Nice first sentences: reading with Susanne Schulz in Neustrelitz!

Nice first sentences: reading with Susanne Schulz in Neustrelitz!

On July 2, 2025, a very special reading takes place in Neustrelitz. Under the title "The most beautiful first sentences ... and what comes afterwards", journalist Susanne Schulz invites you to the antiquarian bookshop at the city harbor. It starts at 7 p.m., and all literary enthusiasts are welcome to attend this entertaining literary foray. Schulz, who organizes the event, will deal with the most impressive initial sets of literature, such as the famous first set of Günter Grass: "Ilsebill salted." These first sentences not only have a high recognition value, but also draw the readers into the stories and make you curious about what is coming.

The importance of such first sentences also has Peter-André Alt, a renowned Germanist and former president of the Free University of Berlin, in his new book "Someone had to slander Josef K. ...-First sentences in world literature and what they betray us". Alt, who also wrote fascinating biographies about sizes such as Franz Kafka, Friedrich Schiller and Sigmund Freud, emphasizes that the first sentence often decides whether a reader continues to leaf through or lose interest. In his work, he analyzes 249 such sentences that have shaped literary history. Examples from his collection range from Kafka's enigmatic question in the "process" to Goethe's known sentence, "The spectacle lasted very long", which makes it clear how diverse the beginnings can be designed and what role they play when entering the story.

A look at the development

The development of the first sentences in the literature is an exciting topic that traces old back to ancient times. Epic narrator originally searched for the support of the gods, which gave their stories a special weighting. Over the centuries, however, stronger and more sophisticated beginnings arose that allowed the authors to experiment with their readers. Old categorizes these beginnings according to different criteria, such as whether they start with a description of the location or the introduction of a person.

But not only literary sizes deal with the beginning. The project sentence tomato also illuminates the fascination of first sentences by automatically tweeting sentences from the German -language literature. These first sentences are often the best known and have been continuously examined to understand their function and what they reveal about the action.

invitation to the meeting

If you feel inspired, you should paint the 2nd July red in the calendar and visit the Anustrelitz antiquarian bookshop. Here is not only laughed and amazed, but also proved a good knack for the love of literature. Because in the end it is the first sentence to open the journey into the book and bring us closer to the world of stories. Be there and let yourself be inspired by the most beautiful literary beginnings!

It is pointed out that the information about the event was examined by the editorial team. Information can be found in the nordkurier, the [Deutschlandfunk Kultur] (https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/peter-andre-alt-UBEBER-AN-WELT LITERATUR-DER-DE-DE-DE-DE-DER-TML) the already mentioned sentenceomat.