Out of Joint

The literary festival within steirischer herbst

6.10.–9.10.

Out of Joint: This is the title of a new literary festival being planned by the Literaturhaus Graz in conjunction with steirischer herbst, to take place over the next three years, addressing themes of mutual interest. The title of the series was chosen at the end of last year, at a time when no one could have suspected just how much the world would indeed be thrown off course this year. We are not prophets but were thinking merely of Hamlet, whose title character says in two famous verses:

The time is out of joint; O cursed spite!
That ever I was born to set it right!

Who is this man who presumes to set things right all by himself? A prince of Denmark whose view of the world is only a pipe dream? Or is there a perfidious strategy behind his supposed madness, a plan for bringing the truth to light?

Literature is nourished by this ambivalence. Does it set the scene for a fictional state of emergency, or is it merely mirroring what already exists on the outside? How does the literary intervene in the political? Who is influencing and seeing through whom? We originally set out to deal with questions such as these. Then came the coronavirus. That’s why this year’s program looks like it does. Parts of it will also be streamed live on Paranoia TV.

(To be continued.)


Literaturhaus Graz
Elisabethstraße 30, 8010 Graz  ♿
www.literaturhaus-graz.at

Tickets: 12/8 Euro per day (at box office only)

Tickets can be reserved at the latest by 16:00 on the day of the event at www.literaturhaus-graz.at.

Concept: Klaus Kastberger, Ekaterina Degot