Fabula Literary Evening – Ljubljana:
Jonas Lüscher

Jonas Lüscher is one of the most prominent contemporary Swiss-German writers and essayists. Renowned for his intellectual reflection, social commentary, and literary virtuosity, Lüscher’s work sits at the intersection of literature, philosophy, and science, exploring fundamental questions of the modern world.

The evening will focus on his recent novel Verzauberte Vorbestimmung (Enchanted Predestination, 2025), a literary-essayistic masterpiece. Composed of five seemingly independent yet deeply interconnected chapters, the book traces the relationships between humans, technology, biology, and history. Its narrator travels across time and space – from World War I to futuristic visions of the 21st century, from concentration camps to Egyptian androids contemplating immortality – raising questions of free will, responsibility, and ethics in a world increasingly shaped by technological, biological, and economic determinism.

Exploring Lüscher’s distinctive blend of novel, essay, and philosophical reflection, the talk will examine how literature today can foster critical thinking, ethical reflection, and humanism. 

The talk will be moderated by Tanja Petrič, with selected readings by Peter Alojz Marn. The event will be held in German with simultaneous translation into Slovenian.

Probing the boundaries between fate and choice, between humans and systems through the prism of literature, the event will engage with questions essential to understanding our time.