LIVE! #79
5 April 2026
Agenda
- Why We're Here / Roundtable Rules
- Introduction to Literary Forensics
- Group Discussion
- Further Study
Why We're Here
We writers want to improve our craft
by reading like a writer
We learn from each other
using Literary Forensics
Roundtable Rules
Always refer back to the book
Practice active listening & serendipity
Every feeling and observation is valid...
but not every conclusion
Always refer back to the book
Reading Teaches Writing
Meet today's author: Daniel Kehlmann
- Kehlmann was born in Munich, West Germany, in 1975, the son of the television director Michael Kehlmann and the actress Dagmar Mettler, and he moved to his father's home town of Vienna when Daniel was six. His paternal grandparents were born Jewish, and his father was in a concentration camp during WWII.
- Since 2015, Kehlmann has held the Eberhard Berent Chair at New York University. He is a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung.
- In 2025 Kehlmann was named a New York Public Library Lion.
- The Director, published in 2023 as Lichtspiel, is Kehlmann's 14th novel. In addition he has written four plays, and his novels and short stories have been adapted into nine feature films.
- Kehlmann currently lives in Berlin with his wife; they have one son.
"I grew up on film sets."
—Daniel Kehlmann
"Novels are not written for easy answers, but they are
written for being troubling and disturbing, especially on moral questions."
—Daniel Kehlmann
"Writing always becomes more universal when it
becomes more specific."
—Daniel Kehlmann
What do you feel?
What in the book elicited that feeling?
Every feeling and observation is valid...
but every conclusion should be questioned
We practice serendipity
- nothing is too crazy
Always refer back to the book
What do you notice?
Writing The Director
- Kehlmann's paternal grandmother was Jewish; she had papers forged saying she was 1/2 Jewish—the illegitimate daughter of a non-Jewish caretaker. During WWII his grandfather lost his job and his father Michael Kehlmann was put in a Nazi concentration camp the last year of the war. Kehlmann's father went on to be an actor and film director, and related stories to Daniel about what it was like to be a schoolboy in Nazi Germany with fascist teachers and surveillance by neighbors. Schoolboys were encouraged to beat each other up, and teachers did not intervene.
- After deciding to write about Pabst, Kehlmann immersed himself in Pabst's films and writings. He feels that Pabst must have been contacted by the Nazis because "Red Pabst" knew he wouldn't be arrested if he returned home.
- Historical characters include: Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo, Joseph Goebbels (Minister of Propaganda). Thomas Mann and Herman Hesse were on the Nazis' no-read list, and Alfred Karrasch wrote the novel Die Sternengeige. Pabst did film Der Fall Molander during the Prague Uprising.
- Jakob was a fictional character the same age as Pabst's actual son, Peter, who went on to become a director himself.
- Kehlmann worked closely with Ross Benjamin, his award-winning translator, substantially revising the Shadow Play chapter.
Stats & Background
- Marketing: Historical World War II & Holocaust Fiction, World War II Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
- Genre: Historical Realistic Long-Form Archplot
- Print Pages: 352; Word count: 101,739
Reading Grade: 8th; Avg. wds/sent.: 11.95
Lexical Density: 45.66; Flesch Reading Ease: 74.84 - POV: Multiple; Person: 3rd & 1st; Tense: Past & Present
- Publish date: May 6, 2025
- Publisher: S&S/Summit Books
- Audio book length: (11 hours, 30 mins)
- Narrator: Nicholas Boulton
- Recognition: International Booker Prize longlist, NYTimes top 10 book of 2025, a NY Public Library best book of 2025, a Washington Post notable book, a Late Show with Stephen Colbert Book Club pick
