Discussion: Grenzverläufe (Borders)

with Kathrin Röggla and Antje Rávic Strubel, Moderator: Denis Scheck

The question of national and social boundaries has risen anew today owing to terrorism, hybrid warfare, and disaster scenarios and the concomitant dynamics of persistent monitoring. These developments have had a deep influence on our habits of perception. Where is the boundary between state and individual responsibility? Is the much-vaunted “civil society” reduced to absurdity when it undertakes to “break the habit" of social inequality? What does it mean when a city like Los Angeles faces bankruptcy? Or when a bankrupt bank-loan officer sits next to a broke debtor in a self-help group? How much ordinary life is possible if there is always "earthquake weather" (Strubel)? Last but not least: Is the “state of emergency” the dominant narrative of the present?

Katrin Röggla (born in Salzburg, 1971) lives and works as a writer in Berlin. The author of theater texts, radio plays, and essays has been awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize for the Political Book (2005), the Nestroy Preis for the Best Play (2010) and the Arthur Schnitzler Prize (2012). Röggla is the author of, among other books, Niemand lacht rückwärts, Irres Wetter, really ground zero, and die alarmbereiten. In 2012 she was appointed as a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Antje Rávic Strubel (born in Potsdam, 1974) lives and works in Potsdam. After an apprenticeship in bookselling, she studied American studies, psychology, and literature in Potsdam and at New York University. She is the recipient of the Ernst Willner Prize (2001), the Roswitha Prize (2003), and the German Critics Prize (2003). She is the author of the novels Offene Blende, Unter Schnee, Fremd Gehen, Ein Nachtstück, and Tupolew 134. Her book Kältere Schichten der Luft (2007) won the Hermann Hesse Prize and the Rheingau Literature Prize and was on the short list of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize. Her most recent book Sturz der Tage in die Nacht (2011) was nominated for the German Book Prize.