"das studio ist gegen das radio"

yesterday, as part of her reading at the hinterzimmer, sabine scho played her cool radio piece "grober rundfunk" (scroll down to download mp3). it was created for an interesting series called Literatur als Radiokunst produced by the ORF and curated by christiane zintzen.

i love austria for its willingness to experiment with text - the audience (and thus the industry) over there seems much more willing to accept progressive, unconventional ideas. there also seems to be allocated more aid money to literary projects than here. germany still has a long way to go in that respect!

more events: sabine scho and 'speak easy'

* don't forget today's sabine scho reading at the hinterzimmer at 4 pm

* next monthly 'speak easy' reading circle @ st. george's bookshop

KOOKREAD special: ann cotten, monika rinck & co.

please find below the original event description, shortened and garnished with a couple of links - i wouldn't want to promise too much, but this constellation of authors could make for an interesting evening:

thu, 4 march 2010, 8 pm

Ein Roman trifft auf sein Blog. Ulrich Schlotmann liest aus "Die Freuden
der Jagd" und spricht darüber mit Ann Cotten, Benedikt Ledebur, Monika Rinck und Ulf
Stolterfoht. (...) Danach gibt es Raum für Getränke und Gespräche.

(...) Auf der Flucht vor einer immer komplexer, immer unverständlicher werdenden
Welt begibt sich ein Mann in den Wald. Aber sein Weg zu dessen finsterem
Herzen, wo er mit sich und der Welt in Einklang zu leben hofft, entwickelt
sich in Ulrich Schlotmanns Roman "Die Freuden der Jagd" bald zum Trip in
die Abgründe der menschlichen Seele. (...)

Kvartira No. 62
Lübbener Str. 18
10997 Berlin

Eintritt: 3,- EUR

last year's winners: der lyrikerempfang 2009 im roten rathaus zu berlin

last night i attended an event called lyrikpreisträger 2009 in berlin's red town hall. the event was organized by the berlin literaturwerkstatt and, lucky you, i took a bunch of notes there. they might explain why i left halfway through.

1000 Preise für Prosa, 6 für Lyrik

thomas wohlfahrt, the head of the berlin literaturwerkstatt, claimed there are only awarded six prizes for poetry in germany every year. i am not sure exactly why only six, as prizes like the bi-annual dresdner lyrikpreis or the annual clemens-brentano-preis obviously didn't make it onto his list (Open Mike, Georg-Trakl-Preis, Peter-Huchel-Preis, Poesiepreis des Kulturkreises der deutschen Wirtschaft, Leonce-und-Lena-Preis, Ernst-Jandl-Preis).

lyrik braucht einen anders gearteten medialen auftritt (stimme?) "lyrik hat ihre sozialen orte verloren"
monika rink was quoted: "schluss mit den grabreden auf die lyrik!"

now, this is interesting. i wonder why nobody thought of the internet as an outlet for poetry. but it really is not just the web; i found this very interesting article on the maths of poetry the other day. david alpaugh claims that all in all, "approximately 86 million poems will be published in the 21st century" - now that's something, no?

then konstantin ames, the winner of 2009's open mike and a graduate of the dubious poetry hit factory of the deutsche literaturinstitut leipzig, read a couple of not-so-great lines like "sieht (...) noch nicht das loch im kopf stein pflaster" and used a couple of the obligatory words in contemporary german literature: "pisse, kot, nackt, urin, bang" sigh.

next was barbara köhler who must have tricked someone into thinking she can write impressed the experts very much. in the 1980s, she, too, had studied at the DLL. her first words on stage were "der text, den ich lese, ist nicht 'mal lyrik" and they were a huge turn-off. she started reading some incoherent words prose and in the light of the current debate on plagiarism here in germany, i was bothered by her book's title "niemands frau" which i previously knew both as a song by anouk of 1997 and a manuscript by jack kerouac's second wife, joan kerouac. also, barbara's delivery looked and sounded a lot like bas böttcher's (only much staler) and that didn't go down well with me, either. her best words were interferenz, wellen, löschen (two of the three previously known from, for example, hendrik jackson's perfect (!) poem rauschen). and for all that confusion brilliance the kulturkreis der deutschen wirtschaft awarded her 10.000 euros. wow.

finally, michael donhauser from switzerland, the winner of the georg trakl prize, read. i was relieved: he was by far the best poet, dressed much better than the previous two, and read much more clearly. i didn't mind him talking about fruit trees, nor his sparkling necklace, and i liked his rather corny choice of words: nacht, traum, verglimmen, tränen he read great, grown-up poetry that evaded kitsch yet still produced some credible emotion.

after donhauser everybody was thirsty and bored, and there should have been a break, but instead some musician continued right on. so when ferdinand schmatz, the winner of the ernst jandl prize, finished reading, i left. he had started off well, a little more experimental than donhauser, but seemed to lose track in the middle of his first poem somewhere: schall, nesseln, näselnde asseln - stampft her ins gestiefelte ... i just stampfed home.

thomas lang reading in charlottenburg

i was originally going to attend alexander gumz' poetry reading this coming thursday, when it was brought to my attention that thomas lang will be reading from his new novel 'bodenlos' in charlottenburg at the same time. back when it was published, DIE ZEIT praised 'bodenlos' for lang's prose, which is why i'd like to go and have a listen. come as well, if you can!

details: 25.02., 8.30 pm, buchhändlerkeller, carmerstr. 1, 10623 berlin

the longest german words

dirk ploss knows 'em. his source: Der Duden.

(picture taken from postsecret.)

diagram prize for the oddest book title of the year: the shortlist

the bookseller has the shortlist here. you may vote for your favorite until 26 march. in comparison to the shortlist of 2007, though, this year's is really not all that funny.

find all winners since 1978 on wikipedia. my favorites include "highlights in the history of concrete" (1994) and "if you want closure in your relationship, start with your legs" (2007).

garnitur

drohsessel neben dem hausofa vor einem
autschtisch . hast füße aufs plättchen
getreten da liegen sie nun . ich sag erstens
wie leid es mir tut oder nicht dass
zweitens das alles hier ist .
diese anordnung um eine angst .
in der schale die kekse unknusprig
der vorwurfshang offen . die aussichten
draussen sind ewig und ewiger noch
ist das polsternste samt . den nacken
im wutkissen dreh ich den hallenden rest
des alarms zwischen uns in der hand

reading: alexander gumz, ulrike draesner and aleš šteger

25.02.10, 20.00 uhr @ Kvartira No. 62, Lübbener Str. 1, 10997 Berlin.

more info here.

diagram prize for the oddest book title of the year

in four days, the bookseller magazine will release the short list for its annual prize for the oddest book title of the year. until then, check out the long list (scroll down to skip the article) published by the guardian earlier this month.

"Willkommen in Absurdistan: Hegemann für Leipzig nominiert" - Ein Kommentar von Oliver Bottini

Über Qualität kann und soll man streiten. Manche mögen Helene Hegemanns "Axolotl Roadkill" für großartig und literarisch halten, manchen rollen sich bei der Lektüre die Zehennägel hoch. Das ist in Ordnung, denn was gefällt, ist subjektiv – selbst wenn die, denen es gefällt, beeindruckende literarische Geschütze ins Feld fahren, um die behauptete Qualität zu objektivieren (was naturgemäß nicht gelingt).

Über Plagiate dagegen kann und soll man nicht streiten. Seit Tagen weiß man, dass Hegemann sowohl wörtlich bei anderen Autoren abgeschrieben als auch fremde Ideen ungefragt verwendet hat. Wie kann eine exquisit besetzte Jury einen Roman für einen wichtigen Literaturpreis nominieren, wenn ihr bekannt ist, dass die Autorin Urheberrechte verletzt und bei anderen, erst nachträglich benannten Autoren abgekupfert hat?

Dass der Roman vor den Plagiatsvorwürfen auf die Shortlist für den Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse gekommen ist – nun gut, das muss man nicht verstehen, aber akzeptieren (s.o.). Die Veröffentlichung der Shortlist jedoch fand am gestrigen Donnerstag (11.2.) statt, als die Plagiate längst nachgewiesen waren. Trotzdem hat die Jury den Roman nicht von der Liste gestrichen, und das ist dreist und skandalös. Man mag seinen Ohren und Augen kaum trauen: Die Jury-Vorsitzende Verena Auffermann rechtfertigte die Entscheidung am Donnerstag gegenüber der dpa damit, dass "'diese junge Frau [...] unserer Auffassung nach extrem begabt'" sei und Hegemanns Verlag bestätigt habe, "dass im Urheberrechtsstreit 'alles einen ordentlichen Weg geht'". (SPIEGEL) Juristisch betrachtet mag das stimmen, falls tatsächlich alle Genehmigungen nun eingeholt und die Urheber adäquat bezahlt werden. Literarisch betrachtet ist diese Aussage ein Armutszeugnis, schließlich lässt sich angesichts der Arbeitsweise der "begabten Autorin" schwerlich nachvollziehen, welche Sätze, Wörter, Figuren, Plots originär ihrer Fantasie entstammen und welche der Fantasie anderer.

Die Jury-Entscheidung bringt den Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse in Verruf, die Jury sowieso, dazu einen Gutteil der Buchbranche mit Verlagen, Agenten und Feuilletonisten – allerorten hört und liest man verschwurbelte Rechtfertigungen, Ausreden, Beschwichtigungen. Plagiat? Ach, alles halb so wild. Und man beginnt im Elfenbeinturm, sich über die Aufregung zu amüsieren – der Skandal als "lustige Abschreib-Affäre" (DIE ZEIT), Hegemann auf einem "lobenswert unordentlichen Pfad" (SPIEGEL).

Ja, habt ihr sie noch alle?

Oliver Bottini

"i'd like to thank my parents and the internet"

helene hegemann is a german seventeen-year-old who has put together written a book on sex and drugs that has a very weird title. given these three factors and a decent marketing campaign, it doesn't come as a surprise that the book became a bestseller within weeks of publication. when a blogger from munich discovered, however, that wide parts of her book were copied from another blogger from berlin, the scandal was perfect. if it was a scandal at all, of course, and not just another ole marketing trick.

i wasn't originally going to comment on her work (i'm still not intending to read it), but after coming across helene's meddlesome apology where she says that she's habitually stealing inspiration from anyone, and that that was how the youth after the year 2000 operated, i would like to take the opportunity and disagree with her: just because you move about in cyberspace at your peer group's own liking, you're not allowed to randomly incorporate into your work whatever it is you might take a fancy to along the way. certainly not without indication of source, anyway.

building your reputation on other people's ideas (the final letter in helene's book appears to be a translation of the lyrics to a song called fuck you by archive) is not ok at all. but how could a teenager have known better? well, at least the feature writers who have praised her literary talent (DIE ZEIT, FAZ, ...) should have. bad enough that her publishing house practically denies responsibility concerning helene's plagiarism, stating that 'the author hasn't elaborated on sources used and by that underestimated the consequences of her decision to use citations from the net' (source) - as if contracting teenagers to sell them out aid their career automatically made the kids themselves responsible for surviving on the literary market.

as much as i hope for helene that she will understand her mistakes and will start to value other people's artistic work in a decent manner, i hope that she will leave the shark tank of the literary business as self confident as she dived into it. and as for sukultur, the publishing house that published the book where helene helped herself, and airen, its author, i hope they will collect adequate compensation. (press release regarding the matter on sukultur's homepage.)


UPDATE + + check out my friend katy's blog, too, she has a different opinion! + + UPDATE

"a poet can survive everything but a misprint."

oscar wilde via peakepoetics.

someone at st. george's (berlin) had a really good idea:

'SPEAK EASY' - A MONTHLY READ-AROUND AT ST. GEORGE'S BOOKSHOP

Following a 2008 event to commemorate the work of David Foster Wallace,
where people read excerpts of his writings, St George's Bookshop has
organised a series of monthly readings. The idea is simple.

If you've ever read a piece of writing (non-fiction, fiction, essay, prose,
poetry, dialogue, monologue, whatever) that you've admired and which you'd
like to share, then this is the event for you.

Anyone can read an extract (of up to 3 pages), in any format, in any
language, on any topic, perhaps with a brief explanation of what this author
or piece of writing means to you. If you're not sure about reading something
yourself, you can ask someone else to do it for you. There'll probably be a
microphone, and the event should be as drone-free as possible. If you want
to read, just come along at eight with your book, and we'll take it from
there.

To give you an idea, MC Jabber will kick off the first event with two short
dialogues, from David Foster Wallace's 'The Broom of the System' and
Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'.


Wednesday 10th February
Start: 20.30 // Admission: FREE (Children: half price)
// Drinks: 1.50euro

St. George's English Bookshop
Woerther Str. 27
10405 Berlin
030 81798333

U2 Senefelderplatz
M2 tram (Prenzlauer Allee/Marienburger Strasse)

literary tattoos

a whole blog devoted to them! how awesome is that?

HAM.LIT event details

here. or here for that matter.

currently reading as part of the #50bookschallenge: 'slaughterhouse five' by kurt vonnegut