The moderators in Göttingen had urged me to read from chapter four from the first part of my novel “Our Uncle” – “Mitgenommen” in German. Tonight I heeded their advice.
This chapter made some people in the audience uncomfortable, but the laughter was redeeming. And it was good to read a chapter that I hadn’t read already four times in five days.
I enjoyed the audience in Schleswig immensely.
I was especially intrigued by the treasurer of the literary society that had organized this reading; a beautiful woman in her early sixties who smoked heavily and who touched me tenderly while paying out my fee.