Hans Fallada wird gerade in den USA wiederentdeckt, in der New York Times kann man zum Beispiel einen Auszug aus der englischen Übersetzung von „Jeder stirbt für sich allein“ lesen. Übermorgen gibt es die zweite Bookslut-Lesung, wieder gemeinsam mit Dialogue Berlin veranstaltet, Gast dieses Mal Falladas Sohn Ulrich Ditzen. Jessa Crispin wird mit ihm über seinen Vater sprechen.
Eckdaten: 17. Juni, 19:30-21:30 Uhr im Direktorenhaus, Am Krögel 2, 10179 Berlin, Eintritt: 3 Euro. Hier die Ankündigung auf Englisch, da das Ganze auch auf Englisch stattfinden wird:
„Dialogue Berlin and Bookslut.com collaborate to present an exclusive evening to discuss the life and work of Hans Fallada. The writer lived a life as fascinating as any of the characters in his remarkable novels, of which Alone in Berlin, first published in English in 2009, became a surprise literary hit. Unlike other prominent writers including Thomas Mann and Herman Hesse, Fallada decided not to leave Germany during World War II, and he was eventually institutionalised in a hospital for the criminally insane after refusing to join the Nazi Party. The Gestapo ordered him to write a work of anti-Semitic propaganda, but instead, while in hospital, he wrote his masterpiece The Drinker, using a dense code that was not fully deciphered until after his death. Fallada managed to outlive his captors by convincing them he was working on his assignment, but after the war he descended into alcohol and morphine addiction. It was during this time that a friend presented him with the Gestapo file of a couple arrested for distributing anti-Nazi propaganda across Berlin during the war. That couple’s story is retold in Alone in Berlin, a recently rediscovered classic of German literature, and the work that Primo Levi called ‘the greatest book ever written about German resistance to the Nazis’. Fallada died before the book saw publication. Ulrich Ditzen, Fallada’s son — who was 16 when his father died — will be discussing his father’s life and work with Jessa Crispin, editor of Bookslut.com.“
