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Kairos 2021
Kairos is a novel written by German author Jenny Erpenbeck and published in 2021. The book was awarded Germany’s Uwe Johnson Prize in 2022. An English translation by Michael Hofmann appeared in the United States through New Directions and in the United Kingdom via Granta Books. That version was nominated for the U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2023 and went on to win the International Booker Prize in 2024.
The story follows a relationship between a young student and an older writer, exploring how their emotional dynamic becomes increasingly strained and destructive. The setting of this tale is the fall of the GDR, and the lovers come to symbolize the collapse of idealism in East Germany. Eleanor Wachtel, who chaired the judges for the 2024 International Booker Prize, described the novel as unfolding through vivid language, showing intimate moments in the lives of two people navigating a passionate yet troubled connection. The narrative remains grounded in the daily spaces of East Berlin—apartments, cafés, city streets, workplaces and meals—while reflecting larger historical shifts. Wachtel emphasized that the book is not only about love but also about power, art, and culture, with the personal story mirroring the broader political collapse.
In an interview with the Booker Prizes website, Erpenbeck explained that her novel deals with both a personal relationship and the wider breakdown of a political system. She said: “It’s a private story of a big love and its decay, but it's also a story of the dissolution of a whole political system. Simply put: How can something that seems right in the beginning turn into something wrong?”
Jenny Erpenbeck became the first German writer to win the International Booker Prize, an award shared between the author and translator of the best fiction translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. Michael Hofmann was the first male translator to receive this honor.
Crew
- Translator
- Michael Hofmann
Details
- Publisher
- Penguin Verlag
