IN A WORLD OF WORLDS

Michael Martens in dialogue with Philipp Blom

IN A WORLD OF WORLDS
IVO ANDRIĆ. A EUROPEAN LIFE

In his book Im Brand der Welten, Michael Martens traces an extraordinary - European - life path based on the biography of Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andrić: Born in 1892, his childhood in Bosnia, the assassination in Sarajevo in 1914, the First World War, Andrić's studies of philosophy, history and Slavic studies in Vienna, Zagreb and Graz, his doctorate at the Karl-Franzens University in 1924, his time as an extraordinary envoy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Geneva and Berlin until 1941. After the internment of the staff of the Yugoslav embassy and consulates at Lake Constance from April to May 1941, Andrić preferred to return to Belgrade, where he retired from the diplomatic service and worked in seclusion on his great novels. In 1961, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature „for the epic power with which he moulds motifs and fates from the history of his country“.

Michael Martens, born in Hamburg in 1973, lived in St. Petersburg, Kiev and other Eastern European cities from 1995 to 2000. He has been a political correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung since 2002. He spent seven years in Belgrade, six in Istanbul and three in Athens. He has lived in Vienna since 2019. His book Im Brand der Welten. Ivo Andrić. A European Life was published by Zsolnay Verlag in August 2019.

Philipp Blom, author, historian and journalist, curates and moderates the event series Torn Years. In discussions with international guests, the „torn“ last hundred years will be analysed using specific topics as examples.

In co-operation with the Zsolnay Publishing House.