On 6 August, Josef Winkler will be reading from his new novel, "Das Glück ist ein Engel mit ernstem Gesicht". Sarah Wipauer will be making her debut that evening, presenting her work "Fehlende Gespenster". The evening will be hosted by Klaus Kastberger.
Josef Winkler “Das Glück ist ein Engel mit ernstem Gesicht”
„Ich schreibe dich – / Zur Welt bist du wieder gekommen / mit geisternder Buchstabenkraft“ (I write you – / You have come back into the world / with the ghostly power of letters), reads one of Nelly Sachs’ poems, which Josef Winkler quotes in his new novel, in which he writes his sister Maria – five years his senior and now deceased, who during their shared childhood on the farm looked after the rebellious Josef in particular – back into the world. She leaves the village to train as a pastry chef, works for years in a wide variety of hotels, and returns to her parents’ home after the onset of her mental illness and her first suicide attempt, where she meets her brother Josef, who is also seeking refuge there following the scandal surrounding his first book.
Sarah Wipauer “Fehlende Gespenster” (book launch)
What lies beneath a city? In “Fehlende Gespenster”, we follow a cunning narrator into Vienna’s legendary tunnel system. Following the opening of the Central Cemetery in 1874, it was developed to transport corpses via a pneumatic “tube post” system; the last “passenger” was reportedly Niki Lauda. And that is just one of the absurd stories that Merian, an enigmatic young woman, recounts during her guided tours through the disused tunnels. But whom should we trust on a journey through the underworld?
MQ Summer Stage
MQ Main Courtyard
