Meet to discuss works from contemporary German-speaking authors in our
Goethe Book Club. Each selection can be read in its English translation or original German; the discussion, hosted by Chris Walker, will be in English.
On Tuesday, June 15th at 6:00 pm CDT we will discuss Abbas Khider’s
A Slap in the Face (German title: “Ohrfeige”, 2016).
About the novel:
A refugee walks into the alien registration office to speak to the clerk in charge of his case for the last time. He is furious and has only one desire: that someone actually listens to him for once. In his unmistakable style, Abbas Khider plumbs the depths of self-perception in an open society.
When Karim Mensey jumps to freedom from the loading ramp of a transporter van, he thinks he’s in France. That’s where the illegal journey he’d paid for was meant to take him. Actually he’s ended up somewhere in the depths of the Bavarian provinces. And he’ll be stuck there for the next three years. Karim has to re-invent his life-story, struggle his way through all sorts of documents and countless refugee centers. He gets involved in dubious friendships and risky love affairs. Then one day his temporary citizenship status is revoked and he is to be deported to Iraq. Karim is back to square one and has to find another human trafficker - this time one who will get him out of Germany.
Abbas Khider has written a novel at once disturbing and heart-warming, a novel that poses one of the central issues of our times: what does it mean for someone if he can neither live at home nor abroad?
About the author:
Abbas Khider was born in Baghdad in 1973. At the age of 19, he was arrested for his political activities. After his release, he fled Iraq in 1996 and stayed in various countries as an "illegal refugee". He has lived in Germany since 2000 and studied literature and philosophy in Munich and Potsdam. His debut novel
The Village Indian was published in 2008 and subsequently translated into English. He has received various awards, most recently the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Hilde Domin Prize, and the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize. Abbas Khider currently lives in Berlin.
Please RSVP to access the online event. Simply send an email to
info-kansascity@goethe.de and we will send you the Zoom access code.
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