School of Languages, Linguistics and Film

Writer in Residence Karl-Heinz Ott reading from his Works

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19 March 2019

Time: 6:00pm
Speaker: Karl-Heinz Ott
Venue: Lockkeeper’s Cottage, room 101

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The reading will be in German. All are welcome! Feel free to bring interested guests.

Karl-Heinz Ott is an award-winning German author, dramatist, translator and musicologist. His literary works comprise novels, essays and plays. He subtly portrays the fragile worlds of middle-class people and includes casual references to current social problems. In his latest novel, Und jeden Morgen das Meer, Ott creates a calm atmosphere through his prosaic language and meticulous arrangement of details. It is impossible to determine whether the tranquillity he conveys is caused by contentment or resignation.

The novel begins and ends by the sea in Wales. 62-year-old Sonja Bräuning faces the sea each morning after her husband’s suicide three years ago. Bruno Bräuning had started to drink after having lost his Michelin star for the restaurant and hotel he inherited by Lake Constance, where even heads of states dined. Bruno’s brother takes over the restaurant with its debts and urges Sonja, who had been living and working on the estate for over 30 years, to leave. In her dreams Sonja is haunted by her loveless past full of duties and constraints. While reflecting on her dreams, identity and remaining chances in life she walks to a sometimes calm sometimes rough sea awaiting her.