The Writing University website hosted an online chat with International Writing Program alum Thomas Pletzinger at 11:00 a.m. (CST) Friday, Mar. 26th, 2011. You can read more about Thomas Pletzinger at his website: www.thomaspletzinger.de, and find samples of his writing at the IWP website. Thomas Pletzinger (fiction writer, novelist, translator, editor; b. 1975 Germany) has worked and studied in Hamburg, Leipzig and New York. His stories and poems have appeared in magazines such as BELLAtriste, EDIT and sprachgebunden. The short story “Bruck on the Floor Sings as Quietly as Monk Plays” won him the 2006 MDR-Literature-Prize. A Dog’s Funeral is his first novel.
Live Discussion
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Nora, Iowa City: I understand that you are not just a novelist but also an academic Americanist. Can you talk about your interests and preferences in the American tradition?
Thomas Pletzinger: I was always interested in America since I grew up playing basketball like mad, twelve times a week. I was not really good enough to become a professional ballplayer. But America fascinated me for whatever reasons. After high school and civil service I went to the University of Hamburg and got my M.A. in American Studies - it took me years, though, since I was working for a publisher in New York for two years. I always was interested in American literature, but only after I started the oldest of Germany's three creative writing programs did I really chose to be a writer. Some of my favorite writers are Americans, I like some American TV shows very much, I watch the NCAA tournament these days, I know - for example - that the Dallas Mavericks lost to Portland last night. And that Obama bought books at Prairie Lights yesterday. All these American details.
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Kecia, Iowa City, IA: Hi Thomas -- Your Iowa City Public Library panel paper on the topic of "How I Write What I Write" discussed connections between writing and athletics, specifically running. I remembered your paper when seeing Haruki Murakami's book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Have you had a chance to read his take on the subject? (For the audience, Thomas' paper can be found here: http://iwp.uiowa.edu/archives/event-docs/pletzinger.finalforweb.pdf)
Thomas Pletzinger: Thank you, Kecia! I have read and liked Murakami's book. It makes sense to me, since I am runner myself. A few days ago, though, I talked to a poet who has never run in his life, never did any sports, never was interested in sports. And he found the connection between athletics and writing and thought deeply boring. He preferred drugs and theory, he said.
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Mike, Baltimore, MD: Mr. Pletzinger, I understand the publishing scene in Germany is quite different from that of the U.S.A. I'm particularly interested in learning more about the Frankfurt Book Fair. Is this a place where new German authors may find a publisher, or is it more of a book festival for its own sake?
Thomas Pletzinger: The Frankfurt fair is more of an international book business fair whereas the Leipzig book fair in spring is very reader-oriented (it just ended last week, lots and lots of readings there). There also is the amazing festival lit.Cologne in March each year. I think all these events are not useful for a writer to find a publisher - it is the opposite, I think. Better find an agent, publish in a magazine, find an ideal publisher - although there is no recipe on how to get published, I think.
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Charlotte, Iowa City: Thomas, can you speak about how your practice of athletics connects to your writing?
Thomas Pletzinger: I could talk about it better, if I was still running as much as I did in 2005 or 2006. I still do it, I still lift weights, I still play basketball, but I have to admit that I cut down a bit. I also feel a little more confident in my writing now than I did a few years ago - so these days I run in the evenings, more to relax than to find inspiration. Maybe this has to with the nature of my work as well: I am researching and planning for a novel right now, I am only writing short pieces and episodes for a television crime series right now. Once I get to work on the book, I will also get back to using sports as a tool for writing.
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Ryan, Denver CO: I haven't been to Iowa City in a while. How did you liked your visit to it. How was the International Writers program?
Thomas Pletzinger: It was great fun when I was there in 2006. I was the youngest and meeting all these experienced writers with all their books and stories was a great learning experience. Iowa City itself was good, too, I enjoyed it. I had read so much about it before, so many stories and legends, that it was great to see it for real. I liked it so much that the protagonist of my next book will be buying beer in John's supermarket from time to time.
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Kiki, Iowa City: Welcome back to the States (and to the Midwest), Thomas! Can you tell us about what you will be doing at Grinnell College this spring?
Thomas Pletzinger: Oh, Kiki, I forgot to mention this in my summary: there is a character named Kiki in the book - a really likeable person actually, a painter.
I will be teaching a class on contemporary German writing: It will be about the connection between life and text in writing. What do you make of the things that happen to you, that you see and hear and read once you sit down to write. There will be writing, too - half autobiography, half complete and wild invention.
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Marcos, Chicago, IL: Could you give us a brief synopsis of your latest novel and tell us what inspired you to write it?
Thomas Pletzinger: This is a difficult question, but I'll try: FUNERAL FOR A DOG is the story of Daniel Mandelkern, a 32-year-old journalist and anthropologist who is supposed to interview a famous children's book writer. He is currently fighting with his wife a lot (she wants children, he can't decide to). Mandelkern travels to Switzerland and Italy for this, and instead of staying for a quick two-hour interview, he ends up spending four days in the writer's ruined house by Lago di Lugano. With them is a beautiful Finnish woman, a three-legged dog and a three-year-old boy. Mandelkern slowly discover that there has been a love triangle - and one of the three is dead now. He is sucked deeper and deeper into the relationship between Tuuli and Svensson and the dog, he discovers an unfinished novel and reads it, he drinks and eats and lives with these people, he becomes a different person. And somehow he is abler to sort things out - at least I hope so.
My inspiration was not one particular event - more a collection of events that I wanted to write about: 9/11, Lago di Lugano, the death of a person, reversing roles of sexes (can you say that?), a murder in Brazil, a three-legged dog, a ruin I really liked, modern life of 30+ people, etc.
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Joe, Iowa City: About writing friendships/kinships: writing, as a solitary act, seems to often require a sounding board for authors. Whether its a friend, a fellow author, or a loved one. Do you in your process have a "go-to" sounding board as you draft your work? How do you view the process of writerly fellowship?
Thomas Pletzinger: I do not think that writing necessarily has to be a solitary act. I really like to talk about projects even before they are finished (even before I get started, actually). Here in Berlin I work with a couple of other writers (Sasa Stanisic, Tilman Rammstedt etc.) and translators and editors, we rent an old cigar store and sit there - writing, discussing, reading, editing. We call it "adler & söhne literatur", after the old typewriter company. Fellowship is important for me, I would not write without it, I guess.
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Diana, Rome: hi thomas! What was a problem that you came across (or that your translator came across) while translating your novel into english (that you expected, or one that you didn't expect?) tell us some translations stories, please.
are you (thomas as translator) working on any translation projects now?
iowa questions: when are you in iowa next? what is your favorite place to sit and do work in iowa city?
Thomas Pletzinger: Thanks! There were many problems as you can imagine, but we expected most of them and I enjoyed discussing things with him immensely. The last question we discussed was a word with a double meaning in German and we could not really decide which one to chose in English (you have two words). I guess that this usually is a translator's nightmare: the author speaks the language he is being translated to fairly well - and he can spot mistakes. Terrible. But we made the best of it and I learned a lot, too.
I have just finished a giant translation project - ALLES BRENNT by Gerald Stern. It is a collection of his poetry from 1972 to 2010 and I have worked almost seven years on this book. It was published last week, a big bilingual book (English and German), with great illustrations: http://www.timdinter.de/illustration/alles%20brennt/seite01.html
I will be in Iowa next week, teaching at Grinnell, but sitting in coffee houses in Iowa City from time to time.
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