Celebrated historical novelist Lion Feuchtwanger published an account of his internment and escape from Nazi-occupied France during World War II. The USC Libraries will soon release a new English-language edition of Feuchtwanger's The Devil in France: My Encounter with Him in the Summer of 1940 and make it available to all incoming USC students as part of their orientation materials. Not only has the memoir been out of print since 1941, but it features the first-ever English translation of Marta Feuchtwanger's account of her and her husband's harrowing escape from Europe. In conjunction, the libraries are organizing a series of events this fall with Visions and Voices.
In addition to the electronic edition, which will made be available through orientation materials and the USC Libraries Web site, printed copies of the book will be available at library locations across campus. Visions and Voices will present two events as part of the series, "Enemy Number One": Lion Feuchtwanger and the Literature of Exile. Contact Michaela Ullmann at ullmann@usc.edu or 213-740-8185 for more information. We'll provide updates in future posts as the books become available, and additional events are planned.
Panel Discussion
Wednesday, September 29, 12:00 p.m.
Friends of the USC Libraries Lecture Hall, 2nd floor
Doheny Memorial Library
In honor of Banned Books Week, join us for a panel discussion about censorship, political repression, and writing in exile with Feuchtwanger Fellow Christopher Mlalazi of Zimbabwe--a playwright under government surveillance for writing critically about the Mugabe regime--professors Michelle Gordon (English) and Wolf Gruner (History) of USC College; and Cornelius Schnauber, director of USC's Max Kade Institute. Marje Schuetze-Coburn of the USC Libraries will moderate.
Tour and Performance at Villa Aurora
Tuesday, October 26
Buses leave campus at 12:00 p.m. and return at 5:00 p.m.
RSVP required
Get an intimate look at Lion Feuchtwanger's life in exile by visiting his former home in Pacific Palisades, where he hosted figures like Charlie Chaplin, Thomas Mann, and Arnold Schoenberg. There, German emigres exchanged ideas about art and politics, read from works in progress, and debated their relationship to Southern California, the United States, and Europe. After a welcoming reception and tour, enjoy a reading of letters between Lion and his wife Marta Feuchtwanger from the 1930s and 1940s.