Volker Braun

An Ongoing Attempt to Live With Violent Forces

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Volker Braun
An Ongoing Attempt to Live With Violent Forces / Fortwährender Versuch, mit Gewalten zu leben
The world computer has frozen and needs a reset
»Earlier, you could have left the world behind, just up sticks and go, but now there’s no otherworld left, we live in the everywhere.« With a sharp eye for what holds the world together and with his famous linguistic virtuosity, in this new work of prose, Volker Braun tackles the big questions that extend all the way into the future. What are the qualities of the »everywhere« in which we live? What violent forces rule over it? And what happens when the opposing forces are not longer states but...
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»Earlier, you could have left the world behind, just up sticks and go, but now there’s no otherworld left, we live in the everywhere.« With a sharp eye for what holds the world together and with his famous linguistic virtuosity, in this new work of prose, Volker Braun tackles the big questions that extend all the way into the future. What are the qualities of the »everywhere« in which we live? What violent forces rule over it? And what happens when the opposing forces are not longer states but storms? Braun’s movement takes him to the Eurasian land mass, to Berlin’s Liquidrom spa, and to the Schlosspark Niederschönhausen, where he is haunted by the voices of his companions.

Volker Braun’s »essays« about the pitfalls and contradictions of our globalised world will surprise readers with their complex intricacy and dazzle them with the force of their language.
»Volker Braun’s sorties into the deepest depths of the present, history, and his own biography are, once again, perceptive and incredibly rich in allusions and surprises. By turns sarcastic and poetic, but always polished and precise in their statements and language.« Peter Geist, Der Tagesspiegel

»It is impressive how in this new book, [Braun] continues to master his craft and stay true to his convictions.« Welf Grombacher, Märkische Oderzeitung

»In his three fundamentally different essays, he approaches delicate, crumbling edges – of societies, of our planet, of his own life. Every attempt to glimpse into the abyss is a worthwhile pursuit.« Ina Beyer, SWR

»It’s worth taking some time … for this author.« Erik Zielke, neues Deutschland

»The most important German political poet since Bertolt Brecht« Christian Eger, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung

»Volker Braun is a bundle of contradictions who refuses to let himself be tied down..« Tomas Gärtner, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten
»Volker Braun’s sorties into the deepest depths of the present, history, and his own biography are, once again, perceptive and incredibly rich in allusions and surprises. By turns sarcastic and poetic, but always polished and precise in their statements and language.« Peter Geist, Der Tagesspiegel

»It is impressive how in this new book, [Braun] continues to master his craft and stay true to his convictions.« Welf Grombacher, Märkische Oderzeitung

»In his...
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2024, 100 pages
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Volker Braun

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Born in Dresden in 1939, when he was younger, Braun worked as a printer and in an open pit mine. Subsequently, he studied philosophy in Leipzig and worked at the Berliner Ensemble until 1990. Volker Braun lives in Berlin.

Born in Dresden in 1939, when he was younger, Braun worked as a printer and in an open pit mine. Subsequently, he studied philosophy in Leipzig...

© Roger Melis

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Latest first
Great Fugue
Year of Publication: 2021
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2021

Great Fugue

»What did you do in 2020?« The year when the world is »moved, all of a sudden, to stand still«. When the streets are »humanless«, the city is quietened and...

Rights sold to:

UK & ANZ (Smokestack Books)

Relocating the Secret Point
Year of Publication: 2019
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2019

Relocating the Secret Point

Relocating the Secret Point gathers underground texts and speeches. The collection opens with a satire of expatriation written in January 1977 and is followed by the radical pamphlet Büchner’s Letters; it contains essays on Shakespeare and Rimbaud, Goethe and Kafka: poetry and politics, and points to a shift in the work that will grow into a radical change.


Coup
Year of Publication: 2019
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2019

Coup

Considering contemporary conditions, what possibilities does a writer have of effecting change? On intimate terms with all literary traditions, Volker Braun makes use of tried and tested prose forms to come closer to an answer: aphorisms, pieces of dialogue, quotes. In his workshop dreams, puzzling fragments, and stubborn truths all come to light.


This series of coup-like attacks...

The Novel of Hinze and Kunze
Year of Publication: 2015
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2015

The Novel of Hinze and Kunze

»This is the novel of Hinze and Kunze. Who are Hinze and Kunze? As the saying goes and as socialism dictates, they are supposed to be equals; which makes it all the more striking that they are not. Kunze is a functionary, Hinze is his driver. Kunze says where to go: and Hinze drives off.«

First published in 1985 after years of wrangling with the East German authorities,...
Working Days 2
Year of Publication: 2014
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2014

Working Days 2

The first volume of Volker Braun’s working journal ended on the last day of the year 1989. The second encompasses the period between 1990 and 2008. The reader accompanies Braun through the years following the German reunification, becoming witness to the author’s intellectual and aesthetic creative process.


These were decisive years: Volker Braun redefines himself in the reunified Germany....
Work Book I
Year of Publication: 2009
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2009

Work Book I

Volker Braun has been keeping a journal of his work since January 1977. The first volume, comprised of both brief and longer entries, reveals more than an illuminating insight into the workshop of the author. The notes from his day-to-day life also show how Volker Braun views himself, his work, his contemporaries and the political situation in Eastern and Western Germany.


Sometimes...
Patchwork
Year of Publication: 2009
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2009

Patchwork

Anyone looking for emergency solutions for real problems is doing patchwork. But is there anything else to do for someone who has had his living taken from him, who can either not work at all or on...
Rights sold to:

Arabic world rights (Kalima), France (Métailié)

What's Really Wanted
Year of Publication: 2000
Volker BraunYear of Publication: 2000

What's Really Wanted

Giorgio Badini, son of a Tuscan mason, now professor emeritus and owner of a country estate, is enjoying retirement with his wife. But the two pensioners suddenly find their house occupied by a...

Rights sold to:

Greece (Enastron)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: France (Inventaire)