âWhat interests me is the process of differentiation,â she says. âMy own experience of what East Germany was like is changed by every book I read. To me, itâs always interesting to look at what is happening on the periphery.â
Erpenbeckâs latest is neither a novel nor a memoir in the conventional sense, but made up of essays and speeches from 1999 to 2018, some of which have been previously published, others only delivered to small rooms at awards ceremonies. But through the bricolage of pieces covering literature, music and current affairs runs a thread: the belief that writers need to look to the margins to find stories that truly deserve to be told.