Presented by the Goethe-Institut Toronto
The Goethe-Institut had invited author Roland Schimmelpfennig to Toronto for presentations, conversations and interviews. While the North American premiere of his play "Winter Solstice" at Soulpepper Theatre has been postponed along with Schimmelpfennig's planned live reading from his acclaimed novel at the Goethe-Institut, we asked Germany’s most-played dramatist to read for you from his Berlin home in English, German, and Spanish:
Roland Schimmelpfennig reads from his novel "One Clear, Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century”
Roland Schimmelpfennig liest aus seinem Roman "An einem klaren, eiskalten Januarmorgen zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts”
Adriana Jacome lee de la novela "Una clara y gélida mañana de enero a principios del siglo XXI” de Roland Schimmelpfennig
A contemporary Berlin fairy tale that bristles with urban truths - the first novel of Germany's best-known contemporary playwright. One clear, ice-cold January morning shortly after dawn, a wolf crosses the border between Poland and Germany. His trail leads all the way to Berlin, connecting the lives of disparate individuals whose paths intersect and diverge. On an icy motorway eighty kilometres outside the city, a fuel tanker jack-knifes and explodes. The lone wolf is glimpsed on the hard shoulder and photographed by Tomasz, a Polish construction worker who cannot survive in Germany without his girlfriend. Elisabeth and Micha run away through the snow from their home village, crossing the wolf's tracks on their way to the city. A woman burns her mother's diaries on a Berlin balcony. And Elisabeth's father, a famous sculptor, observes the vast skeleton of a whale in his studio and asks: What am I doing here? And why. Experiences and encounters flicker past with a raw, visual power, like frames in a black and white film. Those who catch sight of the wolf see their own lives reflected, and find themselves searching for a different path in a cold time. This first novel of Germany's most celebrated contemporary playwright is written in prose of tremendous power and precision.
"With frequent references to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a moment in history that appeared to signal a European renaissance and optimism for the future, [Roland Schimmelpfennig's] debut novel is both experimental in structure and playful in nature leading to a highly original and often hypnotic work" — Irish Times
"Unlike the title, the exhilarating narrative is wonderfully concise, and the imagery is intensely cinematic.
" — The Guardian
Roland Schimmelpfennig, born 1967, is one of the most performed contemporary playwrights across Europe. He worked as a journalist in Istanbul and was engaged at the Munich Kammerspiele after studying directing at the Otto Falckenberg School. Since 1996 Roland Schimmelpfennig has been working as a freelance author. His plays are performed with great success in over 40 countries worldwide from Vienna’s Burgtheater to Tokyo's National Theatre. In 2016, his first novel "On a cold, clear January morning at the beginning of the 21st century" was published and which was shortlisted for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize. Up to now he has written three dozen stage and radio plays.
Roland Schimmelpfennig has been in Toronto as a guest of the Goethe-Institut many times. In 2010 the Goethe-Institut Toronto co-commissioned Schimmelpfennig's contribution to "The Africa Trilogy".
Soulpepper produced his "Indomeneus" under the direction of Alan Dilworth in 2018, which was nominated for five Dora Awards.
The novel is available to read in German through the Goethe-Institut's
Onleihe.
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