Explore Essays and memoir
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Living with Germanness
Nell Zink
‘It sounds like a stand-up comedy routine, but it’s true: I moved to Germany to get away from attractive men.’
Nell Zink on German men.
FC St Pauli
Ilyes Griyeb & Imogen West-Knights
‘If a bar has a St Pauli flag, they know they will find reliably leftish people inside.’
Imogen West-Knights introduces Ilyes Griyeb’s photographs.
Last Week at Marienbad
Lauren Oyler
‘The only thing on the schedule was spa.’
Lauren Oyler on her trip to Marienbad.
From the Planetarium
Ryan Ruby
‘For some it is an endpoint, for others a tear in the very fabric of time.’
Ryan Ruby on the fall of the Berlin wall and the Zeiss-Großplanetarium.
The Killing of a Berlin Power Broker
Peter Richter
‘Why does the centre of Berlin look like an abandoned shopping mall on the edge of Omaha?’
An essay from Peter Richter, translated by Shaun Whiteside.
In the Movie Bunker
Lutz Seiler
‘On 6 April 1981, I walked into the District Conscription Office, thereby obeying the very first command of my time as a soldier.’
Memoir from Lutz Seiler, translated by Martyn Crucefix.
A Very German Coup
Jan Wilm
‘The suspected ringleader was a 71-year-old real-estate developer with an engineering degree.’
Jan Wilm on an attempted coup in 2022.
How Lustig is It
Peter Kuras
‘Germans don’t really have a word for ‘funny’, which seems appropriate enough.’
Peter Kuras on German humour.
Out of Germany
Michael Hofmann
‘It is pleasant – to me, confusingly so.’
Michael Hofmann on returning to Germany.
Notebook 2021
Peter Handke
‘‘Order is half of life’ – and the other half? – You get one guess.’
Extracts from Peter Handke’s notebook, translated by Peter Kuras.
Reunified German Images
Fredric Jameson
‘Political or not, the element Rauch works in is certainly what we call History.’
Fredric Jameson on the paintings of Neo Rauch.