Spinnen has “crush” on Satanik text

Caterina Satanik was the last author to enter the competition and read from her debut “Leben ist anders” (Life is different). The text tells the story of a separation, the mourning afterwards and the search for answers. A “fleet-footed” text that was favourably discussed.

The separation turns into a game

“I liked the text – I am not quite sure why”, Meike Feßmann began. A woman was left by her boyfriend and she lovingly makes the best of it – turns it into a game. “I was a little bit reminded of Freud’s Fort-Da (gone-back again) game, and of Else Lasker-Schüler.” The integration of self-help literature in the text was also done in a playful way.

Caterina Satanik
Videoporträt
Lesung
Diskussion

Meike Feßmann (Bild: ORF/Johannes Puch)

“Not high literature, but endearing”

“With regard to skilful lightness this text gains top marks”, was Ijoma Mangold’s praise. An “endearing text”, which creates its own language “without trying to be high literature”. Chattily executed, the text is thus also exposed to certain dangers. “The Austrian element in the text is as successful as the light and mincing motifs: nothing carries too much weight, you can be bewitched by anything.”

Male tenderness is like “DYI”

“A text that feeds the suspicion that DIY is nothing more than male tenderness gone wrong”, said Paul Jandl – reaping plenty of laughter from the audience. “The text is about the proverbial man and a wily naivety that I would consider the female element”, says Jandl. “That’s exactly what I like, a humorous, a light text – respectable for a debut!”

Paul Jandl (Bild: ORF/Johannes Puch)

Sulzer: “My enthusiasm is undivided”

“I met this man yesterday in the form of a taxi driver who was on the phone continuously”, Alain Claude Sulzer added. For him, this is a “wonderful text and role prose that accomplishes everything that was so often lacking before”. Here, everything is told through language itself. “My enthusiasm is undivided!”

A “jolly and cute” text

“This is no place for over-protection”, said Hildegard E. Keller at the beginning, adding by way of explanation: this is about a “likeable and jovial I” that is also “melancholic” – and perhaps even a little “dim” and appeals to so-called “help authorities” whose platitudes are taken on board without thought. The austriacisms are “jolly and cute” for her coming from Switzerland.

 Hildegard E. Keller (Bild: ORF/Johannes Puch)

Paul Jandl and Meike Feßmann rejected Keller’s idea of a “constructed dim character” – rather, it is “tactically naive” (Feßmann).

Karin Fleischanderl continued: “I can’t help but be irritated by this colloquial language represented one-to-one.” It has to be – as in Nestroy, for example – produced artificially: “That’s what bothers me about the text.”

Caterina Satanik (Bild: ORF/Johannes Puch)

Spinnen: “I have a crush on the text”

Burkhard Spinnen finally said: “I invited this author because for me her text shows how contemporary colloquial language can be used to make literature.” Only to admit: “I have a crush on this text.” According to him, it is rare to feel such vulnerability under the surface of a text.

Burkhard Spinnen (Bild: ORF/Johannes Puch)

Barbara Johanna Frank

translated by expectTranslations