All guests of the European Literature Days from 2009 to 2014.

[ book tip by Literatur Schweiz ] All of the characters in Lukas Bärfuss' play "The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents" want to do what is best for mentally handicapped Dora. All but one, that is. But it is sometimes hard to know "what is best". And the best of intentions are often the hardest to put into practice. In the words of the author, this play is, among other things "about people who think liberally and act oppressively".

For years Dora has been given medication to keep her calm.  So calm that not only has she stopped throwing fits and screaming, she hardly ever laughs anymore and no longer has her own opinion on anything.  Taken off the drugs at the request of her mother, the young woman surfaces from her state of apathy.  However, the returning feelings also awaken a sexuality which is difficult to control.  It soon becomes clear that the same rules do not apply to everyone. Self-determination and a right to individual happiness are all well and good, but in the end societal norms take precedence. Dora definitively crosses the line of what is considered acceptable and responsible by wanting to have a baby. After an abortion, the young woman is sterilised against her will.

Created for Basel Theatre in 2003, Bärfuss' text deals with the taboo issues of disabled sex, involuntary medication and forced sterilisation in a subtle and non-judgemental way by placing the issue in a socio-political context. The play launched Bärfuss as an internationally renowned author.

(Alexandra von Arx, transl. by Anna Mason Willfratt)

[ Favourite quote ] «Don't go for more than two at once, and don't change partners more than a week.»

[ book info ] Bärfuss, Lukas: The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents. . (original language: German) Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern. Nick Hern Books, London, 2008 (2005). ISBN: 978-1-85459-579-9.
Translated from german by Nick Blackadder