Campus
On May 16, 2023, the 20th Literary Quintet will take place at Chemnitz University of Technology – We are still looking for literary critics who would like to present their favorite books
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Who will sit on the literature sofa on May 16, 2023 and which five books will be presented? New literary critics can enrich the 20th Literary Quintet. Graphics: Tino Riedel/Aletta Beck
In the beginning was the apocalypse: On January 8, 2008, Prof. Dr. Bernadette Malinowski, Prof. Dr. Winfried Thielmann and the then students Rebekka Sporn, Cathleen Enderlein and Tim Ihde took their places in the Club der Kulturen and discussed the first literary quintet of Max Brooks’ “Operation Zombie: Those who live longer are dead later”, Michael Schweßinger’s “Stadtapokalypsen IV” and The Centenarian Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, as well as Art Spiegelmann’s Mouse and Timur Vermes’s He’s Back.
Since then, more than 50 teachers and around 100 students at Chemnitz University of Technology have presented and discussed five more books every semester, won a loyal audience and thus made the Literary Quintet one of the longest-lasting events at Chemnitz University of Technology. The venue changed sometimes, from the Club of Cultures we went to the central lecture hall building, to the Böttcher building and the old heating house, also in the Rühlmann and Weinhold buildings and outside the university in the Tietz and in the New Saxon Gallery we found literature Quintet took place over the years until it found a new home in 2021 in the University Library (UB) Ideas Realm.
In contrast to the venue, other aspects have remained largely constant over the years. The Literary Quintet is still organized by Prof. Dr. Bernadette Malinowski, holder of the professorship for modern German and comparative literature, the head of the UB Chemnitz, Angela Malz, and Ina Potts, also from the UB. After almost nine years of intensive commitment to the Literary Quintet, Anja Otto moved from the Faculty of Philosophy to the Faculty of Mathematics and handed over her place in the organizational team to Aletta Beck. The literary quintet has also received great support over the years from the student council of the philosophical faculty.
The event concept has also proven itself. There is a regular selection of books that have been published in German in the last three years, and the personal favorites of the participants are read and discussed on the podium. On special occasions, however, the rules are often broken. So far, for example, as part of a cooperation with the Collaborative Research Center “Hybrid Societies”to make the 18th Literary Quintet on the subject of “Science Fiction” possible or on the occasion of the birthdays of Stefan Heym and the city of Chemnitz.
And for the tenth birthday of the literary quintet it should be like that again. In order to celebrate the anniversary appropriately, the 20th Literary Quintet should belong to the favorite books of interested literary critics from the university. Why does it deserve so much love? What makes this book so special? Why should everyone else read it too? That’s what the organizers of the Literary Quintet want to hear from the participants on the podium this time.
Whether you are a teacher or a student – if you are interested in taking part in the anniversary edition of the Literary Quintet on May 16, 2023 from 7:30 p.m. in the UB’s Ideas Realm and presenting your favorite book, you can register until March 31, 2023 register by email to [email protected]. As a lasting memory of an exciting and interesting evening, the participants can take all five books presented home with them.
(Author: Aletta Beck)
Mario Steinebach
16.03.2023