Reading and discussion with the Japanese author Yui Suzuki: "Goethe said it all"

Goethe’s Birthday 2026

To mark the 277th anniversary of Goethe’s birth, we are presenting you: Goethe goes international! The young Japanese author Yui Suzuki, who was awarded the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for Literature in 2025 for his novel “Gête wa subete wo itta” ("Goethe Said It All"), will be a guest at the Goethe National Museum to mark the occasion.

In Yui Suzuki’s novel, an unexpected encounter with a Goethe quote on a tea bag triggers an identity crisis. A Goethe scholar, highly decorated in academic circles, is thrown off balance when he realises that the quote is unfamiliar to him. This unsettling discovery haunts him and leads him on a farcical journey through the world of literary quotations, at the end of which he even encounters Goethe himself in a dream.

Suzuki’s novel is a parody—as clever as it is humorous—of the academic establishment and the fragmentation of knowledge, which is often presented in a sensationalist manner in the competition for media attention. At the same time, his writing is characterised by a warm and empathetic view of his characters, who strive with great earnestness to find their bearings in a labyrinth of facts, fiction and forgeries.

Yui Suzuki is himself a passionate lover of literature: he has read Goethe’s works in their entirety, as translated into Japanese. He channels this intensive engagement with a fresh perspective and subtle humour into a story set in contemporary Japan.

Although one passage of the novel is set in Germany, the author has never visited the country himself. His reading tour therefore offers a special opportunity to bring his approach to Goethe from a Japanese perspective into dialogue with German viewpoints, and to reflect together on the contemporary significance and relevance of this literary heritage in a transcultural context.

The event will be moderated by Helmut Heit. He will speak with Yui Suzuki about his novel, Goethe’s significance in Japan and the international influence of Weimar Classicism.

The evening will be interpreted by Yu Minobe (Berlin).

Yui Suzuki’s reading tour is supported by the JaDe Foundation.

Discover the full programme of the Weimar Classicism Foundation to mark Goethe’s 277th birthday here