Jurij Koch’s Sorbian Memoir of Life Before, During, and After the GDR, by John K. Cox

Book Reviews John K. Cox Jurij Koch / Courtesy of Domowina-Verlag In the 1950s, a girl whom Jurij Koch knew in high school moved away from their hometown of Cottbus in East Germany. It was a case, he says in his recent memoir, of “Weg von Ulbricht, hin zu Adenauer” (Away from Ulbricht, over to Adenauer). Her mother took the girl to the West, before the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. This is a familiar enough arc of events, but, as it turns out, the motivation behind the move is probably not something that most people outside of Germany would have considered. The reason was ethnic. Little Greta was growing up surrounded by Sorbs in the southeastern part of the country. The Sorbian language reminded her mother of Polish, and she had had quite enough of the Poles in her pre-1945 home farther east. In addition, Greta’s family was Protestant and they felt awash in a “Catholic sea.” So off they went, leaving the author of this autobiography—who, well, yes, had a crush on Greta—scratching his head. Like so many other scenes in this engaging book, this story blends the customary with the unexpected to stretch our understanding of what is “German.” Like so many other scenes in this engaging book, Koch’s memoir blends the customary with the unexpected to stretch our understanding of what is “German.” Windrad auf dem Dach (Domowina-Verlag, 2016) is the second volume of Koch’s memoirs to be published in German. Currently in his... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2020-01-27 20:47:13 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Jurij Koch’s Sorbian Memoir of Life Before, During, and After the GDR, by John K. Cox"


How Do You Translate Intergenerational Trauma?

E.J. Koh’s memoir The Magical Language of Others floats stunningly through the abandonment she experienced as a teenager. When she was fifteen, her parents returned home to South Korea for a more lucrative job opportunity, leaving her behind in the United States with her college-going brother. ... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-02-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Constable to publish 'Fun House' host Pat Sharp's memoir

Constable is publishing a memoir by radio and television presenter Pat Sharp, best known for hosting ITV children’s game show "Fun House". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-27 13:41:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Margery Kempe Had 14 Children and She Still Invented the Memoir

Not many people know this, but the first memoir in the English language was probably written by a mom who cried a lot.  The Book of Margery Kempe is mostly the kind of text you read if you’re a medievalist, or maybe an English major at a women’s college, although I was an English major […] The... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-02-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: February 27, 2020

“I try to hide how unreal those two deaths are to me. No, not unreal. It’s just I can’t make them matter.” Elizabeth Tallent on death, silence and the intimacies of sadness. | Lit Hub Memoir Pod Save America’s Dan Pfeiffer lays out a plan for the future of democracy. | Lit Hub Politics “It’s […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-27 11:30:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Headline picks up The Yorkshire Forager

Headline has picked up The Yorkshire Forager, a “wonderfully wild” memoir and field guide by forager Alysia Vasey. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-27 10:30:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Religion Book Deals: February 26, 2020

Zondervan nabbed a new book by Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae; Jordan Lee Dooley brings two books to WaterBrook, a memoir on autism lands at Brazos, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-26 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Unbound launches memoir from Coppafeel! founder Kris Hallenga

Unbound has launched memoir How to Glitter a Turd from Coppafeel! founder Kris Hallenga. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-25 23:24:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


“Shame Was My First Drug”: A Conversation with Erin Khar

ERIN KHAR’S TENDER, at times desolate, yet boundlessly hopeful memoir Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me is, in many ways, a love letter to her oldest son, Atticus. Startled by a story he’d heard on the news about a successful dermatologist who had died of a drug... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-25 20:00:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Watch Mitchell Jackson give away 125 copies of his memoir on 125th Street in Harlem.

It’s damn near inevitable—someone asking me “who do I write for?” Most times I say, I’m writing for a 20-year-old version of myself, a young man who wasn’t a reader, but who might’ve been had he been exposed to the right books; who wasn’t an intellectual, but was ever curious; who listened to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-25 19:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Mirror Books pre-empts memoir of first NHS baby

Mirror Books is set to publish a memoir by Aneira Thomas, the first baby born on the NHS. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-24 20:50:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Whistleblower Has a Hidden Power

The memoir from the former Uber engineer Susan Fowler is a life story that doubles as a cultural indictment. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2020-02-23 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Bite of the Apple by Lennie Goodings – essential literary memoir

The Virago publisher is eloquent and inspiring on writing – but her memoir lacks grit and gossipLennie Goodings has had a long and highly respected career in publishing. She is chair of Virago Press, the pioneering publishing house that champions women’s writing. She’s been with Virago since the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-02-23 09:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Trump Is Directly Trying to Block Publication of John Bolton’s Book

The president has called his former national security adviser a traitor and says the highly anticipated memoir shouldn't be published before November. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2020-02-22 15:12:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book review: Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener

This amusing memoir feels like a Silicon Valley version of The Devil Wears Prada. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2020-02-21 16:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Panel Mania: ‘Banned Book Club’

Kim Hyun Sook’s irresistible memoir conveys her political and social awakening with equal measures of hilarity and terror. The post Panel Mania: ‘Banned Book Club’ appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2020-02-21 11:00:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Mikel Jollett Crafts a Heartbreaking Memoir of Staggering Growth

The author, born into the Church of Synanon cult, tells his heart-wrenching story of love and redemption in words and music. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Holocaust survivor's 'courageous' memoir to Michael Joseph

Michael Joseph is posthumously publishing the memoir of a Jewish dressmaker who survived three concentration camps. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-21 04:05:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ebury signs climbing memoir from poet and novelist Mort

Ebury has signed a memoir from poet and novelist Helen Mort which it says could do for climbing what other books have done for running and wild swimming. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-20 11:08:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Susan Fowler’s Memoir Shows Uber Was an Even Worse Place to Work Than We Thought

The former Uber engineer paints a damning portrait of the culture Travis Kalanick built. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2020-02-19 21:07:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Greta Thunberg family memoir coming in March

Greta Thunberg’s "raw and powerful" family story, written largely by her mother Malena Ernman, will be published by Allen Lane on 5th March. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-18 15:10:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this