Alissa Walser

Together with the Deutsche Bibliothek Den Haag we welcome Alissa Walser. At the end of January her beautiful novel Am Anfang war die Nacht Musik will be published in Dutch translation (Nachtmuziek).

Walser based her novel on the historical encounter between the famous physician and magnetist Franz Anton Mesmer and the musical prodigy Maria Theresia von Paradis in late eighteenth-century Vienna. Mesmer was already familiar to Walser from an early age because she grew up near his birthplace. As a doctor, he developed magnet therapy, which brought him fame with the general public but also criticism within scientific circles. When the celebrated pianist Maria Theresia von Paradis is brought to him by her parents for treatment, it becomes a unique opportunity to secure his reputation. Maria Theresia became blind overnight at the age of three, and so far no one has been able to cure her. Under Mesmer’s personal attention and their shared love of music, she flourishes with remarkable results. But then the moment comes when other interests begin to play a role…

Alissa Walser trained as an artist, studying painting in Vienna and New York. Since 1987 she has also worked as a translator and as a writer of short stories. A teacher once described one of her paintings as “mesmerizing,” which made her realise how powerful Mesmer’s influence must once have been, and this ultimately became the starting point for her debut novel Nachtmuziek.

Two years after her father, Martin Walser, Alissa Walser is now a guest at BorderKitchen. She will be interviewed by Prof. Dr. Anthonya Visser (Leiden University).

Location: Weimarstraat 36, The Hague. Start time: 8:00 PM. The language of the evening is German.