Reading: Carl Skoggard Reads From his Translation of Siegfried Kracauer's "Georg"

Lori Straus — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 17:27:31 +0000

Reading: Carl Skoggard Reads From his Translation of Siegfried Kracauer's "Georg" Lori Straus Mon, 10/30/2017 - 13:27

Join us at Open Sesame, downtown Kitchener's distinctive gift shop/gallery/book store, for a reading by Carl Skoggard, translator of the novel Georg by Siegfried Kracauer. Best remembered today for his exploration of early German cinema (From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological Study of the German Film), Siegfried Kracauer (1889-1966, pictured left) was the editor for cultural affairs at Germany’s leading liberal newspaper during the Weimar Republic.

Georg is a panorama of those pre-Nazi years as seen through the eyes of a rookie reporter. In a defeated nation seething with extremism right and left, young Georg is looking for something to believe in. For him, the past has become unusable; for nearly everyone he meets, paradise seems just around the corner. But which paradise? Kracauer’s grimly funny novel takes on a confused and dangerous time which can remind us of our own. The style is briskly cinematic.

About the Translator

Carl Skoggard enjoys reading German literature and for many years was an editor for the Repértoire International de la Littérature Musicale, with responsibility for German materials. His translation of Ein Jahr in Arkadien, an 1805 gay fiction by the eccentric Duke August of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg, appeared as Year in Arcadia(Atropen Verlag) in 1999. Skoggard has also produced translations and commentaries for Walter Benjamin's Berliner Kindheit um 1900 (Berlin Childhood circa 1900); Berliner Chronik (The 'Berlin Chronicle' Notices); and all of Benjamin's little known 73 "Heinle sonnets," along with the original German and line-by-line commentary. Previously he served as staff writer for Nest: A Quarterly of Interiors.

Event Details

This event is co-sponsored by Open Sesame, Publication Studio Hudson, and the ��ݮ��Ƶ Centre for German Studies at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ. Centre Director James Skidmore will moderate a Q&A after the reading. Light refreshments will be served, and those attending will receive a 20% discount on anything they purchase at the store. Copies of Georg will also be available for sale.

For further information, please contact Open Sesame (519.954.7722).