From West Africa to Sanssouci - Ottmar Ette reads from his novel about Anton Wilhelm Amo at the Viadrina

The author and literary scholar Prof. Dr. Ottmar Ette will be presenting his new novel "Mein Name sei Amo" at the European University Viadrina on Wednesday, 15 January at 6.00 pm. In it, he describes in literary terms the life of Anton Wilhelm Amo, who became known as the first African-born philosopher in the German-speaking world in the 18th century. The reading, organized and moderated by PD Dr. Andrea Gremels, holder of the Viadrina Professorship for Western European Literatures, will take place in the main building of the European University, Große Scharrnstraße 59, room 217.

In his current novel, Ottmar Ette writes about Anton Wilhelm Amo's academic rise, which he succeeds in despite the omnipresent racism. He traces how Amo became one of the most dazzling and fascinating intellectuals in the history of the European Enlightenment.

Ottmar Ette, author and Professor of Romance Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Potsdam and Honorary Member of the Modern Language Association, has so far published two novels, "Zwei deutsche Leben" and "Mein Name sei Amo". He is leading a long-term project on Alexander von Humboldt at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Ottmar Ette lives and works in Potsdam and Berlin as well as in Changsha (China), where he founded the research center "The Humboldt Center for Transdisciplinary Studies" in 2020.