This volume casts a critical light on one of Germany’s bestselling and most controversial authors. Juli Zeh’s literary work is not only widely read in Germany, but also featured on high school and college syllabi both in Germany and abroad. In recent years and in the wake of the Covid 19 lockdowns, Zeh’s output has only increased, though her most recent work,
Unterleuten
(2016
), Über Menschen
(2021), and
Zwischen Welten
(2023; co-written with Simon Urban), has evolved away from the literary and philosophical thought that informed her more nuanced earlier work and towards a more conservative representation of contemporary social dynamics. While her work continues to garner prestigious awards, Zeh herself, who is an honorary judge at the Brandenburg constitutional court and a seemingly omnipresent public intellectual, has taken increasingly libertarian positions in recent political debates — whether about Germany’s public health measures in response to the pandemic, or the country’s role in the Ukraine war. This volume traces the development and broad impact of Zeh’s writing while reflecting on the responsibility of the scholars who read and teach it to confront her ambiguous and sometimes troubling politics.