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This Side of the Oder
Judith Hermann
Translated by Margot Bettauer Dembo
‘Time retreated, his dread crouched in the farthest recess of his mind.’
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Kevin Brazil on metrics, obsession and fitness.
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‘An intense workout is an ecstasy of punishment packaged as self-improvement.’
Mary Wellesley on exercise, ritual and Barry’s Bootcamp.
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‘I was not good at sports because I would not do sports because I did not have the body for sports because I would not do sports.’
Saba Sams on girlhood, embodiment and avoiding sports.
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‘Following United rarely brings me any great joy and most often it depresses me. If I could disengage, I would.’
Jonny Thakkar on Manchester United.
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‘I deployed my body against an opponent like a blunt and effective instrument.’
John Patrick McHugh on playing Gaelic football.
Judith Hermann
More about the author →Translated by Margot Bettauer Dembo
Margot Bettauer Dembo is a translator of German literature into English. She has translated works by Judith Hermann and Ödön von Horváth amongst others. She is the winner of Goethe-Institut Berlin Translator’s Prize in 1994. She lives in New York.
More about the translator →