Events | Politics and Fiction: Lion Feuchtwanger’s Oppermanns
Villa Aurora | November 17, 2023 | 7:30 PM (PST)
Reading from the revised English translation of Lion Feuchtwanger’s The Oppermanns by Joshua Cohen, followed by a discussion with Joshua Cohen and Andrea Grossman.
Lion Feuchtwanger’s 1933 novel The Oppermanns narrates the fall of a prominent German Jewish family caused by the Nazis rise to power, chronicling historical events almost contemporaneously. It is also Feuchtwanger’s last work set in his own century. The Oppermanns will become a point of departure for a discussion about political arts which is often dismissed as propaganda, "but is in fact the only available corrective to the real and actual propaganda of entrenched power” (Joshua Cohen). Poignantly, the event will take place at Feuchtwanger’s exile residence in Pacific Palisades where he found refuge from Nazi prosecution and, again, became a target of government surveillance.
In cooperation with USC Libraries.
Read more about The Oppermanns
"A Classic Novel of the Nazis’ Rise That Holds Lessons for Today" by Joshua Cohen
"Ninety Years Ago, This Book Tried to Warn Us" by Pamela Paul
In connection with the Thomas Mann House Annual Conference “Arts in Times of Crisis. The Role of Artists in Weakened Democracies” November 18-19, 2023
Joshua Cohen's books include the novels Moving Kings, Book of Numbers, Witz, A Heaven of Others, and Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto; the short-fiction collection Four New Messages, and the nonfiction collection Attention: Dispatches from a Land of Distraction. Cohen was awarded Israel’s 2013 Matanel Prize for Jewish Writers, and in 2017 was named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. His most recent novel, The Netanyahus, won the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He lives in New York City.
Andrea Grossman is the founder and president of Writers Bloc, a nonprofit literary series now in its 28th season. Writers Bloc hosts thought leaders who have made a significant impact on our cultural landscape. The series has hosted artists, novelists, journalists, historians, social critics, and Members of Congress who engage with the reading public of Los Angeles. Andrea has a B.A. in English from UCLA and a Masters from the Annenberg School at USC.
Street Parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 6:30 pm from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North East of Pacific Coast Highway. Please do not park in the Topanga State Park Lot!
In cooperation with USC Libraries
