Zukunft der Demokratie #14

Democracy and Resilience
Lukas Bärfuss in conversation with: Péter Nádas
 

This past spring, the Hungarian people ousted their government. Sixteen years of Viktor Orbán came to an end with a voter turnout of nearly eighty percent. This was not the first time the country had freed itself from a hopeless situation. In 1956, the people of Budapest stood up to Soviet tanks. In 1989, Hungarian border guards cut the first hole in the Iron Curtain. Now the struggle between the rule of law and tyranny, between democracy and dictatorship, is entering its next phase. 

Hungary is Europe’s political laboratory, and the writer Péter Nádas is its chronicler. Born in Budapest in 1942, he was prevented by communist censorship from publishing his first novel until 1977. His 1991 “Book of Memory” earned its place in world literature. It tells the inner history of the twentieth century and earned him the reputation as a “surveyor of the European soul.” Audiences in Hamburg know and love Péter Nádas: in 2024, his play *One’s Own Death* premiered at the SchauSpielHaus. Lukas Bärfuss interviews Péter Nádas about the century, writing, and hope and despair in the face of totalitarianism. And about the power of literature in times of madness and political radicalization.

Moderator: Lukas Bärfuss
Guest: Péter Nádas
Curated by: Lukas Bärfuss and Judith Gerstenberg

More info:Future of Democracy #14 | Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg