Teresa Reichl:

“I can’t and won’t cancel Goethe”

Author Teresa Reichl

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

Teresa Reichl is on a mission to make the canon of German-language literature more inclusive, diverse and easier to understand. Have Goethe and Schiller had their day? And can literature really be cool?

You can call it courageous or even presumptuous what Teresa Reichl, a 29-year-old German studies graduate from Bavaria, has already set out to do with her first book "Muss ich das gelesen haben?": To dust off, question and expand the canon - from a decidedly queer-feminist perspective and in everyday language. I wonder if that didn't draw the ire of many old, white literature professors? "Because the book is by a woman, I'm on the cover and it's pink, they didn't even read it," says Reichl when the Krone met her after a reading at the Graz Literaturhaus.

Teresa Reichl's book "But Make it Classy"

(Bild: Carlsen Verlag)

That the prince from Lessing's "Emilia Galotti" is an "asshole" and that "Faust" is quite sexist - Reichl works her way through the big names. In interviews, people have often tried to put the word "cancel" in her mouth: "But I don't want to cancel Goethe. I can't," says the cabaret artist. "You can simply acknowledge that these works are a product of their time and therefore naturally misogynistic and racist. That doesn't mean they can't be masterpieces, it just means they should be talked about."

My favorite compliment is: 'My teacher recommended you, but you're really cool.' Then I've done it.

Teresa Reichl

Whole classes read her books
German teachers, says Reichl, not only use excerpts from her book, but even read it as class reading. "I think that's really crazy." In this respect, the move to a book for pupils was logical: in the thin volume "But Make it Classy!" (Carlsen, 11 euros), the author provides an overview of the most important perennial favorites in the school canon - from Gryphius to E.T.A. Hoffmann. "There are always three works per era - two classics and a selection of mine." So next to Friedrich Schiller is Luise Adelgunde Victorie Gottsched and next to Joseph von Eichendorff is Bettina von Arnim. "There have always been women who write."

And Reichl is successful: something is happening in the canon. With publishers such as Reclam, who are collecting "classic women" in a series, or on stages such as the Schauspielhaus Graz, where deliberately forgotten women are being played. "It's catching on," says Reichl - a second part of the book is to follow.