this responsibility in parable-like stories, questions and striking subjects. “Barmherzigkeit” is the first of the series “Unruhe bewahren”, which was developed in cooperation with the Akademie Graz.

Milena Michiko Flasar tells a light and straightforward story of love, fear and life.

Franziska’s mother is dying. It is a slow process, steadily progressing from an initial irritation to the first instance of forgetfulness, to the first bout of losing touch with reality. These moments irritate Franziska, because her image of her mother as a highly disciplined and controlled Japanese immigrant seems to be fading away completely. The reversal of roles and the mother’s sudden helplessness make her seem unknown to Franziska, like a stranger. Before her daughter’s eyes, she transforms into the young woman she once was, full of desire, hope and passion. After her mother’s death, Franziska is left with a void in her life. A new type of solitude. A gap, which sends her on a journey – on the search for a different, yes, even all-encompassing mother. Milena Michiko Flasar enchants us with a stylistically confident and intensely emotional book.