Real Americans

Reading & Conversation with Rachel Khong, Los Angeles | As part of the event series "Zwischen/Zeiten: 250 Jahre USA"

New York, New Year’s Eve 1999: Amid the euphoria of the new millennium and an unpaid internship at a trendy media startup, two people who couldn’t be more different meet. Lily, the daughter of poor Chinese immigrants (and an intern), and Matthew, the heir to a pharmaceutical empire. It’s the stuff the American Dream is made of—yet two decades later, Lily’s son Nick is searching for the missing pieces of his identity on a remote island. What really makes us who we are? Is it blood or genes, the money we inherit or earn—or the stories we tell ourselves about who we are? US bestselling author Rachel Khong presents the literary centerpiece of our summer program with her sensational book “Real Americans” in conversation with René Freudenthal from the Carl-Schurz-Haus. In her acclaimed novel, she dissects the hairline cracks in the façade of privileged US society and poses the universal question of true belonging in a changing world. We’ll discuss repressed family secrets, the limits of heritage in America’s “melting pot,” and the deep longing for identity beyond all clichés with one of the most exciting voices in contemporary US literature. Khong is the recipient of the California Book Award, among other honors.