Asal Dardan, born in Tehran in 1978, grew up in Cologne, Bonn and Aberdeen after her parents fled Iran. She studied cultural studies and Middle East studies and became an essayist and journalist. Her book “Reflections on a Barbarin” was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize last year.
SZ: Ms. Dardan, what are you reading right now?
Asal Dardan: For an essay that I’m writing, I read, among other things, Fatima El-Tayeb’s study “Undeutsch” and Natasha A. Kelly’s “Afrokultur”. Both books mesh fantastically and clearly show how important it is for Afro-German science and literature to be appreciated even more and more broadly. Also, so that we as a public do not keep getting stuck in what El-Tayeb calls “unproductive soliloquy”. The important discussions can only become a serious dialogue if the knowledge of others is recognized and respected, if different perspectives are dealt with confidently, i.e. on an equal footing. On the side, “private”, I’m reading Helga Schubert’s “Vom Aufgeten”. I enjoy reading it, even if my progress is slow. The world in it is quite foreign to me.
Which book influenced you the most?
To be pompous, I actually believe Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”. There are books that are closer to me emotionally, but intellectually none inspire me as much as this one. Because it shows me how beautiful and playful language can be, that it has powerful, lasting images and that, above all, nothing has to be or remain that others think it is. The “Metamorphoses” unite poetry, philosophy, psychology and human history. I love the idea that nature and we ourselves are constantly in flux, as well as the view of living things as hybrid and changeable, as a dialogue between the inside and the outside.
From which children’s book can you still memorize a sentence today?
I read a lot to my children, so I’m quite aware of their books. But if it’s about something from my own childhood, then clearly the sentence: “Three times we have to bend down to the east and say: mu – mu – mu” from Hauff’s fairy tale “Kalif Stork”. My mother and I cried over and over again at this point.
What character from a novel do you keep coming back to?
My first crush, Mitya from “The Brothers Karamazov”. I was blown away by how alive and multifaceted the character is, so passionate and fallible and kindhearted.
A book that is important to you but most others have never heard of?
I don’t know if it’s that unknown, but I recommend it more often. A small volume, a letter from Marcelle Sauvageot that was never sent: “Almost entirely yours”. She wrote it at the age of 30 in a sanatorium, she was ill with tuberculosis. It is a farewell letter to a person who loved her and who separated from her. She died four years later. I was in my mid-twenties when I first read the book, and it taught me how to deal with heartbreak a little better. So a little bit.
Have you ever fallen out with someone over a book?
I bought the Collected Works of Oscar Wilde when I was still at school, so I really saved up for it. When I was a student, a lover spilled red wine on it, and that was kind of the end of it for me. Or at least I didn’t think he was great enough to put up with.
Despite your request, you do not want to become a member of the PEN Berlin writers’ association. Why?
I don’t want to watch other people talk to themselves anymore. I also believe that it’s not just the content and intentions that count, but also the practice, i.e. how you do something. How to deal with people, how to respond to them, how to understand political and social persuasion. I’ve learned not to fall for my vanity and instead look to what feels really good and right. In principle, I have a great desire for networking, collective thinking and action. Fortunately, I always find people with whom I want to design and engage.
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