Following his book "Vaters Kiste," Lukas Bärfuss turns to his mother's life in a moving autobiographical essay—a woman without education and prospects, yet possessed of an insatiable longing for freedom. She saw her child as a burden, had not chosen this life. A bad mother, as she called herself. Her only weapon was the voice of the powerless, a sharp tongue. The son ended up on the street and had to learn early on to survive his mother through art. Looking back, he asks himself where personal responsibility ends in a miserable life and where that of an entire society begins. "Five days ago she died. Infarto agudo de miocardio. The second." Lukas Bärfuss, born 1971 in Thun, lives in Zurich. Playwright, novelist, and outspoken essayist. His plays are performed worldwide; his novels are translated into twenty languages. Bärfuss is a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. His works have been honored with the Berlin Literature Prize, the Swiss Book Prize, and the Georg Büchner Prize, among others. Recent publications include Vaters Kiste (2022) and Die Krume Brot (2023). An event by the Franz-Michael-Felder Archive of the Vorarlberg State Library in cooperation with Spielboden. Moderation: Jürgen Thaler
