Читать книгу Streets of Berlin - The Reader Berlin - Страница 6

‘Holding a writing competition is a bit like going fishing in strange waters. You have no idea what’s out there, and that makes it exciting.’ So said Victoria Gosling, the founder of The Reader Berlin, when she approached us to judge The Reader’s Berlin Short Story Competition 2014. With the aim of discovering and rewarding emerging voices, the competition attracted a deluge of entries from countries all over the world, and as our deliberations progressed, it became clear that the catch was astoundingly diverse.

There were vignettes of a recognizably gentrifying Berlin; there were strange tales of freakish beauty; then came the historical, the futuristic, the ghastly, those that offered glances at Berlin’s many scenes, tales of outsiders looking in, and insiders looking out. The theme of Berlin sent writers on tangents that were wondrous to behold and testing to compare: a goldfish, a shark, and a mossy bicycle are all perfect in their own ways.

We were looking for distinctive voices and pieces that not only succeeded in avoiding obvious pitfalls, but were successful on their own terms, while staying true to the spirit of this city. We decided that we didn’t want a compromise solution; therefore, rather than awarding each story a number of points and seeing which one was the least offensive, each of us narrowed down our respective short lists to four favorites and prepared to slug it out.

But we all chose the same winning story. It was unanimous.

“Horst-Wessel-Stadt” by Will Studdert is a pitch-perfect evocation of wartime Berlin that draws on a fascinating facet of World War II history and goes for none of the easy or sentimental targets. With superbly written prose, a compelling voice, and a tone of escalating menace, the story – while ambitious – never tests credibility. It’s a sustained turn that never flags.

The nine finalists’ stories are also impressive, and we’re glad you’ve sought them out. These are writers whose work will create ripples.

FlorianDuijsens, Laura Hassan and Brittani Sonnenberg