Book Club

June 03 2025
On Tuesday (once a month)
20:00 – 22:30
Free entry
In English

| LGBTQIA+ |

In „Querelle de Roberval“, Kev Lambert crafts a poignant narrative set in the harsh north of Canada, where striking sawmill workers’ frustrations erupt into violence. At the heart of this tragic tale are Querelle, an ethereal gay figure, and his queer companion Jézabel, who challenge the prejudices of a homophobic, racist working class, weaving a powerful exploration of rage, crime, environmental exploitation, and the relentless fight against capitalism’s brutal machinery.

Description

Village Book Club - „Querelle de Roberval“ by Kev Lambert (2024)

Hosted by Marco Astolfi

The workers of an industrial sawmill in northern Canada have been on strike in vain for a whole year to get better working conditions, until their anger erupts in an orgy of violence. At the centre of it all is Querelle, the unearthly beautiful gay sex god, and his queer girlfriend Jézabel. Together they shake up the world view of the racist, homophobic proletarians.

A polyphonic, tragic novel about angry citizenship, crime, environmental exploitation, uninhibited sexuality and the desperate struggle against the merciless wheels of capitalism. Inspired by Fassbinder, Genet and Pasolini, the young Quebec novelist Kev Lambert has created a unique mixture of high literature and perversion, a swan song to the contradictions of anti-capitalist movements.

Marco Astolfi is a literary translator, writer and fairy from Italy. He lives in Berlin, is a co-organizer of the Village Heart Circle for GBTQ men and runs the Book Club evening every two months. He is a regular at Creative Writing and can occasionally be found modeling for Life Drawing classes. He attended the One Year Training in 2018 and led the Cock O’Clock workshops at Easter Stretch Festival 2019 and Private Talk at Stretch Imagina 2020.

About the Village Book Club
Book lovers and bookworms have been meeting on a bimonthly basis to discuss works of fiction and non-fiction (novels, biographies, and essays) focused on or related to GBTQ themes and personalities.
Anticipating insightful discussions, we choose the next book two months in advance.
While the evening discussions are conducted in English, participants are welcome to read the selected books in their preferred language.