Das amerikanische Tagebuch

In the organizer's words:

Burghart Klaußner and Johanna Christine Gehlen read

THE AMERICAN DIARY

by Siegfried Lenz

Siegfried Lenz traveled through the USA for six weeks in 1962. Every evening, he jotted down his experiences in a notebook - for his wife Liselotte, who was unable to accompany him.

The young writer, who had already received much praise and attention for his first books, had been invited to get to know American democracy and report on his experiences in Germany.

At the same time as Siegfried Lenz was attending his first appointments the morning after his arrival in Washington, still suffering from jet lag, US President John F. Kennedy was meeting with his military advisors and key officials to discuss the Cuban Missile Crisis. America is facing its greatest challenge since the end of the Second World War. Siegfried Lenz senses this threatening atmosphere after just a few days. In addition to his enthusiasm for American literature - Faulkner and Hemingway were the great, formative idols - the East-West conflict, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the discussion about the atomic bomb and the USA's involvement in Vietnam also dominate his travel diary. Parallel to Siegfried Lenz's diary entries, the letters that Liselotte sent to her husband in America, which were recently discovered in the estate, can also be heard. They reached him at various stages of his journey and tell of an intimate love affair on both sides of the Atlantic.

Price information:

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