Free admission
On July 16, Robert Menasse will read from his new novella, “Die Lebensentscheidung“. David Vajda will make his debut that evening, presenting his work “Diamanten“. Katja Gasser will host the event.
Robert Menasse, "Die Lebensentscheidung"
Frustrated by the bureaucratic grind, Franz Fiala makes a “life-changing decision” and quits his job at the European Commission. However, when he visits his mother in Vienna for her 89th birthday, he keeps his early retirement a secret from her. And a conversation with Nathalie, with whom he has been in a relationship in Brussels for four years, about their future together also goes awry. Then recurring pains set in that can no longer be ignored. The diagnosis: cancer; it is unrealistic to expect him to live another year. And suddenly, it is all about keeping it from his mother, sparing her the pain of seeing her son die: “For him, survival could only mean outliving his mother. Hiding his illness from her until her death. It was now a race for survival. That was now the life-changing decision.”
David Vajda “Diamanten”
He calls them Mačak – Tomcat – or his Diamonds. Every now and then he calls them idiots, too, when they don’t get his jokes. But no matter how many names their ex-Yugoslavian father gives them, or how much leg of lamb and wine he serves, he cannot fill the void left by their mother’s death. In his tragicomic debut, David Vajda tells the story of four adult siblings and their eccentric family, scattered across the globe, caught between bohemianism and the German upper middle class, between Berlin and Hollywood. They meet in Greece for their uncle’s lavish wedding, in Belgrade at Tito’s grave, in Provence with their esoteric aunt – yet they are unable to grieve. Instead, they take refuge in sarcasm or the grotesque and indulge in idle idleness. An extraordinary first novel: amusing, tender, serious.
MQ Summer Stage
