Completely Kafka. A Book Presentation and Discussion with Nicholas Mahler and Alexander Booth
- Event type
- Round table discussion
- Address
- Austrian Cultural Forum, 28 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PQ
- Event dates
- Contact
- jane.lewin@sas.ac.uk 020 7862 8966
This literary evening features acclaimed Austrian comic artist and illustrator Nicolas Mahler, who presents his graphic biography Completely Kafka. Published by Suhrkamp Verlag and Pushkin Press (UK) to commemorate the Kafka centenary in 2024, Mahler’s sublime artistry offers a fresh perspective on the author. Known for his masterful minimalism, Nicolas Mahler delivers a witty and humorous portrayal of Kafka's life and work.
In this bilingual event, Mahler showcases selections from Completely Kafka in a presentation filled with images, offering insights into his artistic process and sharing anecdotes about Kafka. He is joined by translator Alexander Booth, who discusses the challenges and intricacies of translating Mahler’s work and sheds light on their collaborative process. The evening is chaired by Andrea Capovilla, Director of the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature & Culture, and concludes with a Q&A.
Komplett Kafka/Completely Kafka
Franz Kafka not only wrote prose, he was also passionate about drawing: at one time, he even said it satisfied him more than anything else. In this graphic biography, Nicolas Mahler echoes Kafka’s own minimalist drawing style in a unique and surprising approach to the writer’s life and work. Drawing extensively on Kafka’s fiction, letters and diaries, Completely Kafka shows us the major and minor details that informed his life, from struggles with self-doubt and writer’s block to a failed plan for a series of cheap travel guides. Full of fascinating detail and witty, absurdist illustrations, it is a delightful tribute to one of the world’s great writers.
Nicolas Mahler is an Austrian comic artist and illustrator. Born in Vienna in 1969, Mahler’s unique comic books capture the essence of their subject and provide an entertaining and inspiring way into these works. Among his adaptations are works by Robert Musil (The Man without Qualities), Thomas Bernhard (Old Masters), James Joyce (Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake), Lewis Carol (Alice in Sussex), and H.C. Artmann (Frankenstein in Sussex). Mahler’s latest publication is an exploration of the poet Friederike Mayröcker’s Larifari (September 2024).
Alexander Booth is an American poet and translator, who after many years in Rome now lives in Berlin. His translations include works by Friederike Mayröcker, Sandro Penna, Lutz Seiler and many more. His new translation of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was published by Penguin Classics in 2023. Alexander Booth has, in addition to Completely Kafka, translated Nicolas Mahler’s creative comic book tales Alice in Sussex, Ulysses and In Search of Lost Time. His poetry collection Triptych was published in 2021 and Kantor in 2023.
The event is organised jointly with the Austrian Cultural Forum, London. Attendance is free, but advance online registration essential.
Nicholas Mahler’s work is presented in a poster exhibition at Europe House, London SW1, co-organised by the Goethe Institute, the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Czech Centre, and Literaturhaus Stuttgart. The exhibition (entry free) runs until 30 September 2024. More information.
