Events Calendar

"Enemy Number One": Lion Feuchtwanger and the Literature of Exile

The USC Libraries are home to the papers and library of historical novelist Lion Feuchtwanger, who escaped his native Germany after Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933. Because he was an outspoken critic of the Nazi Party, the Nazis ordered his books burned and declared him “Enemy Number One.” The libraries recently published a new edition of Feuchtwanger’s The Devil in France, a memoir of his internment and escape from Nazi-occupied France. He wrote movingly about the political situation in Europe and his experiences as an exiled writer. He later escaped to Los Angeles, where Theodor Adorno, Bertolt Brecht, Fritz Lang, Thomas Mann and other German émigré artists and intellectuals gathered during World War II. Feuchtwanger’s story illuminates the struggles faced by artists who speak truth to power and endure exile from their native countries.

In conjunction with this new publication and in honor of Banned Books Week, join us for a panel discussion on censorship, repression and writing in exile with Feuchtwanger Fellow Christopher Mlalazi, a Zimbabwean playwright and poet who was placed under government surveillance for writing critically about the Mugabe regime; Michelle Gordon, professor of English at USC; Wolf Gruner, professor of history at USC; and Cornelius Schnauber, director of USC’s Max Kade Institute. Following the panel, visit USC’s Feuchtwanger Memorial Library and see an exhibition of rare photos and other materials related to German exiles in Los Angeles.

Admission is free.
Refreshments will be served.

Related Event:

Tour and Performance at Villa Aurora
Tuesday, October 26, 12 to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/113/event/873329

Organized by Marje Schuetze-Coburn (USC Libraries) and Michaela Ullmann (USC Libraries).

For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.edu

Location: Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library (DML) - Friends Lecture Hall, Room 240

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Daria Yudacufski