Of the handy terms with which Stephan Wackwitz summarizes the important stages of his life in his new book, one fits Wackwitz’s own writing exactly: sprezzatura. This is a word from the Renaissance that means an apparent effortlessness and ease of work, which was, however, preceded by a lifelong practice in thinking, reading, writing and, of course, in life itself. Stephan Wackwitz actually led two lives, that of a cultural diplomat and that of a writer. His happiness in life is probably to have reconciled these two, at first glance, incompatible professions to such an extent that he was able to read essays from him at regular intervals that were both elegant and clever, the entirety of which has now become something like the intellectual autobiography of a world-traveling European is.
Portrait of the writer Stephan Wackwitz – Culture
