Stefan Horvath’s text ‘Über den Horizont’ relies on autobiographical events and emotions. It is the first chapter in his second book Katzenstreu (2013), which attempts to grasp what he describes as the conflicting ‘Realität und Wahnsinn’ (reality and insanity) of the events surrounding the death of his son, one of four Romani victims of a racially motivated bombing incident in Oberwart (Burgenland, Austria) on 4 February 1995.

To Stefan Horvath, the violence of the attack remains real yet unbelievable and writing becomes a means to express that paradox. He purposely chooses a structure that mixes documentary and fictional scenes as he examines the event from multiple perspectives involving the victims and the perpetrator.

Source of text sample

Horvath, Stefan. 2013. Katzenstreu: Erzählung. Oberwart: edition lex liszt 12, pp. 5–15.