Deutsches Haus at NYU presents a reading by the author Judith Keller, currently writer-in-residence at Deutsches Haus at NYU, from her new book "The Questionable Ones," (Seagull Books, forthcoming in a translation by Tess Lewis in February 2023), followed by a conversation with the writer and translator Tess Lewis. In The Questionable Ones, Judith Keller offers a collection of lively snapshots of life in Zurich that reveal the extraordinary lurking inside the ordinary and the ordinary at the core of the extraordinary.
About “The Questionable Ones:” With quirky humor and wry insight, Swiss author Judith Keller’s micro-fictions unravel the fabric of daily life. She delves into the aporia of language by taking idiomatic expressions literally, unpacking the multiple meanings of words, and confounding expectations. Seven Zurich tram stops provide the framework for these familiar yet absurd portraits of passers-by, fellow passengers on the tram, the unemployed and the overemployed, the innocent and the suspicious, young mothers and confused elderly. The reader is taken on a journey through the city and offered glimpses of people going more or less successfully about their lives. These deceptively banal glimpses, however, show us more than we expect—they turn the lens back on us, puncture our complacency and ask, ‘Who are you to judge?’