Between Quran and Kafka

Navid Kermani is a writer and Islamic scholar who lives in Cologne, Germany. He has received numerous accolades for his literary and academic work, including the 2015 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, Germany’s most prestigious cultural award.

• A Personal Note1. Don't Follow the Poets!The Quran and Poetry2. Revolt against GodAttar and Suffering3. World without GodShakespeare and Man4. Heroic WeaknessLessing and Terror5. God BreathingGoethe and Religion6. Filth of My SoulKleist and Love7. The Truth of TheatreThe Shiite Passion Play and Alienation8. Liberate Bayreuth!Wagner and Empathy9. Swimming in the AfternoonKafka and Germany10. The Purpose of LiteratureHedayat and Kafka11. For EuropeZweig and the Borders12. In Defence of the Glass Bead GameHesse and Decadence13. The Violence of CompassionArendt and Revolution14. Tilting at WindmillsMosebach and the Novel15. One God, One Wife, One CheeseGolshiri and Friendship16. Chant the Quran SinginglyNeuwirth and Literalist OrthodoxyAppendixOn the 65th Anniversary of the Promulgation of the German ConstitutionSpeech to the Bundestag, Berlin, May 23, 2014On Receiving the Peace Prize of the German Publishers' AssociationSpeech in St Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main, October 18, 2015About the TextIndex

"This engaging collection of essays by Kermani… examines topics ranging from 10th-century poetic convention to modern-day extremist attacks in an expertly crafted critique of the East-West paradigm that often dominates contemporary discussions of immigration, globalism, and the preservation of ethnic and national identities... [It] will be a worthwhile read for anyone who is interested in better understanding the intellectual ties that bridge a social and cultural division that is popularly conceived as being thousands of years wide."—Publisher's Weekly"The moral power behind Kermani’s extraordinary achievements is scarcely paralleled among all the great figures of German literature."—Süddeutsche Zeitung"Through his work Kermani shows us the challenges facing the critical mind today and what it can achieve."—Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"As one of its best-known intellectuals, Kermani represents the new Germany."—Der Spiegel"Kermani is living proof that, even in the generation after Walser and Habermas, the intellectual has not become obsolete as a public figure. He also attests to the source of this vitality, which comes both from education and from an active participation in the world that he observes."—Die Zeit"In the end, Kermani's exquisite book is marked by a refusal of the fundamentalist’s temptation to let Islam's dogma eclipse its aesthetic permeability, and a refusal to let taut entanglements slacken into cultural amnesia. Taken together, these essays give texture to the tapestry of affinities that weaves together the two poles of his heritage — and, perhaps, of ours."—LA Review of Books