Welcome to LitHAUS! - a monthly reading series for contemporary German-language literature.
This month we’re meeting in-person at our location to discuss
Moss by Klaus Modick.
We encourage all unvaccinated participants to wear masks, though they will not be required for vaccinated visitors, there is ample parking on site and for any other questions please email us at
info-houston@goethe.de
Moss (2020) by Klaus Modick translated by David Herman
© Bellevue Literary Press
An aging botanist withdraws to the seclusion of his family’s vacation home in the German countryside. In his final days, he realizes that his life’s work of scientific classification has led him astray from the hidden secrets of the natural world. As his body slows and his mind expands, he recalls his family’s escape from budding fascism in Germany, his father’s need to prune and control, and his tender moments with first loves. But as his disintegration into moss begins, his fascination with botany culminates in a profound understanding of life’s meaning and his own mortality.
Visionary and poetic,
Moss explores our fundamental human desires for both transcendence and connection and serves as a testament to our tenuous and intimate relationship with nature.
Summary by Bellevue Literary Press
About the author
Klaus Modick is an award-winning author and translator who has published over a dozen novels as well as short stories, essays, and poetry. His translations into German include work by William Goldman, William Gaddis, and Victor LaValle, and he has taught at Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, and several other universities in the United States, Japan, and Germany.
Moss, Modick’s debut novel, is his first book to be published in English. He lives in Oldenburg, Germany.
Translator
David Herman is the recipient of the Ezra Pound Award for Literary Translation from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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