Rozhovory.de – Lizcová Zuzana (2021)

This is a book of interviews with writers united by the German language. Among them are representatives of several generations, both women and men, Austrians and Swiss, West and East Germans. Last but not least, there are also immigrants – from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Saša Stanišić), Bulgaria (Ilija Trojanow), Iran (Sudabeh Mohafezová), and the Czech Republic (Jaroslav Rudiš). Their success speaks not only of personal qualities but also of the openness, richness, and diversity of contemporary 'German' literature. Among the twenty interviewed authors, there are five recipients of the prestigious German Book Prize and a number of other laureates of significant international awards. A unique exception is the interview with René Böll, the son of Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll, who experienced dramatic moments during the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in Prague in August 1968. Why read such texts? As mentioned, writers are far from being just people who write. They know how to search for and find connections, link the near and the distant, and inspire with their scope and imagination. They can defeat clichés and elevate us above the foam of days. One just needs to be tempted... Zuzana Lizcová