Practical
Thursday, 5 December, 2024
- 17:30 until 20:00
VUB Usquare Campus
Kroonlaan 227
1050 Elsene
Kroonlaan 227
1050 Elsene
Free of charge
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel invites you to a reading and discussion with German award-winning writer Esther Dischereit as part of the new lecture series ‘Ties That Bind Us’.
Award-winning German Jewish author Esther Dischereit will read from her new book Ein Haufen Dollarscheine/ A Bunch of Dollar Bills (publish date: 24 October 2024) and engage in a discussion about uncomfortable truths that linger in official sites of documentation, in family archives and in the memory of individuals that can be at odds with dominant narratives about the past.
About the book
Ein Haufen Dollarscheine, [A Bunch of Dollar Bills] takes us into the fragile, tender, and yet charged world of a family whose members are spread across continents (from Berlin to Chicago to Heppenheim to Rome) inhabiting bubbles that appear to be irreconcilable – and yet share the legacy of a past that binds them.
Nobel-Prize winning writer Elfriede Jelinek sees “in this rich book a Jewish variant of Rubens’s Fall of the Damned. This book is heavy and light at the same time, and that is an eminent art.”
Practical information
- Doors open at 5.30PM. The book reading starts at 6PM.
- The reading and discussion will be conducted mostly in English. Questions can be taken in English, Dutch, French and German.
- As Pepite Blues will provide a book stall during the event, you’ll be able to buy the book afterwards.
Unique architectural atmosphere
The book reading with Esther Dischereit takes place at the VUB Usquare Campus. This campus opened in 2024 and is located in the renovated gendarmerie barracks, originally built in 1896. You find it opposite Etterbeek railway station and close to the VUB Main Campus. In the grand hall, Esther Dischereit will read excerpts from her book. It’s a unique opportunity to meet this award-winning author ánd discover a new architectural gem from VUB and its sister university ULB.
About Esther Dischereit
Dischereit is one of the most important literary voices of Germany. Her work is informed by the experience of being a member of a family that was shaped by Holocaust survivors. In its many different forms, her work presents a visceral pathography of post-war continuities, crises and trauma. The quest for, and mastery of, a language for the sometimes overt, sometimes subtle forms of violence permeating the social world and convivial spaces, is characteristic of all of Dischereits works.
She is a prolific, and indeed radical, writer across literary and documentary genres. She has published fiction, poetry, journalism and essays, and is a regular writer for the radio, the stage and other artistic media.
Awards
- In 2009 she received Austria’s prestigious Erich Fried Prize for her writing.
- Her book on the NSU murders, Blumen für Otello. Über die Verbrechen von Jena (2014) (Flowers for Otello. On the Crimes That Came out of Jena, English translation in 2022), was performed as a radio play and nominated for the ARD Medienpreis.
- Earlier this year, she was the recipient of the Alfred-Gruber-Preis in the context of the Meraner Lyrikpreis for her most recent works of poetry. In her poems, “political violence takes shape – in its various forms,” according to the jury. “They say, and at the same time do not say, what needs to be said.”
Academic career
Between 2012 and 2017 Esther Dischereit was Professor of Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She has been a Fellow at the Moses Mendelssohn Centre for European and Jewish Studies in Potsdam and the DAAD Chair for Contemporary Poetics at New York University, 2019.
This event is part of the Ties that Bind Us Series and realised in cooperation with the recently launched VUB Chair Traces of the Resistance.
About Ties that Bind Us: transcultural perspectives on social forms
A cross-disciplinary series organised at the Faculty of Languages and Humanities for VUB’s Public Programme
The impact of global and geopolitical crises on European societies is widely felt. Common reactions to these are a growing societal divide and a rise in anti-democratic positions. The public imaginary is rife with a rhetoric dominated by the erection of walls, the demarcation of territory and claims of ownership. Crushed between polarised camps are vulnerable members of our societies – and thus humanity itself. Individuals with their complex identities are categorised into groups whose belonging, right to existence even, is called into question. Understanding the realities of diversity and change as given, the series “Ties that Bind Us” seeks to create a platform for a wide range of perspectives, life experiences and cultures of knowledge about forms of kinship, solidarity and conviviality – or, in other words, a counter-imaginary space to an increasingly widespread, yet dangerously reductive binary thinking.
Contact
ties@vub.be
Organisers at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities:
- Prof. dr. Benoît Henriet, History
- Prof. dr. Eva Ulrike Pirker, English & Comparative Literature
- Prof. dr. Katarzyna Ruchel-Stuckmans, Art History
“Literature and art help you step out of your bubble and learn about a world that is not your own. Maybe you identify with another character living a very different life, yet it helps you cross a bridge."
The world needs you
This initiative is part of VUB's public programme: a programme for everyone who believes that scientific knowledge sharing, critical thinking and dialogue are an important first step to create impact in the world.
As an Urban Engaged University, VUB aims to be a driver of change in the world. With our academic edcuational programmes and innovative research, we contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and to making a difference locally and globally.
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