Book reading: ‘The Ghosts of Berlin’ come to the city

German author speaks about her book at Annemarie Schimmel Haus.

LAHORE:

The lights in the hall were dimmed and the hum of the mic increased. German writer Sarah Khan was preparing to read an excerpt from her latest book Die Gespenster von Berlin (The Ghosts of Berlin) at the Annemarie Schimmel Haus of the German cultural institute on Tuesday.

Khan, born in Berlin to a Pakistani father and a German mother, is visiting Pakistan to write about Pakistani art.

She started living with her father, a carpet dealer from Lahore, in Hamburg after her parents separated.

She has studied German folklore and literature. She has three novels to her credit, published between 1999 and 2004 and a collection of short stories in 2009. For her latest book, she took to the streets of Berlin to record firsthand accounts people who have had experiences with ghosts.

During Tuesday’s reading, Khan read an excerpt from her short stories translated in English. Of the 14 stories in the book, she chose one that she was personally fascinated by: the story of a young woman with ‘supernatural’ abilities who could summon ghosts using an empty glass, a bottle of red wine and a candle placed on a makeshift Ouija board.

Khan thumped the table and changed her voice to represent characters as she read out the excerpts.

The woman’s many interactions with ghosts, trapped in the upside-down glass and dreams with messages, finally lead her to the ghost of a stasi in the German Democratic Republic.

Khan said she had collected the 14 stories by meeting 20 people in Berlin. Some she met at a park where her children played and others through friends and family. It took her a year to compile the stories.

The first edition of 5,000 books has sold out. The second edition will be out soon with three more stories.

About the Urdu language, Khan said from what she had heard, she found the language “rich and soft”. She regretted not having learnt the language but said she wasn’t brought up in an environment where Urdu was spoken at home.

Khan flew back to Germany on Wednesday but promised to return soon with her new book.

Nadia Riaz, the host institute’s director in Lahore, said the institute focused on promoting German culture in Pakistan and literature was an important part. For Riaz, she said, it was refreshing to see that more youth was taking interest in exploring cultures of the world, especially German. “It’s good to have Germans here to talk to locals one-to-one and exchange ideas. They bring some with them and take some along.”

Notes on Pakistan

In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, she talks about Pakistani art and artists, how the city has changed since her last visit and her book.

Khan is a fan of traditional Pakistani art, the country’s “genuine art identity”. She said the “rampant” traces of inspiration from European art were a “shock” for her. She said she had not expected to see the kind of influence European and, in some cases, American art has had on young Pakistani artists.

“Pakistan has a rich culture and art. Young artists must focus on exploring that rather than copying art which does not exist in their history. This causes [viewers to detach] from an artist’s work because they cannot relate to it.” She said artists needed to understand that European and American art traditions were completely different from those of the South Asian region, especially Pakistan and India.

“In an attempt to be like someone they cannot be, they mess up.”

Commenting on her experience in Lahore this time as compared to her previous visits – one each in the 1970s, 1980s and the 1990s – she said that swarming traffic had destroyed the city’s beauty.

About Pakistanis, she noted, “People here like to talk a lot. They are constantly talking.”

“People here are not aware that there is a ‘Pakistan’ in every country,” said Khan. “There is one Pakistan in the world, but many Pakistani worlds outside it. I grew up in one such world and now I want to write about it.” That is the inspiration for her new book, which will be about the Pakistani Diasporas in Germany and the UK.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2013.