News from Berlin

Joshua Cohen Visiting Germany

September 25th, 2014
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News from Berlin - Renowned writer Joshua Cohen, hailing from the United States, is visiting Germany at the moment as part of the efforts by the United States Embassy in Berlin to promote American culture and, more specifically, literature. The author from New Jersey is soon to be officially welcomed by the Bard College Berlin - a so-called Liberal Arts University, for a reading of his most recent story collection "Four New Messages". As the New York Times reported before, Joshua Cohen takes on the experiential properties of the 'online' modality, its textures and tautologies, its effects on language and thus on humans and meaning.

The book “Four News Messages” was named Best Book of 2012 by the New York Times. The four intense stories by Cohen explain how virtual reality is slowly beginning to colonize the real world. As such, the four stories harness the torrential power and verbal dexterity that have established Cohen as one of America's most brilliant younger writers.

It is not the first time Cohen is reading from his works in Berlin, since one reading already took place earlier this month at the English Theatre Berlin, in cooperation with the American Academy in Berlin, Schoffling & Co, as well as the American Embassy in Berlin. Jorg Thadeuz moderated the session, and for the interested public there will be another reading on September 30th from 19.30 at the Bard College Berlin Main Auditorium. As literature is a major part of culture, the public reading can be named an example of cultural diplomacy for the masses.

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