Dhe large hall of the Academy of Arts in Berlin, with a view of the Brandenburg Gate and the French embassy opposite, was filled to capacity when the writer Yasmina Reza was awarded the Prix de l’Académie de Berlin on Thursday. She stepped onto the stage with her black hair artfully pinned up, a petite woman with impressive determination. And as is so often the case when Reza, author of famous plays such as “The God of Carnage” or “Art”, appears in public, the event was characterized by a paradox.
Because Reza – whose literary work the “SZ” journalist Nils Minkmar praised in his laudatory speech as “completely unique”; a work that defies “classification” and changes our view of the world and, above all, of ourselves – only likes public appearances to a limited extent. Or rather, as she reaffirmed at the award ceremony, she attaches great importance to the fact that she only “very little” sees herself as a public person. Above all, she is a writer who negotiates contradictions when writing, which is an essential part of literature.
