Berlin, winter 1884/85: Representatives of European states, the USA and the Ottoman Empire are discussing trade, territorial claims and expansion. Whilst a colonial order is taking shape, the Austrian negotiator, of all people, is trying to cover up a private fraud. Daniel Kehlmann talks about his dark comic novel "Afrika" and how literature transforms historical reality and brings colonial entanglements to light right up to the present day.
A colonial order is taking shape, whilst one of its negotiators is desperately trying to cover up a personal fraud. In his new novel "Afrika", Daniel Kehlmann transports us to Berlin in the winter of 1884–85. At Bismarck's invitation, representatives of European states, the USA and the Ottoman Empire are meeting there to discuss trade, territorial claims and the rules governing colonial expansion. African representatives are not involved. The Final Act becomes the basis for the subsequent partition of Africa into colonies.
Legation Councillor Strinetzky sits at the negotiating table on behalf of Austria-Hungary because the ambassador is unable to attend: Franz Liszt has dedicated a piano piece to him, which needs practising. Strinetzky himself has had substantial sums of money transferred to a fictitious expert named Dr Waldbach in order to finance his affair with an actress. When a real Waldbach turns up in Berlin, the fraud threatens to be exposed. Strinetzky must raise 5,000 guilders. To make matters worse, a Prussian officer challenges him to a duel in the Grunewald.
Burdened by these worries, Strinetzky wanders through the conference and, under pressure of all things, develops a talent for negotiation. His private panic unfolds in the polished language of diplomacy. The novel shows how responsibility can dissolve into procedure. Its humour draws attention to the banality with which history is made.
Following "Lichtspiel", Kehlmann once again chooses a historical setting in which an individual becomes part of a political catastrophe without grasping its scale. Daniel Kehlmann reads from "Afrika". The discussion centres on how literature transforms historical reality and makes the colonial past visible in the present.
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Sandra Kegel
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