13. November 2019 12:04
Arnon Grunberg is one of the most subtly outrageous provocateurs in world literature. Born in 1971 in Amsterdam into a German-Jewish family, he stepped aside to unnerve a wider audience.
“I really need enemies—without enemies there’s no identity.”
For Grunberg—read talent. This Christmas he’s in Nepal or Belarus. We see him as a waiter, a masseuse in Bucharest, working undercover in a Bavarian hotel, in Guantánamo Bay, visiting the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s why he moved to Park Avenue.
“I like observing. There’s a spy in all authors.”
Grunberg shares a natural affinity with Isaac Babel—not just the glasses—but the love of life, the heart of darkness—“brutal and altogether winning.”
His work includes: Blue Mondays, Silent Extras, Phantom Pain, The History of My Baldness, The Asylum Seeker, The Jewish Messiah, Tirza,Amuse-Bouche as well as the newest play De tweede wereldoorlog eindigt vandaaga novel Goede mannen.A collection of essays—Chambermaids and Soldiers— recalls his time in Afghanistan and Iraq. Grunberg's work has been translated into twenty-nine different languages. He also writes reports, book reviews, columns and essays for Dutch, Belgian and Nederland newspapers and magazines.
Arnon Grunberg lives in New York.