Mondays with WUWr #53
What’s new at the University of Wrocław Press?
In our series #MondayswithWUWr, we keep you up to date with the most important events, book news and issues important to the Publishing House! We also encourage you to follow the wuwr.eu website and the Publishing House’s social media – Fb, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Follow us to be up to date!
The First Novel from the University of Wrocław Press — Maurice z kurą in Polish Translation!
On 13 May, the Polish premiere of Matthias Zschokke’s Maurice z kurą will take place. This is the very first novel to be published by the University of Wrocław Press – and also the first of Zschokke’s novels to appear in Polish. The Press now has a remarkable opportunity to introduce one of the most intriguing contemporary German-language authors – a recipient of prestigious literary awards – to the Polish literary scene.
This is a story full of irony, humour, and melancholy – a reflection on solitude and the absurdities of existence, where the everyday mingles with the fantastical – all beautifully rendered in Ewa Szymani’s outstanding translation.
Maurice z kurą is a record of impressions from the life of Maurice, a character who defies definition. In his daily wanderings around Berlin – where Zschokke himself has lived for over thirty years – Maurice seeks warm, human connection, much like that seen in the painting of the same name by Albert Anker. In Anker’s painting, the artist’s ten-year-old son, Maurice, holds a hen with a calm that radiates from both the child and the animal.
The book is published under the patronage of Lubimyczytac.pl.
The novel is already available for pre-order!
Maurice doesn’t have a hen. He has an office in a run-down district, where he carries out mysterious business ventures with a casual air – but above all, he listens to the sound of a cello coming from the other side of the wall. Eventually, he sets out in search of it – though only in his imagination. He also frequents a favourite café with brusque staff, where he conducts a secret, uncontrolled, yet whimsically deep observation of human beings.
Maurice freely uses reality as a springboard into a world of unrestrained imagination, covering any topic he chooses – from the sarcastic to the idyllic to the erotic. Each of these imaginative excursions ends with a letter to a friend, describing the experience in detail.
Through his encounters with passers-by and everyday objects, we see both his disappointment and his awe at fleeting moments. Maurice longs to enjoy a cup of coffee in his Berlin neighbourhood, but knows that his dream is doomed – the area is being deserted, and the café will soon close. In this novel, rich in irony and the refined humour so appreciated by Polish readers, Zschokke offers the reader joy in every beautifully crafted sentence, leading us astray in the spirit of his aesthetic intent: to avoid doing what is simply possible.
Read more in our blog post.
Launch Event with Matthias Zschokke in Warsaw!
On 13 May at 6:00 p.m., the Goethe-Institut in Warsaw will host the first launch event with Matthias Zschokke. This is a unique opportunity to meet an author whose works have long captivated readers in France, Germany, and Italy – and who is now making his debut in Poland.
Upcoming events:
- Wrocław, 17 May, 5:30 p.m. (OP ENHEIM)
- Kraków, 18 May, 4:00 p.m. (Potocki Palace)
We warmly invite you to join us!
Date of publication: 5.05.2025
Added by: M.K.
