Spitze Feder, zarte Hand

The Freddy Derwahl Reading Book presents literary excerpts alongside journalistic texts, poetry inspired by Georg Trakl or Rainer Maria Rilke next to landscape descriptions from the Eifel or the Ardennes. However, the disorder of genres and themes, as well as the chronological randomness—texts from five decades are included—ultimately remain superficial. All the included texts are held together and built upon by the biography of Freddy Derwahl, more precisely by two red threads that weave through his life and literature: on one hand, his unwavering Catholic faith, especially the mysticism of monasticism, and on the other hand, his strong connection to his East Belgian homeland, the German-speaking community, and its people. Thus, we encounter in the included portraits some contentious figures from East Belgium, but also the murdered and now beatified Trappist monks from the Notre-Dame de l’Atlas monastery in Tibhirine, Algeria, the hermits of Mount Athos, or the prominent German priest Anselm Grün, whose biography Derwahl has written. The Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll also frequently speaks, having supported Derwahl's literary career through his first novel, The Noon Demon, and remaining a central anchor point. Due to his sharp pen, Freddy Derwahl has sometimes faced hostility over the decades, never shying away from journalistic confrontations. His delicate touch, however, is particularly evident in the poems he has increasingly dedicated himself to in recent times.