Sylvia Sasse (Universität Zürich): Probleme mit der Wirklichkeit. Dokumentarliteratur und Dokumentartheater vor Gericht

Venue: Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Eberhard-Lämmert-Saal, entrance Meierottostr. 8, 10719 Berlin

Organized by Nicolas Berg (DI), Barbara Picht (ZfL)

Contact: Barbara Picht

Opening lecture of the workshop Dokumentarische Evidenz – Zu einem besonderen Genre sprachlicher und praxeologischer Vergangenheitserkenntnis organized by Lab 1.1 “Language, Performance and Lifeworlds” at the Leibniz Research Alliance Value of the Past

Quoting or creating documents in literary texts has repeatedly resulted in lawsuits. In 2023 in Russia, Svetlana Petričuk and Evgenia (Zhenya) Berkovich were charged with “justifying terrorism.” In 1992 in Belarus, Svetlana Alexievich was accused of “slander” in her book Boys in Zinc. And in 1972 in the FRG, author Christian Friedrich Delius and his publisher also faced charges of “slander” for Delius’ documentary satire Unsere Siemenswelt [Our Siemens World]. These three court cases, which were all more or less politically motivated, demonstrate how documentary literature challenges judicial and literary categories in court, resulting, at least in two cases, in surprising verdicts. In her lecture, Sylvia Sasse recaps the debates in court. Not only do these debates illustrate the topicality of documentary literature across different political systems, but also the limits and the political instrumentalization of literary and judicial analysis.

To attend via Zoom, please register here.

Sylvia Sasse is a professor for Slavic literary studies at the University of Zurich.

Publications (selection):

Subversive Affirmation. Kritik der Kritik revisited. Zurich, Berlin: diaphanes 2024
Verkehrungen ins Gegenteil. Über Subversion als Machttechnik. Berlin: Matthes & Seitz 2023
Ed.: Kommunismus autobiographisch. Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos 2022 (with Anne Krier and Tatjana Hofmann)
Ed.: Artists & Agents. Performancekunst und Geheimdienste. Leipzig: Spector Books 2019 (with Kata Krasznahorkai)
Wortsünden. Beichten und Gestehen in der russischen Literatur. Munich: Fink 2009
Texte in Aktion. Sprech- und Sprachakte im Moskauer Konzeptualismus. Munich: Fink 2003