Juli Zeh

'We all need authors like you who, with the strength of their personality and the power of their expression, fight against the nonsense that threatens to swamp the world' Burkhard Spinnen in a laudation for Juli Zeh (*1974). She is perceived as a politically committed author who gets involved in public debates. With 'Unterleuten', Juli Zeh has presented a much-acclaimed social novel: a bestseller that was adapted for film as a three-part series on ZDF. Zeh is also often honoured; in 2018 she received the Federal Cross of Merit. But critics and literary scholars are also sceptical of the studied writer and doctor of law whose topics and plot constructions are at the forefront of her narrative texts. The author develops complex theorems of physics ('Reed'), for example, in the genre of the detective novel. Apocalyptic scenarios are found throughout: as a diagnosis of the times ('Spieltrieb') or a foreshadowing (as in 'Corpus Delicti' and 'Leere Herzen'). The final images and turning points of her narratives or grotesque plays offer predominantly surreal, exaggerated excesses (such as 'New Year'), which strikingly and surprisingly counteract the previous, 'realistic' psychologisations of her characters. This volume aims to do justice to Juli Zeh's special, indeed unique status and therefore brings together essays on individual works, but also on overarching issues as well as overall interpretations of her publications to date.