The literary quartet

Television broadcast
Original title	The literary quartet
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Year (s)	1988–2001, 2005, 2006, since 2015
Production ; company	ZDF and ORF (1988–2001) , ; ZDF (2005, 2006) ; Doc.station media production (2015–2016) ; Group 5 film production (since 2017)
length	(1988–2001): 75 minutes ; (2005, 2006): 60 minutes ; (since 2015): 45 to 60 minutes
Episodes	87+ (+4 special programs )
genre	Talk show
Theme music	9th String Quartet by Beethoven (1988–2006) ; Henrik Schwarz (since 2015)
Director	Rolf Buschmann
production	Alexander Hesse
First broadcast	March 25, 1988 on ZDF
occupation
	Marcel Reich-Ranicki (1988-2001, 2005, 2006) ; Hellmuth Karasek (1988-2001, 2005, 2006) ; Sigrid Löffler (1988-2000) ; Jürgen Busche (1988–1989) ; Klara Obermüller (1989) ; Iris Radisch (2000-2001, 2005, 2006) ; Maxim Biller (2015-2016) ; Volker Weidermann (2015-2019) ; Christine Westermann (2015-2019) ; Thea Dorn (since 2017) ; changing guest (since 1990) ;

The literary quartet is a literary program of the Second German Television . Originally conceived by Dieter Schwarzenau and Johannes Willms , it was broadcast from March 25, 1988 - initially as part of the cultural magazine Aspects - until December 14, 2001. As part of the program, a quartet of four literary critics discussed current book publications. Regular participants were Marcel Reich-Ranicki , Hellmuth Karasek and Sigrid Löffler and, for shorter periods of time, Jürgen Busche , Klara Obermüller and Iris Radisch . There were a total of 70 guests and 385 book titles were discussed.

Since October 2, 2015, the show has been continued with Volker Weidermann and Christine Westermann (until December 2019) as well as with Maxim Biller (until December 2016) and Thea Dorn (since March 2017) and a changing guest critic. Thea Dorn has been the host of the Literary Quartet since March 2020 and receives three guests at a time.

Original format

The literary quartet initially consisted of Marcel Reich-Ranicki , Hellmuth Karasek , Sigrid Löffler and Jürgen Busche . The latter left the quartet after six episodes and found a replacement in Klara Obermüller , from 1990 the fourth participant switched to every show.

Marcel Reich-Ranicki (2009)
Hellmuth Karasek (2008)
Sigrid Löffler (2009)

After the broadcast in June 2000, Sigrid Löffler announced that she would be leaving the series after her Reich-Ranicki had accused Haruki Murakami of always complaining about the review of romance novels when reviewing the book Dangerous Beloved by Haruki Murakami . she sees love as something "indecent indecent". Even in the broadcast, Löffler rejected this as a “personal insinuation”, although she had previously accused Reich-Ranicki of having “delighted” in the erotic scenes in the novel. Her successor was the Zeit editor Iris Radisch .

The basic concept of the program including the title melody (finale of Beethoven's Rasumowsky Quartet op. 59 No. 3) came from Reich-Ranicki. He ended the program with the Brecht quote “And so we look concerned / The curtain and all questions open”, a modification of “We are disappointed and look concerned / Close the curtain and all questions open” (from Der gute Man of Sezuan ). The show lived largely from the speeches made by Reich-Ranicki, who also caused laughter in the audience due to his sometimes choleric manner and his often devastating reviews . In a study, Miriam Kuhl determined that Reich-Ranicki had 50% speaking time, Löffler received 30%, Karasek 20% and the respective guest only 10%. After leaving, Sigrid Löffler wrote in her magazine Literaturen : “In the case of Reich-Ranicki, television, as the vanity machine of his existence, was happiness and unhappiness. It popularized and damaged the critic Reich-Ranicki unheard of at the same time. Today he is more prominent than most of the authors and books he speaks about. "

In contrast to conventional literary magazines, instead of the most objective information possible , the literary quartet presented primarily the reading experiences of the critics and this in a strongly apodictic form. The different opinions and a controversial discussion, mostly dominated by Reich-Ranicki, made the show's particular appeal. Reich-Ranicki attached particular importance to clarity and clarity in the criticism: “We will talk about books as we always speak: lovingly and a little mean, kind and perhaps a little malicious, but in any case very clearly and distinctly. Because clarity is the politeness of the critic, the critic. "In doing so, he accepted the simplifications and superficiality of the literary analyzes with approval:" Does the 'Quartet' have proper analyzes of literary works? No never. Is this simplified? Constantly. Is the result superficial? It's actually very superficial. ”The show was awarded the Bavarian Television Prize in 1991 for its innovative concept of communicating literature . Reich-Ranicki received the Bambi Culture Prize for the presentation of the show in 1989 .

According to various sources, the literary quartet was seen by an average of 700,000 to 900,000 viewers. Individual programs reached up to 1.5 million viewers. The presentation of a book on the show often led to a large increase in sales, regardless of whether it was discussed well or badly. A controversial discussion actually turned out to be particularly promotional. The comparison of the initial circulation and copies sold one month after the television broadcast shows a massive increase in sales for Javier Marías ' Mein Herz so Weiß (5,000 to 115,000 copies), Viktor Klemperer's diaries from 1933 to 1945 (10,000 to 96,000 copies) and Louis Begley's Lies in Times of War (8,600 to 44,000 copies).

New edition

The literary quartet at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019

Since October 2, 2015, the ZDF has resumed the broadcast. The roundtables are recorded six times a year, shortly before the broadcast, live on tape in the mirror foyer of the Berliner Ensemble and broadcast on Fridays at 11 p.m. The quartet of critics consisted of Volker Weidermann , Christine Westermann (until December 2019) and Thea Dorn (since March 2017) as well as a changing guest critic. Maxim Biller was part of the quartet from 2015 to December 2016 . According to ZDF, the production costs around 80,000 euros. On October 23, 2019, ZDF announced that Volker Weidermann would leave the show at the end of the year after four years. Weidermann wanted to concentrate again on writing, working as a literary critic at Spiegel and as a book author. On October 25, 2019, the broadcaster announced that Christine Westermann would also be leaving the program. The last edition with this line-up was broadcast on December 6, 2019 with guest Matthias Brandt .

Volker Weidermann
Christine Westermann
Thea Dorn

Since March 2020 the literary quartet has been moderated by Thea Dorn, who invites three changing guests each time. Instead of the classic “critics' group”, a new “social salon” is to take place every month with three public figures with an affinity for literature.

Similar literary programs

The television format The Literary Quartet found several imitators. Among the better known include the Literature Club of the SRF and the worth reading quartet of SWR television in which Ijoma Mangold , Felicitas von Lovenberg (until 2017), then Insa Wilke , and Denis Scheck discuss four times a year with a literary critic guest for 60 minutes about new releases . This broadcast is recorded in Mainz .

Episode list

Original format (1988-2001)

episode	date	Sending location	guest	Discussed books
01	March 25, 1988	Hamburg		Discussion on the influence of the 1968 movement on literature Andrzej Szczypiorski : The beautiful woman Seidenman Bohumil Hrabal : I served the English king Ulla Hahn : Unheard of closeness (read the poem "Do you feel")
02	3rd June 1988	Hamburg		Umberto Eco : the name of the rose Werner Mittenzwei : The Life of Bertolt Brecht Hans Peter Duerr : Nudity and Shame
03	September 30, 1988	Hamburg		Günter Grass : Show your tongue Martin Walser : Hunt Christoph Ransmayr : The last world
04th	December 16, 1988	Hamburg		Discussion about publishing and the literary business in general
05	March 10, 1989	Munich		Evaluation of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and appreciation of the late writers Thomas Bernhard and Hermann Burger Elfriede Jelinek : Lust Kenneth S. Lynn: Hemingway. A biography.
06th	June 16, 1989	Munich		Anna Seghers : The Seventh Cross Arnold Zweig : The ax from Wandsbek Klaus Mann : Mephisto
07th	October 12, 1989	Salzburg		Friedrich Dürrenmatt : Tangled Valley Manfred Bieler : Quiet like the night Peter Handke : An experiment on tiredness Botho Strauss : Fragments of indistinctness Vladimir Nabokov : Lolita and Collected Stories Hilde Spiel : The bright and the dark times
08th	November 30, 1989	Salzburg		Discussion on the current situation in GDR literature Thomas Hürlimann : The garden house Peter von Matt : betrayal of love Thomas Mann : Diaries 1946–1948 Irene Dische : Pious lies
09	February 12, 1990	Berlin	Jurek Becker	Umberto Eco : The Foucault Pendulum Sten Nadolny : Selim or The Gift of Speech Discussion on the situation and behavior of GDR writers before and after the fall of the Wall
10	May 14, 1990	Berlin	Rolf Hochhuth	Discussion on Engaged Literature Arthur Schnitzler : Diaries 1893–1902 Marquis de Sade : The philosophy in the boudoir and Justine John Updike : Jump!
11	October 1, 1990	Munich	Carola Stern	Ludwig Harig : Woe to those who step out of line Peter Handke: Experiment via the jukebox Bodo Kirchhoff : Infanta Johannes Mario Simmel : In spring the lark sings for the last time
12	December 10, 1990	Austrian National Library , Vienna	Monika Marron	Milan Kundera : Immortality Hanif Kureishi : The Buddha from the suburbs Gert Hofmann : The cinema narrator Josef Winkler : Graveyard of bitter oranges
13	February 18, 1991	Berlin	Peter Wapnewski	Nadine Gordimer : The story of my son Harold Brodkey : innocence David Grossman : keyword: love Primo Levi : the lost and the saved Bobbie Ann Mason : love life
14th	May 6, 1991	Gut Altenhof near Eckernförde	Peter Demetz	Max Frisch : Homo Faber Saul Bellow : A theft Klaus Mann : Diaries Friedrich Christian Delius : The pears by Ribbeck Wolfgang Hilbig : Old covering shop
15th	July 18, 1991	Mainz	Ulrich Greiner	Undine Gruenter : Night blind Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt : The isolation Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Detective novels Wjatscheslaw Pjezuch : The new Moscow philosophy Jakob Arjouni : One man, one murder
16	October 10, 1991	Frankfurt am Main	Peter of Matt	Martin Walser : Defending Childhood Hermann Kant : Credits Tilman Spengler : Lenin's brain Cees Nooteboom : The following story Peter Handke: Attempt about the successful day
17th	December 9, 1991	Café Central , Vienna	Karin Kathrein	Ralf Rothmann : Taurus Richard Ellmann : Oscar Wilde György Konrád : Melinda and Dragoman Monika Maron : Silent Line Six Wolf Biermann : All songs
18th	March 5, 1992	Dusseldorf	Werner Fuld	Günter de Bruyn : Interim balance Wolf Wondratschek : One from the street Philip Roth : My life as a son Paul Auster : The music of chance Brigitte Kronauer : Schnurrer
19th	May 28, 1992	Bonn	Annette Meyhöfer	Günter Grass : Prophecies of doom Ingeborg Harms : Hard drive Joyce Carol Oates : The rendezvous Graham Greene : Orient Express Michael Frayn : How does she do it?
20th	August 13, 1992	Salzburg	Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler	Jurek Becker : Amanda heartless Heiner Müller : War without battle Urs Widmer : The blue siphon Italo Calvino : Where spiders build their nests Günther Anders : The Molussian catacomb
21st	October 8, 1992	Mainz	Henryk M. Broder	Heinrich Böll : The angel was silent Peter Schneider : Pairings John Updike: Rabbit at rest Amos Oz : The third state Nicholson Baker : Vox
22nd	November 19, 1992	Munich	Iris Radisch	Herta Müller : Back then, the fox was already the hunter Julian Barnes : The porcupine Libuše Moníková : Drift ice Christoph Geiser : The prison of desires Robert Schneider : Sleeping brother
23	January 14, 1993	Bonn	Barbara Sichtermann	Mikhail Bulgakov : The White Guard David Lodge : Latest Paradise News Ruth Klüger : Live on. A youth W. G. Sebald : The emigrants Claude Simon : Georgica
24	March 18, 1993	Mainz	Helmut Koopmann	Gabriel Garcia Márquez : Twelve Stories from a Foreign Country Susan Sontag : The lover of the volcano Philip Roth: Deception Jeanette Winterson : Written on the body Wolfgang Hilbig: Grünes Grünes Grab
25th	May 13, 1993	Mainz	Joachim Kaiser	AS Byatt : Obsessed Gerhard Köpf : Papa's suitcase Scott Bradfield : The story of the shining movement Jean Rouaud : The fields of honor Christoph Hein : The Napoleon game
26th	August 15, 1993	Salzburg	Johannes Willms	Harry Mulisch : The Discovery of Heaven Cees Nooteboom: Rituals Horst Stern : Klint T.C. Boyle : Welcome to Wellville Martin Walser: Without each other
27	October 21, 1993	Frankfurt am Main	Ruth Klüger	VS Naipaul : The riddle of arrival Michael Ondaatje : The English patient Wolfgang Hilbig: Me Norbert Gstrein : O2 Novelle Vladimir Nabokov: The gift
28	December 12, 1993	Salzburg	Jürgen Kolbe	Margriet de Moor : First gray, then white, then blue Irene Dische: A strange feeling Aleksandar Tišma : The school of godlessness Ágota Kristóf : The third lie Toni Morrison : Jazz
29	February 24, 1994	Mainz	Peter of Matt	Walter Kempowski : The echo sounder Alfred Döblin : Berlin Alexanderplatz Georg Hensel : Lucky Thomas Mann: Diaries 1951–1952 Philip Roth: Operation Shylock
30th	March 31, 1994	Mainz	Verena Auffermann	Zbigniew Herbert : Still life with curb Peter Høeg : Miss Smilla's sense of snow Fyodor Dostoyevsky : Crime and punishment William H. Gass : Order of the insects Leon de Winter : Hoffman's Hunger
31	May 26, 1994	Leipzig	Friedrich Dieckmann	François Weyergans : The boxer madness Gert Hofmann: The little Stechardin Richard Ford : Damned luck Richard Ford: The womanizer Per Olov Enquist : Captain Nemo's library Andrei Bitow : Man in landscape
32	August 25, 1994	Salzburg	Eckart Kleßmann	Isaak Babel : The cavalry army Botho Strauss : Living, Twilight, Lies Louis Begley : Lies in Times of War Klaus Modick : The Grand Piano Paul Auster: Leviathan
33	September 22, 1994	Mainz	Eva Demski	Gabriel Garcia Marquez: About love and other demons Margriet de Moor: The virtuoso Vladimir Nabokov: Pnin Brigitte Kronauer: The handkerchief Lars Gustafsson : The thing with the dog
34	December 15, 1994	Schönbrunn Palace , Vienna	Norbert Miller	Joseph Roth : Job Peter Handke: My year in no man's bay Imre Kertész and Péter Esterházy : A story Cormac McCarthy : Out in the dark António Lobo Antunes : The passions of the soul
35	February 23, 1995	augsburg	Jochen Hieber	Josef Haslinger : Opera Ball Radek Knapp : Franio Robert Menasse : Thrust reversal Knut Hamsun : Mysteries Sibylle Mulot : Neighbors
36	April 20, 1995	Mainz	Roger Willemsen	Susanna Tamaro : Go where your heart takes you Cathleen Schine : Rameau's niece Nadine Gordimer : Nobody who goes with me Aleksandar Tisma: The book Blam Erich Hackl : Sara and Simón
37	July 6, 1995	Mainz	Joachim Kaiser	Rick Moody : The Ice Storm Marcel Beyer : Flying foxes Jorge Semprún : Writing or living Ivan Klima : Waiting for darkness, waiting for light Helga Schütz : On the shine of the Elbe
38	August 24, 1995	Salzburg	Karl Corino	Günter Grass: A broad field Theodor Fontane : Irrungen Confusions Antonio Tabucchi : Explains Pereira Dietrich Schwanitz : The Jonathan Lynn Campus : Mayday
39	October 19, 1995	Literaturhaus Frankfurt , Frankfurt am Main	Elke Schmitter	Christoph Ransmayr : Kitahara disease Peter Høeg: The plan of the abolition of the dark Albert Camus : The first man Robert Bober : What's new from the war? Ingo Schulze : 33 moments of happiness
40	December 14, 1995	Palais Harrach , Vienna	Josef Haslinger	Luigi Malerba : The naked masks Bernhard Schlink : The reader Victor Klemperer : I want to bear witness to the last Thomas Mann: Diaries 1953–1955 Richard Ford: Independence Day
41	February 22, 1996	Mainz	Peter Glotz	Alan Isler : The Prince of West End Avenue Monika Maron: Animal Triste Hanna Krall : Proof of Existence Paul Auster: Mr. Vertigo John Updike: Brazil
42	April 26, 1996	House of the Goethe Institute , Prague	Peter Demetz	Martin Walser: Fink's war Zoé Valdés : The Daily Nothingness Salman Rushdie : The Moors Last Sigh Leon de Winter: Serenade Jaroslav Hasek : The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schwejk
43	June 13, 1996	Mainz	Hajo Steinert	Marlene Streeruwitz : Seductions Javier Marias : My heart knows that Imre Kertész: Novel of a fateless person Fleur Jaeggy : The blissful years of punishment Mario Vargas Llosa : Death in the Andes
44	August 16, 1996	Salzburg	Ruth Klüger	Günter de Bruyn: Forty years Ludwig Harig : Who howls with the wolves António Lobo Antunes: The natural order of things Hugo Claus : Belladonna Heimito von Doderer : The waterfalls of Slunj
45	October 18, 1996	Reading room of the university library , Tübingen	Gert Ueding	Frank McCourt : My mother's ashes Philip Roth: Sabbaths Theater Madeleine Bourdouxhe : Gilles' wife Markus Werner : Mainland Martin Amis : Information
46	December 15, 1996	University of Graz , Graz	Klaus Amann	Michael Roes : Rub'al-Kahli. Empty Quarter Ilija Trojanow : The world is big and salvation lurks everywhere John Banville : Athena TC Boyle: América William Gaddis : Last instance
47	February 28, 1997	Literaturhaus Hamburg , Hamburg	Hubert Winkels	Jan Philipp Reemtsma : In the basement John Updike: The man who switched to soprano Ulrike Kolb : A novel without a hero Michail Bulgakow : The master and Margarita Graham Swift : Last round
48	April 25, 1997	Römer , Frankfurt am Main	Dieter Borchmeyer	Peter Handke: I went out of my quiet house on a dark night Botho Strauss: The mistakes of the copyist Maarten 't Hart : The rage of the whole world Stewart O'Nan : Angels in the snow Pat Barker : No man's land
49	June 13, 1997	Mainz	Kerstin Hensel	Christoph Ransmayr: The way to Surabaya Klaus Böldl : Study in Crystal Formation Gabriel Garcia Márquez: Hundred Years of Solitude Liana Millu : The Smoke Over Birkenau Claude Ponti : The Great Silence Under the Snow
50	August 14, 1997	Salzburg	Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler	Arundhati Roy : The God of Little Things António Lobo Antunes: The Handbook of the Inquisitors Tomek Tryzna : Miss Nobody Michael Köhlmeier : Kalypso Péter Nádas : Minotauros
51	October 10, 1997	Albertina , Vienna	Klara Obermüller	John Banville : The Untouchable Aleksandar Tisma: Kapo Gianluigi Melega : From the progressive transgressions of Major Aebi Virginia Woolf : Mrs. Dalloway Friedrich Christian Delius: America house and the dance around women
52	December 11, 1997	Mainz	Paul Ingendaay	Birgit Vanderbeke : Alberta welcomes a lover Alfred Kerr : Where is Berlin? William Trevor : The children of Dynmouth Anton Chekhov : Three little novels Louis Begley: Schmidt
53	February 6, 1998	Mainz	Peter of Matt	Javier Marias : Tomorrow in battle, think of me Christoph Hein : From the very beginning Eduard von Keyserling : Waves Matthias Politycki : Women's novel Gregor von Rezzori : On the trail of me
54	April 24, 1998	Literary Colloquium Berlin , Berlin	Jochen Hieber	Brigitte Reimann : Everything tastes like goodbye Ingo Schulze: Simple Stories Karl August Böttiger : Literary Conditions and Contemporaries Henry James : Washington Square Josef Škvorecký : A great season
55	June 5, 1998	Weimar	Peter Hamm	Rafael Chirbes : The Long March Hans-Ulrich Treichel : The lost Emine Sevgi Özdamar : The bridge from the Golden Horn Joseph Conrad : Lord Jim Stewart O'Nan : The Speed Queen
56	August 14, 1998	Salzburg	Andreas Isenschmid	Martin Walser: A jumping fountain Paul Kornfeld : Blanche or The Atelier in the Garden Philip Roth: American Idyll Thomas Hürlimann : The Big Cat Julien Green : Midnight
57	October 30, 1998	Vienna	Andrea Koehler	Judith Hermann : summer house, later Emilie and Theodor Fontane : The exchange of marriage letters Ralf Rothmann : Flee, my friend! Kathrin Schmidt : The Gunnar Lennefsen Expedition Ruth Schweikert : Close your eyes
58	December 11, 1998	Mainz	Ingeborg Harms	Don DeLillo : Underworld Louis Begley: Mistler's Farewell Milan Kundera : The Identity Nick Hornby : About a Boy Petra Morsbach : Opera novel
59	March 5, 1999	Mainz	Hans Christoph book	Christoph Peters : City Land River Monika Maron: Pawels Letters Aleksandar Tisma: Loyalty and Treason Thomas Bernhard : Extinction Cees Nooteboom: All Souls
60	April 23, 1999	Munich	Thomas Steinfeld	Vladimir Nabokov: Ada or The Desire Michel Houellebecq : Expansion of the combat zone Viktor Pelewin : Buddha's little finger Rafael Chirbes: The beautiful writing Stephan Wackwitz : The truth about Sancho Panza
61	June 18, 1999	Dortmund	Eva Demski	Sigrid Damm : Christiane and Goethe Erri De Luca : The Sea of Memory Ernst Weiss : The poor spendthrift Hanna Krall : There is no more river James Salter : Dawn
62	August 13, 1999	Salzburg	Konstanze Fliedl	Günter Grass: My century Antonio Lobo Antunes: Instructions to the crocodiles Birgit Vanderbeke: I see what you can't see Marguerite Yourcenar : I tamed the she-wolf Arthur Schnitzler: play at dawn
63	August 26, 1999	Salzburg		Extra edition for the 250th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
64	October 29, 1999	Vienna City Hall , Vienna	Ulrich Greiner	Toni Morrison: Paradise Sándor Márai : Die Gert Gert Single : Retaliation Imre Kertész: Fiasco Arnold Stadler : A gorgeous scrap dealer
65	December 10, 1999	Mainz	Verena Auffermann	Michel Houellebecq: Elementary Particles Gilbert Adair : Blind band Thomas Lehr : Nabokov's cat Peter Stamm : Black ice Dragan Velikic : Dante Square
66	February 25, 2000	Gutenberg Pavilion, Mainz	Jürgen Busche	Bernhard Schlink : love escapes John Maxwell Coetzee : Shame Hans-Ulrich Treichel : Tristan chord Manuel Rivas : The carpenter's pencil Margriet de Moor : The appointment
67	April 14, 2000	Mainz	Uwe Wittstock	Elke Schmitter : Mrs. Sartoris Ford Madox Ford : The saddest story Maxim Biller : The daughter Michael Schindhelm : Robert's journey Raymond Carver : Would you please be quiet, please
68	June 30, 2000	Expo , Hanover	Mathias Schreiber	Christoph Hein : Willenbrock Haruki Murakami : Dangerous lover Paula Fox : What remains in the end Susanne Riedel : Cain's daughters Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio : A place far from the world
69	August 18, 2000	Salzburg	Elke Heidenreich	Urs Widmer: The mother's lover Zeruya Shalev: love life Michael Kumpfmüller : Hampel's escapes Julia Franck : Belly landing Jean Echenoz : I'm going now
70	October 27, 2000	Vienna	Ursula March	Elfriede Jelinek : Greed Olga Tokarczuk : Ur and other times Magdalena Tulli : In red Brigitte Kronauer : Teufelsbrück Lorrie Moore : What one cannot say about some people
71	December 15, 2000		Tilman Spengler	Julien Green : Adrienne Mesurat Rafael Chirbes : The Fall of Madrid Andreas Maier : Wäldchestag Jörg Steiner : Who likes to dance to Shostakovich? Dieter Wellershoff : The wish for love
72	March 2, 2001	Cologne	Elke Schmitter	Sebastian Haffner : Story of a German Tim Parks : Fate Peter Härtling : Hoffmann or diverse love Haruki Murakami : Naoko's smile Adolf Muschg : Sutter's luck
73	May 4, 2001	Literaturhaus Hamburg, Hamburg	Antje Kunstmann	Per Olov Enquist : The Personal Doctor's Visit Ivan Bunin : Love and other misfortunes Milan Kundera : The ignorance Patrick Roth : The night of the timeless Don DeLillo : Body Time
74	June 22, 2001		Michael Kruger	Zeruya Shalev: husband and wife Martin Kessel : Mr. Brecher's fiasco Guy de Maupassant : Strong as death Georg Klein : Barbarian Rosa Alistair MacLeod : Land of Trees
75	August 17, 2001		Robert Schindel	Thomas Hürlimann : Miss Stark Wilhelm Genazino : An umbrella for this day Sven Regener : Mr. Lehmann Robert Menasse : The Expulsion from Hell Peter Stamm : Approximate landscape
76	October 19, 2001	Vienna	Josef Haslinger	Ulla Hahn : The hidden word Bodo Kirchhoff : Parlando Josef Winkler : Natura morta Bernhard Schlink : Self-murder Rainer Merkel : The year of miracles
77	December 14, 2001	Bellevue Palace , Berlin	Jürgen Busche	Durs Grünbein : The first year Ralf Rothmann : A winter under Hirschen Margit Schreiner : House, women, sex Christoph Peters : Come and go, sometimes stay Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : The sufferings of young Werther

Special programs (2005, 2006)

episode	date	Sending location	guest	Discussed books
0S1	April 29, 2005	Wiesbaden	Elke Heidenreich	Special broadcast on the 200th anniversary of Friedrich Schiller's death Don Karlos , Wallenstein , The Robbers , Cabal and Love
0S2	August 17, 2005	Travemünde	Robert Gernhardt	Special broadcast on the 50th anniversary of Thomas Mann's death Tristan , Death in Venice , Mario and the Magician , Tonio Kröger
0S3	February 3, 2006	Hamburg	Monika Marron	Special broadcast on the 150th anniversary of Heinrich Heine's death
0S4	August 11, 2006	Wiesbaden	Peter Rühmkorf	Special broadcast on the 50th anniversary of Bertolt Brecht's death

New edition (2015-2019)

episode	date	Sending location	guest	Discussed books
01	October 2nd, 2015	Berliner Ensemble , Berlin	July toe	Péter Gárdos : Fever in the morning Karl Ove Knausgård : Dreaming Chigozie Obioma : The dark river Ilija Trojanow : Power and resistance
02	November 6, 2015	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Ursula March	Tilmann Lahme : The Manns - Story of a Family Verena Lueken : Everything counts Boris Viktorovich Savinkov : The pale horse Zeruya Shalev : pain
03	December 11, 2015	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Daniel Cohn-Bendit	Durs Grünbein : The years in the zoo Jane Gardam : An impeccable man Bov Bjerg : Auerhaus Martin Amis : Area of interest
04th	February 26, 2016	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Eva Menasse (without Christine Westermann )	Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre : Panikherz Antonia Baum : Tony Soprano does not die Anthony Powell : A question of upbringing Etgar Keret : The seven good years - my life as father and son
05	April 29, 2016	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Uwe Wittstock	David Grossman : Does a horse come into the bar John Irving : Street of Miracles Saša Stanišić : Trapper Nell Zink : The Wallcreeper
06th	June 24, 2016	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Thea Dorn	July Zeh : Unterleuten Jonas Karlsson : The room Jörg Magenau : Princeton 66. The adventurous journey of Group 47 Lucia Berlin : What else I missed
07th	26th August 2016	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Mara Delius	Elena Ferrante : My brilliant friend Han Kang : The vegetarian Emma Cline : The Girls Elizabeth Strout : The imperfection of love
08th	October 14, 2016	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Thomas Glavinic	André Kubiczek : Sketch of a summer John Burnside : Like everyone else Ismail Kadare : The twilight of the steppe gods Thomas Melle : The world behind you
09	December 9, 2016	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Axel Hoe	Christoph Ransmayr : Cox or The Course of Time Joan Didion : Sentimental Journeys Lev Tolstoy : Resurrection John Fante : 1933 was a bad year
10	March 3, 2017	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Elke Schmitter	Julian Barnes : The Noise of Time Chris Kraus : I love Dick Martin Walser : Instead of something or the last rank Hanya Yanagihara : A little life
11	5th May 2017	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Claus Peymann	Margaret Atwood : Hexensaat Christoph Hein : Trutz Barney Norris : Here five rivers meet Toni Morrison : God, help the child
12	June 16, 2017	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Ulrich Matthes	Maeve Brennan : Complete Stories Oskar Maria Graf : Minute stories Lawrence Osborne : To whom one forgives Julia Wolf : Walter Nowak remains lying
13	11th August 2017	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Ijoma Swiss chard	Virginie Despentes : The life of Vernon Subutex Richard Ford : Between them Franzobel : The raft of Medusa Paulus Hochgatterer : The day my grandfather was a hero
14th	October 13, 2017	Frankfurt Book Fair , Frankfurt am Main	Johannes Willms	Annie Ernaux : The years of Sonja Heiss : Rimini Daniel Kehlmann : Tyll Salman Rushdie : Golden House
15th	December 8, 2017	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Thomas Gottschalk	Joachim Meyerhoff : The togetherness of loners Peter Handke : The fruit thief Stephen and Owen King : Sleeping Beauties Ina Hartwig : Biography in fragments
16	2nd March 2018	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Philipp Tingler	James Baldwin : From this world Felicitas Hoppe : Prawda. An American Journey Monika Maron : Munin or Chaos in the Head Jon McGregor : Memory 13
17th	April 20, 2018	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Katharina Teutsch	Eshkol Nevo : About us Johann Scheerer : We are probably the relatives: The story of a kidnapping Éric Vuillard : The agenda Serhij Zhadan : Internat
18th	June 22, 2018	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Martin Schulz	Arthur Koestler : Solar eclipse Francesca Melandri : Everyone, except me George Saunders : Lincoln in the Bardo Heinrich Steinfest : The ironer
19th	August 10, 2018	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Marianna Salzmann	Maxim Biller : Six suitcases Emmanuel Carrère : The adversary Michael Ondaatje : Light of war Albertine Sarrazin : The outbreak
20th	October 12, 2018	Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt am Main	Denis check	Karen Duve : Miss Nice Short Summer Richard Powers : The Roots of Life Stephan Thome : God of Barbarians David Foster Wallace : The fun of it - all essays
21st	7th December 2018	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Ulrich Matthes	Sebastian Barry : Days without End Hilmar Klute : What then flies so beautifully afterwards Minna Rytisalo : Lempi, that means love Maria Stepanova : According to memory
22nd	1st March 2019	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Robert Habeck	Michel Houellebecq : Serotonin Gabriele Tergit : Effingers Hanya Yanagihara : The people of the trees T. C. Boyle : The light
23	April 12, 2019	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Sandra Kegel	César Aira : What was I laughing at? Yishai Sarid : Monster Saša Stanišić : Origin Anke Stelling : Sheep in the dry
24	June 14, 2019	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Joachim Meyerhoff	Alina Bronsky : The braid of my grandmother Jochen Schmidt : An order for Otto Kwant Raymond Queneau : Zazie in the Metro Colson Whitehead : The Nickel Boys
25th	August 9, 2019	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Svenja Flaßpöhler	Sorj Chalandon : The day before Norbert Gstrein : When I was young Brigitte Kronauer : The beautiful, the shabby, the wavering Martin Simons : Not yet, but at some point
26th	18th October 2019	Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt am Main	Sibylle Berg	Nick Drnaso : Sabrina Eugen Ruge : Metropolitan Norbert Scheuer : Winter bees Nora Bossong : Protection zone
27	December 6, 2019	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Matthias Brandt	John Burnside : About love and magic - I put a spell on you Theodor Fontane : Effi Briest Katja Oskamp : Marzahn, mon amour. Stories of a podiatrist Thomas Pletzinger : The Great Nowitzki

Realignment (since 2020)

episode	date	Sending location	Guests	Discussed books
01	March 6, 2020	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Marion Brasch Vea Emperor Jakob Augstein	Ingo Schulze : The righteous murderers Moritz von Uslar : Again Deutschboden Colm Tóibín : House of the names Vicki Baum : A warning is given against deer
02	1st May 2020	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Eva Menasse Matthias Brandt Eugen Ruge	Adeline Dieudonné : The real life Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen : The adventurous Simplicissimus German Gabriel García Márquez : Hundred years of loneliness Elizabeth Strout : The long evenings
03	5th June 2020	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Juli Zeh Jan Fleischhauer Sven Regener	Susanne Kerckhoff : Berlin letters Antonio Scurati : M. The son of the century Rob van Essen : The good son Cécile Wajsbrot : Destruction
04th	August 28, 2020	Berliner Ensemble, Berlin	Dörte Hansen Christian Berkel Vea Kaiser	Kate Elizabeth Russell : My dark Vanessa Annie Ernaux : The shame Samanta Schweblin : Hundred eyes Robert Seethaler : The last sentence
05	October 9, 2020	Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt am Main

bibliography

The literary quartet. Transcript of all 77 broadcasts. 3 volumes, 1,952 pages. Directmedia, Berlin. ISBN 3-89853-301-8 .
The literary quartet. Full text with 16 hours of MP3 recordings. CD-ROM from the Digital Library series . Directmedia, Berlin, ISBN 3-89853-526-6 .

Web links

Commons : The Literary Quartet - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Official website
The Literary Quartet in the Internet Movie Database (English)
The literary quartet on literaturkritik.de
Reich-Ranicki: How the "Literary Quartet" came about . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 29, 2009
Wolfgang Tischer: The new literary quartet - zack, zack, zack, zack! literaturcafe.de, October 3, 2015

Individual evidence

↑ Mentioned in Willms' performance in the Swiss TV program Literaturclub on June 29, 2010.
↑ ^a ^b Maxim Biller stops at the “Literary Quartet” on spiegel.de
↑ ^a ^b Thea Dorn is the new member of the “Literary Quartet” on spiegel.de
↑ The literary quartet - the noise. Retrieved July 1, 2014 .
↑ ^a ^b “The Literary Quartet” - the longstanding literary talk show on ZDF . In the series: Tele-Visions. TV history of Germany in West and East . Download from the Federal Agency for Civic Education .
^ Sigrid Löffler: critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki . In: Literaturen 1/2 2002, p. 27.
^ ^A ^b Petra Kirchner: Literature Shows. The presentation of literature on television . DUV, Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-8244-4163-2 , pp. 276-277.
↑ Quoting Marcel Reich-Ranicki in The Literary Quartet of March 18, 1993.
↑ Marcel Reich-Ranicki: Mein Leben , p. 538.
↑ News programs and magazines - profiles and costs. (No longer available online.) ZDF , February 9, 2016, archived from the original on December 3, 2016 ; accessed on September 30, 2016 .
↑ Glenn Riedmeier: "The Literary Quartet" loses its moderator. In: wunschliste.de. On television , October 23, 2019, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
^ "Christine Westermann also stops at the" Literary Quartet ". In: Spiegel Online. October 25, 2019, accessed on October 31, 2019 .
^ Johannes Schneider: "The Literary Quartet": The porous salon. In: zeit.de . March 6, 2020, accessed March 9, 2020 .

[1] Mentioned in Willms' performance in the Swiss TV program Literaturclub on June 29, 2010.

[Biller-2] Maxim Biller stops at the “Literary Quartet” on spiegel.de

[Dorn-3] Thea Dorn is the new member of the “Literary Quartet” on spiegel.de

[4] The literary quartet - the noise. Retrieved July 1, 2014 .

[tele-visionen-5] “The Literary Quartet” - the longstanding literary talk show on ZDF . In the series: Tele-Visions. TV history of Germany in West and East . Download from the Federal Agency for Civic Education .

[6] Sigrid Löffler: critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki . In: Literaturen 1/2 2002, p. 27.

[kirchner-7] A ^b Petra Kirchner: Literature Shows. The presentation of literature on television . DUV, Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-8244-4163-2 , pp. 276-277.

[8] Quoting Marcel Reich-Ranicki in The Literary Quartet of March 18, 1993.

[9] Marcel Reich-Ranicki: Mein Leben , p. 538.

[10] News programs and magazines - profiles and costs. (No longer available online.) ZDF , February 9, 2016, archived from the original on December 3, 2016 ; accessed on September 30, 2016 .

[11] Glenn Riedmeier: "The Literary Quartet" loses its moderator. In: wunschliste.de. On television , October 23, 2019, accessed on October 23, 2019 .

[12] "Christine Westermann also stops at the" Literary Quartet ". In: Spiegel Online. October 25, 2019, accessed on October 31, 2019 .

[13] Johannes Schneider: "The Literary Quartet": The porous salon. In: zeit.de . March 6, 2020, accessed March 9, 2020 .