Arnon Grunberg

Canapé

Identity

Yesterday I was in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, for the Kellendonk - reading.
I had to give the lecture at the medical faculty because the auditorium at the language department turned out to be too small.
The lecture hall was fit to show 450 students or more body parts in various degrees of dissolution.
I spoke for 55 minutes about identity, paranoia and irony and afterwards there was white and red wine, orange juice and canapés.
The organizer of the reading, a man in his early fifties, seemed to enjoy the reception and the dinner that came after the canapés tremendously.
And I have to admit: all together it was less stiff than I expected.