Judith Schalansky: Marble, Mercury, Fog - Reading and discussion with Jutta Person in the series "Kompass: 8 Visions"

In the beginning there is not a white sheet, but a white block: 17 tons of solid marble. Judith Schalansky follows this monster, sighted on a ferry off the island of Thassos, on a trail into quarries and sculpture studios, through the dark, often violent history of material extraction and world appropriation. A workshop at the Guadalajara School of Art, on the other hand, turns into a daring, mercurial performance as an apologist for book culture. And a long-ago ascent of the fog-shrouded Brocken is condensed into an encyclopaedia of opacity.
The multi-award-winning author and editor of the wonderful "Naturkunden" (Matthes & Seitz) talks to literary critic Jutta Person about her three expeditions (Suhrkamp, 2026). About the conditions of living and writing on our endangered planet, the substance of world concepts and enlightenment in the unknown.
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Photo: © Jürgen Bauer/Suhrkamp Verlag

Supported as part of the Literatursommer 2026 - A series of events by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, www.literatursommer.de

Date: 05.05.2026, 19:30
Venue: Literaturhaus Freiburg, Bertoldstraße 17
Admission: 11/7 euros

Reading and discussion
Literaturhaus