Alexandre Lecoultre: Peter and so on - Jerome Day with Ruth Gantert

How do you translate a title that reads "Peter and so on" in French into German? How do you translate a text in which the French narrative language is interwoven with German and Swiss German as well as Italian, Spanish and Romanian?

Ruth Ganttert's elegant translation of Alexandre Lecoultre's multi-award-winning debut novel (Der gesunde Menschenversand, 2024) provides intriguing answers, which are the starting point for this evening on International Translation Day. At the same time, with 50 years of the "ch series", we are celebrating the intercultural exchange of literature between the four Swiss language regions and the idea of reading to get to know each other. Which brings us back to Lecoultre's fascinating prose and his main character Peter: For the writer he is Peterli, for the Italian workers Pietro Santo Felice, for the Spanish grocers Pedro or Pedrito, for the Romanian street musicians Petru ... Isabelle Vonlanthen, Deputy Director of the Literaturhaus Zürich and member of the "ch Reihe", talks to the author and translator.
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Photos: Alexandre Lecoultre © Marco Zanoni, Ruth Gantert © Yvonne Böhler

Supported by the ch Foundation

Date: 2.10.2024, 19:30
Venue: Literaturhaus, Bertoldstrasse 17
Admission: 11/7 euros

Reading and discussion
Literaturhaus