At the SchUM-Lab, Max Czollek will read from his poetic, witty, and desperately optimistic debut novel Zweifelssohn, published by Tropen Verlag in 2026. 

As its protagonist Zweifelssohn (literally ‘doubting son’) undertakes a journey, he repeatedly encounters traces of violence, whether in the train, at an evening out with strangers, on vacation with friends, or alone in a hotel room. The experience is grounded in a Jewish perspective towards Germany that Zweifelssohn cannot shake and to which he’s always at the mercy of. Moving north, he clings to superficialities—fashion, music, excess—but the violence grows ever louder. Soon it forces itself into Zweifelssohn’s vision of the near future, even as he attempts to shield his eyes like the prophet Jeremiah who prophesied Jerusalem’s downfall and in whom Zweifelssohn, against his will, sees himself. Max Czollek, in his first novel, wrestles in an inimitable way with a present straddling pop literature and apocalyptic visions. A work that’s emotional, full of furious humor, and as contemporary as it gets.