Surely someone who writes about tinnitus with a vividness nothing short of bloodcurdling must be bothered by it himself, at least occasionally. Not at all, answers Ukrainian author Yuri Andruchovich, who portrays the agonising ringing in one’s ears in precise detail and powerful language in his superb new novel »Radio Nacht«. So it’s probably a good idea to be careful about attributing other things to the author that Andruchovich invents in this masterpiece with its complex structure and ribald, sometimes racy language.
In his »Elbphilharmonie Talk«, Andruchovichtalks about some of the motifs and characters in »Radio Nacht«, about what inspired him to write the book, and about his fabulous German translator Sabine Stöhr, about whom he says: »If I’m a genius, she is congenial«. How did Yuri Andruchovich, who was born in 1960 and grew up in the then Soviet Republic of the Ukraine, get to know the music of all the 60s and 70s bands that plays such an important role in this book, alongside more recent music? After all, this was the music of the class enemy during his youth. And has he managed to do what he set out to in his new novel? (»I’ve always dreamt of writing a novel with a sound,« he is quoted as saying on the cover of »Radio Nacht«.)
Conversation with Tom R. Schulz, September 2022
How important is music to him nowadays? Very. But Andruchovich also explains when and why he stopped listening to music while writing, a fairly recent decision. And he gives an idea of what kind of musical and literary performance people can look forward to when he appears together with the Polish band Karbido in the Elbphilharmonie Recital Hall on 11 September 2022 as part of the »Harbour Front Sounds« literature festival.
