The second reading day 2011: More praise

The second day of readings in 2011 brought Maja Haderlap, the author from Kärnten, lengthy applause and a lot of praise from the jury.  Nina Bußmann and Steffen Popp also proved popular.

A doctor accepts guilt

Linus Reichlin, who lives in Berlin, was proposed by Meike Feßmann. He read the text "Weltgegend", the first three chapters of a novel about a doctor in a war zone who shoots at a person.

Linus Reichling (Bild: Johannes Puch)

Hubert Winkels could not really warm to the text: "expertly written" and in "good language", but the text seemed like a "TV film with too little budget". Alain Claude Sulzer discussed the birth of guilt and wanted to read the complete novel.  Meike Feßmann saw strong characters and strong dialogue, while Daniela Strigl found it all too smooth.

Jury discussion Linus Reichlin

Maja Haderlap (Bild: Johannes Puch)

Haderlap the first favourite

Maja Haderlap, who lives in Kärnten, was proposed by Daniela Strigl. She read the text "Im Kessel": a forest acts as a metaphor for the history of the Kärnten Slovenians, the Second World War and the struggle of the partisans against the Nazis. The jury were impressed and compared the forest descriptions to Adalbert Stifter.

The jury praised the "leisurely pace" and the "flawless nostalgia" of the text as well as the "subtle nuances of language", and it earned a lengthy applause from the audience. The first favourite and a good chance at scooping a prize.

Jury discussion Maja Haderlap

Rabinowich: a "difficult" text

The Austrian Julya Rabinowich was invited by Daniela Strigl and read the text "Erdfresserin" to a divided jury. Main theme of the discussion: a " difficult" text.

Julya Rabinowich (Bild: Johannes Puch)#

Gorgon or banal witch?

A woman in a desert landscape, an Eastern European prostitute, who cannot stand being cooped up with mother and son and the bedridden Leo, but she cannot leave until she has her hands on the savings book. The jury found the protagonist like a gorgon, a vampire or even a banal witch - and found the story overloaded with the mythological.

Jury discussion Julya Rabinowich

"Große Ferien" from Nina Bußmann (G)

Nina Bußmanns text describes a close teacher-pupil relationship, which Meike Feßmann thought had been "developed with precision". The orderly life of a teacher is thrown into disarray.

According to Hubert Winkels, there could be an erotic desire between teacher and pupil, but this suggestion dissipates as it appears to be the projection of an old teacher. One doe not know if something has happened between the two or not. This expresses the philosophical starting point of the text, that nobody has access to the real truth.  The jury found that the text was "precisely worked, thought through" and "extremely clever" - a further favourite.

Nina Bußmann (Bild: Johannes Puch)

Jury discussion Nina Bußmann

The final text of the second day of reading was from author Steffen Popp (G), "Spur einer Dorfgeschichte" was praised by the jury but also elicited a good deal of incomprehension. This resulted from the structure of Popp's text, a series of snapshots assembled together.  Some of the jury - Alain Claude Sulzer for one - had difficulty in making much of this "lyrical" construction.

Steffen Popp (Bild: Johannes Puch)

Hubert Winkels saw the text as "half-finished", even if it was in fact "the final version". The reader is forced with this style of writing to connect the "stitched together" images or pearls himself. He felt there was no "trigonometric point " from where the story can make its starting point.

Alain Claude Sulzer felt the text to be poetry, not prose. Spinnen felt that the text reminded him of a jazz musician, who with admirable confidence continually varied his tune, yet always found the way back to the harmony of the whole.

Jury discussion Steffen Popp

Jury (Bild: Johannes Puch)

Reading order TDDL 2011

The first reading day

The readings can be followed
 by everyone with free entry in the ORF Theater in Klagenfurt. 3sat covers all  readings and discussions as well as the prize giving live. Ö1, Radio Kärnten and  "Kärnten heute" transmit daily information.

The readings are also covered every day from
10.15 live on the internet at bachmannpreis.eu. The videos
can also be called up "on demand", as can the Livestream from 3sat (from 10.15 here on-line).

TDDL 2011