Matthias Göritz, distinguished German author and Professor of Practice of Comparative Literature at Washington University in Saint Louis, will give an English-language reading of his critically acclaimed novel The Sun Language (Die Sprache der Sonne) (C.H. Beck, 2023).

The Sun Language deftly shifts perspectives between present-day Istanbul, where an American journalist looks for traces of her deceased German-Jewish grandmother, and the 1930s — when Istanbul was a haven for German-Jewish intellectuals such as Erich Auerbach — and intellectual theory from the profound to the outlandish abounded.

The English-language reading and subsequent discussion will focus on issues of travel and migration. Göritz will be joined in conversation by Sean Franzel, Associate Professor of German.

Matthias Göritz is a poet, translator, and novelist. He has written four poetry collections, four novels, and three novellas. He has received the Hamburg Literature Prize, the Mara Cassens Prize, the Robert Gernhardt Prize, and the William Gass Award.