Goethe Book Club
Robert Seethaler’s The Tobacconist (2016)

Mon, 02/26/2018
6:30 PM Goethe-Institut Washington

Read and discuss works by contemporary German authors in this series hosted by the Goethe-Institut. All books can be read in recent English translation or in the German original; discussion will be in English. Led by local German professor Amanda Sheffer (The Catholic University of America), this book club focuses on contemporary fiction and will explore experiences and thoughts about the text.

Austria 1937: The 17-year old Franz Huchel seeks his fortune by leaving his hometown to go to Vienna for an apprenticeship as a tobacconist selling tobacco and newspapers. There he meets a regular customer, Sigmund Freud, and is immediately enamored with his presence. When Franz falls head over heels in love with the burlesque dancer Anezka and then enters a period of tumult, he seeks council from the professor.

Robert Seethaler, born 1966 in Vienna, is a much acclaimed author and script writer. His fourth novel The Tobacconist (2012), a public success, is followed by the recent novel A Whole Life (2014). Both novels can be found as audiobooks by tacheles!: The Tobacconist is read by the author himself and A Whole Life unabridged by Ulrich Matthes.

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In cooperation with the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at The Catholic University of America.