What kind of book is that? Is it a love story or a developmental novel, does it tell a migration or post-migration story, does it even resemble a Babushka character? There are many labels that one could choose for Martin Kordić’s second novel “Years with Martha” (S. Fischer). The novel by the Munich-based writer and editor hasn’t even been published yet, it won’t be in bookstores until the end of August. And yet this week 20 readers in the Literaturhaus discussed its content lively, from beginning to end.
The Munich Literature House, which will be 25 this summer, has come up with a slightly different twist to celebrate its anniversary – looking towards the future and into the auditorium. The readers, who otherwise fill the halls and usually listen quietly, wanted to get to know them and let them have their say. On three evenings in July, they were able to talk to open reading groups about novels that will only be published in the next few weeks – about Édouard Louis’ “Instructions to become someone else”, about Dörte Hansen’s “Zur See”, and about Kordić’s “Years with Martha” (the participants had already been able to delve into their reading copies beforehand). After visiting the last evening, one thing can be said: there is a longing – and it can not only be felt in the book, but also in the readers. (Oh, that only women had come, what should it tell us again?)
It’s the longing to talk about the books you read – and possibly not just digitally in Tiktok book clubs, but face to face. Not every reading circle, of which there are quite a few in the city and country (the Literaturhaus also has one especially for sponsors), has survived the pandemic. However, books only “come to life” in conversation, as Katrin Lange says, who is leading the discussion that evening. And a novel like Kordić’s can be discussed at length – about the love affair of a young person with the awkward name Željko Draženko Kovačević and an older professor, about the wealth gap in Germany, about anger and fear. The most interesting thing, again and again: how much the readings differ. Every person brings their own world with them; every approach to a book is controlled by specific characteristics and expectations.
Despite all the differences, and even some shaking of the head: Such evenings, whether in private or public space, are good exercises in enduring different opinions and perhaps gently approaching them. And, of course, opportunities in general to fulfill the desire of many for exchange, for community, especially in difficult times. Incidentally, that goes with Kordić’s book, which – and no, that’s not a spoiler in such a complex novel – ends with the invocation of a polyphonic community in which everyone sits together “and eats and talks and laughs”. Nice.