Das Buch, where he will present the last book in his trilogy of “small cultural histories”, to be published this year by Archa-Verlag. For Dutli, gold is “a symbol of splendour and greed, between deification and demonisation, ennoblement and revulsion, elevation and damnation.” The author portrays gold as the cause of wars but also as fuel for the imagination: “Gold shines in myths and fairy tales, while the treasure trove of proverbs in many cultures is sparkling with gold, as well”, he writes. He quotes from the wealth of examples in the German vernacular, but also in poetry from antiquity to the present: the last quarter of the book contains poems on this subject.
The discussion about this controversial metal will also include the translator of the trilogy, Magdalena Štulcová, and will be moderated by translator and literary editor Jitka Nešporová.
The reading and subsequent discussion with the author will take place in German and Czech with live interpretation.
