Julia Franck: „Ich ertrinke in den Wassern meiner eigenen Liebe. Rilkes letzte Geliebte.“

In 1920, the painter Baladine Klossowska reunited with the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. She, a divorced mother of two teenage sons—one of whom was the painter Balthus—fell passionately in love with him. After a brief “amour fou,” Rilke gradually distances himself from his lover. While she seeks unconditional closeness and togetherness and loses herself in her love for him, he needs space and quiet to be able to write. They write each other letters filled with longing, always searching for the right balance between closeness and distance. In them, Rilke affectionately calls his girlfriend “Mouky.” A letter to her will be the last one he writes shortly before his death...

Julia Franck, bornin Berlin in 1970, has received numerous awards for her work. Two of her novels have been adapted for film. Her most recent book is *Welten auseinander* (2021).

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Reading as part of the 2026/2027 annual program of the Duisburg Literary Society.