Real is not real enough: script for an audio adaptation of the Californian exile diary by Günther Anders

This script is a (to varying degrees) “free” adaptation of the English translation of Günther Anders’ diary “Der Leichenwäscher der Geschichte” published in Modernism / modernity in February 2021. It was created in the context of a recording with the actor Edgar Eckert and was specifically prepared for a native German speaker reading the text in English. This adaptation was inspired and guided by Anders’ own writings and his extensive reflections on language, style, and sound. Three main principles guided this work:

1) We sought to spell out some of the feelings implicit in the diary and bring them into a form that would communicate these clearly and directly to the listener.

2) We sought to preserve and dramatize the struggle with language – “the experience of living a stammering life” – that Anders comments on extensively in “The Émigré” and in other texts. For this reason, we have at times retained German language elements and selected vocabulary suitable to either introduce or remove linguistic friction.

3) We sought to excavate and further develop the humorous elements of the text, and it is here that we at times deviate the strongest from the original translation.

These core principles underpin our reworking of the text, which at times shortened and often simplified some of the prose to achieve a linguistic performance with a “comfortably different” feel that readings with Helen Wolfenden and rehearsals with Edgar Eckert helped develop. The recording of this script and further information about the project can be found on the Real is not Real Enough website hosted by the Goethe Institute.