Mein Freund Rilke

Comic discussion with Melanie Garanin, moderated by Torsten Hoffmann

Probably the most original contribution to the 150th anniversary of Rainer Maria Rilke's birth on December 4, 2025 comes from author and comic artist Melanie Garanin: in the graphic novel "Mein
Freund Rilke", the journalist Ellen travels to Worpswede, Paris and Valais in the 21st century in the poet's footsteps - and repeatedly encounters a person who is as strange as he is devoted.
who introduces himself to her as Rilke. On the one hand, the book follows a slowly developing love affair; on the other, it jumps back in time to show what Ellen finds out about the historical Rilke. The two time periods are linked by Rilke's poems, which make something in Ellen resonate - subtly and comically portrayed by Melanie Garanin. The author talks about the book and her many years of involvement with Rilke with Torsten Hoffmann, Professor at the University of Stuttgart and President of the International Rilke Society.
In cooperation with the lecture series "Resonanzraum Rilke" of the University of Stuttgart, the DLA Marbach and the Hospitalhof, Evangelisches Bildungszentrum