European Book Club
Immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of European literature as we explore recent prize-winning European novels translated into English. Whether you’re a seasoned reader or just love a good story, this club is for you! With a good book, good conversations, light snacks and a drink, we can unwind together. It’s the perfect way to end the week.
Friday, October 18 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
710 Social Science Building
The first book will be Jenny Erpenbeck’s Kairos (2023), the novel that won the 2024 International Booker Prize.
Erpenbeck’s new novel Kairos—an unforgettably compelling masterpiece—tells the story of the romance begun in East Berlin at the end of the 1980s when nineteen-year-old Katharina meets by chance a married writer in his fifties named Hans. Their passionate yet difficult long-running affair takes place against the background of the declining GDR, through the upheavals wrought by its dissolution in 1989 and then what comes after.
Snacks and drinks provided by the CGES.
Please RSVP here
Schedule:
Friday, October 18th: Jenny Erpenbeck, Kairos (Germany, in English 2023)
Erpenbeck’s new novel Kairos—an unforgettably compelling masterpiece—tells the story of the romance begun in East Berlin at the end of the 1980s when nineteen-year-old Katharina meets by chance a married writer in his fifties named Hans. Their passionate yet difficult long-running affair takes place against the background of the declining GDR, through the upheavals wrought by its dissolution in 1989 and then what comes after.
December 6th: Andrés Barba, The Right Intentions (Spain, in English 2018)
Nothing is simple for the men and women in Andrés Barba's stories. As they go about their lives, they are each tested by a single, destructive obsession. A runner puts his marriage at risk while training for a marathon; a teenager can no longer stand the sight of meat following her parents' divorce; a man suddenly fixates on the age difference between him and his younger male lover. In four tightly wound novellas, Andrés Barba establishes himself as a master of the form.
January 24th: Tanja Maljartschuk, A Biography of a Chance Miracle (Ukraine, in English 2019)
A Biography of a Chance Miracle explores the life of Lena, a young girl growing up in the somewhat vapid, bureaucracy-ridden and nationalistic Western Ukrainian city of San Francisco. Lena is a misfit from early childhood due to her unwillingness to scorn everything Russian, her propensity for befriending forlorn creatures, her aversion to the status quo, and her fear of living a stupid and meaningless life.
March 14th: Lidia Jorge, The Migrant Painter of Birds (Portugal, in English 2013)
With most members of her large family having left the hardship of life in this landscape of sand and stone for jobs in faraway places, a young woman struggles to piece together her past from the many and differing stories she is told.
May 2nd : Neige Sinno, Sad Tiger (France, in English March 2025)
Sad Tiger is a vivid account of incest and its consequences, beautifully written in purist prose. But this book is more than a confessional memoir in which the author lifts the lid on shocking facts without any embroidery. Winner of multiple prizes, Neige Sinno has created a powerful literary form with Sad Tiger, a book that took France by storm and is an international phenomenon. This book will stay with you. Be aware that it has passages that are shocking and hard to read.
Please note, the aforementioned books are suggestions. We would love to receive your proposals! If there is a recently translated European novel, you want to include, email Director Matthias Rothe at mrothe@umn.edu.
