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Peter Stamm – It All Began with «Agnes»
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Open in the appWith his debut novel «Agnes» in 1998, Peter Stamm achieved a literary beginning that resonates to this day. The story of a love between a non-fiction author and a physicist that increasingly dissolves between reality and fiction made the then little-known writer suddenly known to… With his debut novel «Agnes» in 1998, Peter Stamm achieved a literary beginning that resonates to this day. The story of a love between a non-fiction author and a physicist that increasingly dissolves between reality and fiction made the then little-known writer suddenly known to a wider audience. In the programme format «The Beginning», we look back at the start of an extraordinary body of work. How did «Agnes» come about? Which themes, motifs and questions that concern Peter Stamm to this day are already present in this first novel? And how does the author view the book almost three decades later, the one with which his literary career began? Peter Stamm, born 1963 in Weinfelden, is one of the most important German-language authors of our time. His novels, stories and essays are read worldwide and translated into numerous languages. Most recently, the story collection «On Very Thin Ice» (2025) appeared, in which he once again explores the transitions between reality and imagination. However, the focus of this conversation is not on the complete works, but on that early moment when it all began: «Agnes».