Search recent issues

Review info
• About us
• Subscriptions
• Advertising

Off the Cuff: Peter Stephan Jungk

	Peter Stephan Jungk

So, what exactly does a writer-in-residence do at Oberlin?
I’m not sure how it is in other departments, but in the German department I spend two hours a week teaching German to advanced fourth-year students, using my own books and also one by Peter Handke, who is an old friend of mine. It’s my first time teaching so it’s a new world for me. The rest of my time I get to spend working on my own projects. In the U.S. writers can teach at university to support themselves. In Europe, where they don’t believe creative writing can be taught it is much harder.

What are you working on now?
It’s a new novel which is still too early to discuss. I can, however, say that Oberlin played an important part in its creation. I’ve found it to be a very pleasant place to work. Small towns are very sane, which can be refreshing.

How have you found Oberlin students?
Well, at first I was surprised by how shy they are. After two months they’re starting to become a bit more comfortable. I was expecting much wilder youth. When I was studying we were completely impossible and now it is quite the opposite.

You were born in California, is this the first time you’ve lived here since you were growing up?
Yes, I’ve spent vacations here during the summer with my family, but this is the longest period of time. I would be a lot happier to be here if I wasn’t so sickened by the current administration, but since I’ve been here I’ve seen so many signs that things are changing that I’m optimistic.

You’ve spent quite a bit of time in Israel, and in fact your novel Shabbat is based on a year that you spent there. What are your views on the current situation?
I suffer tremendously but I have a very bad conscience that I haven’t gone since the beginning of the second intifada. There is no clear-cut answer, but I don’t only blame Israel for what has happened. I used to be very hopeful and I have stopped being that way. I know people who were founding fathers of the state who are not hoping anymore. There’s a lot of right and wrong on both sides and no light at the end of the tunnel.

As a German writer and a child of Holocaust survivors how do you feel about Germany’s plan to build a Holocaust memorial in Berlin?
Well I know all the German-speaking countries very well and they have all come to terms very convincingly with the exception of Austria. There has been such a surge of anti-Semitism in Austria in recent years. Germany has done everything they possibly could though, I don’t think a few plates in the ground is the right thing to build. I would have preferred a building where dialogue could happen. Germany has shown endless contrition though nothing will ever be enough for those who went through it.

Why do you think your family chose to move back to Europe from the U.S.?
I have often asked them this. I just think my parents missed Europe and they wanted me to grow up speaking German. They said they didn’t want me to grow up to be an American, but this still doesn’t explain why they chose Vienna. My father believed in reconciliation and trying to come to terms with what had happened. I still find it very strange.

How much of your personal experience comes through in your novels?
In [The Snowflake Constant] not very much. It is not very linked to my story at all though it deals with the question of homelessness. I chose to make the protagonist a mathematician because that was my weakest subject in school and I learned a lot about it.

The Perfect American is about Walt Disney, which is not linked to me except that I remember growing completely fascinated by the Disney films.

I’ve also done some nonfiction writing which has allowed me to explore all of German literary history.

Do you consider yourself a part of that tradition?
Yes. I also feel very close to the German writers who came out of Prague in this century, like Kafka and Brod.

What other subjects would you still like to explore?
My greatest wish for the second half of my life is that everything will remain a great curiosity. But where that will lead I can’t predict. I will wait to be surprised.

Interview conducted by news editor Josh Keating