Die Wissbegierde der Zukunft

Thanks to his debut novel Barbarian Spring, Jonas Lüscher is among the most successful German-speaking writers. He delves into timely topics with masterly linguistic eloquence.

His most recent novel “Enchanted Predestination” (Verzauberte Vorbestimmung) is based on Lüscher’s personal experiences with a serious coronavirus illness. Lüscher’s first-person narrator is also in an artificial coma. After his recovery, he travels across Europe and in the process discovers the history of capitalism. During his investigations, the curse and blessing of science accompany the techno-sceptic whose life was saved by modern science. He intertwines stories about a soldier caught in gas attacks during the First World War, a Bohemian weaver during the time of the Industrial Revolution, who is replaced by the automated loom, or about an android in Cairo of the future. The constant question in the background is about the relationship of man and machines. What do we, the people of capitalism, dream of? And do machines also dream as they increasingly rise against us?

*** BIOGRAPHIE ***

Jonas Lüscher
b. 1976. Author and essayist. He has received numerous accolades, including the Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize 2025, the Swiss Book Prize, the Max Frisch Prize and the Franz Hessel Prize. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages. Recently published: Verzauberte Vorbestimmung, Carl Hanser Verlag 2025.