Share

How well-versed are you in Greek mythology? Are you familiar with the characters of goddesses and gods? And who actually rode the Trojan horse? The operetta The Beautiful Helen offers a little insight here: Helen was supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world in her time (around 1250 BC). Aphrodite, who had won the beauty contest with Athena and Hera, had promised Helen to the judge Paris as a prize. At the time of the contest, however, Helen was not free; she was married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The prize could therefore only be fulfilled by kidnapping Helen, which is ultimately seen as the trigger for the Trojan War.

Viola is separated from her brother Sebastian in a shipwreck and comes ashore in Illyria. Here she decides to go to work for Duke Orsino under the name Cesario, disguised as a page. The Duke likes the young nobleman and sends him as a messenger to Olivia, whom he adores. Viola, who has fallen in love with the Duke, suffers from these errands. To her delight, Olivia rejects Orsino's advances, as she has sworn to mourn her deceased brother for seven years - but then falls in love with the supposed youth Cesario.

Three women - grandmother, daughter and granddaughter - are sitting together at dinner in a cozy apartment in a European city. They talk about their shopping, the upcoming weekend trip and the school work of the youngest, as if they had always lived here. But they only moved into this house a few months ago, where they are known as the Ukrainian "refugees". They describe themselves more as "temporarily displaced persons". It seems almost inconceivable that the three of them stormed out of the house under a bomb alert or were stuck in a traffic jam at the gates of Europe, on their way to an uncertain future.

Felix Krull sees the world as a stage and wants to enjoy life to the fullest. He grew up in a small town in the Rheingau. His father was an unsuccessful sparkling wine manufacturer who drove the family into ruin and then took his own life. Felix - the lucky one - sets out into the wide world to escape poverty. Through his godfather Schimmelpreester, he finds a job in a luxury hotel in Paris. There he is very good at saying what people want to hear. He is what he seems. He is authentic by deceiving and an expert at marketing himself. A projection figure for all desires.

Bastian Balthasar Bux is a completely normal boy, or at least that's what he always thought... until one day his whole life changed. Teased and laughed at by his classmates, he takes refuge after school in Karl Konrad Koreander's antiquarian bookshop. There he discovers a mysterious book entitled The Neverending Story , which immediately captivates him. As he begins to read, reality around him seems to blur and he is immersed in the magical realm of Phantásien, which is threatened by "Nothingness". There he learns about the Childlike Empress, who is terminally ill, about the heroic Atreyu, and about Auryn, the symbol of power and wisdom. He also learns that all of Phantásien's hope rests on the shoulders of the young warrior Atreyu, who is to search for a human child. The further he reads, the more Bastian seems to become a part of the story. Is he the one Atreyu is looking for and who holds the fate of this magical world in his hands? That can't be true, he of all people is supposed to be a hero?

Anyone who has an eagle for a father dreams of flying. The young Duke of Reichstadt, nicknamed "L'Aiglon" ("the young eagle"), is the only legitimate male descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte and wants to follow in his famous father's footsteps and make history himself. Encouraged by war veteran Flambeau, he wants to escape the golden cage in Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, where Austrian Chancellor Metternich is keeping him imprisoned: Napoleon's son with Marie-Louise of Austria wants to regain control of France. But the young bird's wings break when he sets foot on a battlefield for the first time in his life and hears the ghostly voices of the fallen. He begins to understand what the reality of war really means.

The emotionally torn Roderick Usher is the last branch of a degenerate noble family and is at the centre of this dark story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story is initially a dialogue between Roderick Usher and the first-person narrator William, who finds his friend in a worryingly absent-minded state on his country estate. Roderick's twin sister also lives in the house. But for William, her presence is like a ghostly suspicion - especially when Roderick declares her dead. This huge, demonic house, which seems to be tearing apart in the middle, seems to have a malicious power over the souls that live in it. What family history is inscribed in the house?

"Light gives us the ability to perceive others and thus ourselves. Like in a pinhole camera, the new impressions fall on our retina and condition our actions. The information that reaches us passes unfiltered from the outside to the inside. There it changes due to our predispositions. The same events can therefore elicit very contradictory reactions in different people." (Philippe Kratz)

When Colm and his wife Bonnie return to his father's hometown, an island off West Cork, Ireland, for the first time in many years, everything seems different at first: His mother Beiv, a famous visual artist who lives a secluded life on the island, has demolished half of the house and decided to only install glass walls in order to deliberately put herself on display. People in the village are talking anyway. Since the mysterious death of her husband, who died at sea ten years ago, she has been accused of murder and is constantly under surveillance. And her son's visit holds a few surprises for Beiv too. Colm has kept his wedding to art student Bonnie a secret from her and otherwise seems to have no interest in a harmonious reunion. Old wounds are quickly reopened. The sudden appearance of his old childhood friend Donal finally causes the situation to escalate. The past draws everyone into a whirlpool of old and new injuries, accusations of guilt and unrequited love.

Even as a child, Eddy Bellegueule felt that he would find it difficult to live up to the expectations of those around him. His world is a small village in Picardy in northern France, and his upbringing in a working-class family is marked by poverty, violence, and social exclusion. Eddy's behavior, which is perceived as feminine, makes him an outsider long before he can discover his own homosexuality, and the constant rejection of his fellow human beings and lack of acceptance from his family weigh heavily on him. Despite the adverse circumstances, Eddy looks for ways to escape his surroundings and find his own identity. Édouard Louis' autofictional debut novel tells the story of escaping an oppressive childhood with ruthlessness and sociological precision.