Skyscrapers crashing, large forests burning, a Tsunami sweeping houses and cars to the bottom of the sea: images of disaster activate fear. At the same time, they play with the desires and fascination of humans—always hoping for a new and (better) future after every destruction. As one catastrophe has just passed, another is lingering just around the corner – this feeling has long become part of our normality. How to cope? Art sometimes offers to approach even grim situations in a "playful" manner. For this purpose, extant imagery and specific patterns of thought or language need not be destroyed, but are dis- and reassembled in new ways. Art and literature may take courageous approaches to such topics, filled with courage, respect and a certain cheekiness, but devoid of hatred, even when they do not invite laughter at all. And indeed, this may be a survival strategy: Where laughter is lost, creative solutions cannot emerge.

This event is not a lecture, but a literary reading with discussion. Several languages will be used during the course of the reading (Japanese among them), but to enjoy it, participants just have to be able to understand one language (German or English).

About the author: Yoko Tawada was born in Tokyo in 1960. She came to Hamburg in 1982 where she studied German language and literature and obtained her doctorate in Zurich. She has lived in Berlin since 2006. Her first book was published in 1987. She writes in German and Japanese and has received numerous literary prizes, including the Akutagawa Prize (Japan), the National Book Award (USA) and the Kleist-Preis (Germany).

The is a hybrid event. If you would like to watch the live streaming on zoom, we kindly request all participants to register by sending an email with your full Name and affiliation/organization. Please send your registration email to Xiaojie Chang (xiaojie.chang@zo.uni-heidelberg.de) no later than 24. April 2024. The zoom-meeting link will be sent several hours before the event starts.