When she began her masterpiece The Handmaid’s Tale in 1984, Margaret Atwood was living in West Berlin, just a stone’s throw away from the Wall to East Berlin, with its omnipresent secret police. The world behind the Iron Curtain clearly influenced her famous future dystopia, in which she set as a rule that she would not include any horrors that humans had not already done in some other place or time in history.
On the other side of the Wall, author Jenny Erpenbeck grew up in the east, the German Democratic Republic (DDR), experiencing the country’s zenith as well as its disintegration and the victorious capitalist West just a few years later. In her award winning body of work, Erpenbeck has gone on to explore the complex history of Germany and greater Europe, where ordinary citizens become hostages to the grand ideas and ruptures of the times.
Both Atwood and Erpenbeck are concerned with totalitarianism, with history and how it informs the present and the future, with our fragile normality, and how quickly it can turn into brutality. While they write lyrical and innovative fiction - incorporating mythology, literature and philosophy - the links to the world around us, either past, present or futures we are headed towards, are always there.
Margaret Atwood has published more than 70 books of poetry, short story collections, novels, children’s books, and essay collections. Stories like The Handmaid’s Tale and the MaddAddam trilogy have made her a name across the world, and a number of her books have been adapted to film, TV, opera and ballet, and, like Erpenbeck, she is regularly mentioned as a favorite for the Nobel prize in literature.
Jenny Erpenbeck is the author of a number of critically acclaimed and award winning novels, short story collections, plays and essays. Her latest novel, Kairos, won the 2024 International Booker Prize.
Now, these two exceptional authors meet for the first time on stage, for a conversation about history and society, memory and hope for the future. The conversation is moderated by Helge Jordheim, professor of cultural history at the University of Oslo.
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For the sake of the art, there is a requirement to use the cloakroom. Therefore, we kindly ask you to hang your outerwear there. It is also not allowed to bring food and drinks into the Aula.
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About the University Aula
The University Aula, the traditional ceremonial hall of the University of Oslo, has been hosting art and cultural experiences for over 100 years, and some of our best performers still grace its stage. The program at the Aula also includes lectures, literary conversations, and "Open Aula" events. Here, you can explore the 11 original Munch paintings that decorates the hall. The Aula is located on University Square in the city centre of Oslo, where three beautiful old buildings are situated, with Domus Media in the middle. The Aula is located inside this building.
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