Stage designers is developing more and more into the most important element of stage productions. It is set designers or ?spatial artists? like Johannes Schütz, Muriel Gerstner, Stéphane Laimé and Olaf Altmann who are ?to blame? ? they are the ones who can turn an evening at the theatre into a total work of stationary art....
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Elet es Irodalom | HVG | The American Interest | Itogie | Plus - Minus | The Economist | Il Foglio | Przekroj | The New Statesman
Elet es Irodalom 14.12.2007 (Hungary)
A few days ago some three hundred fascists of the "Hungarian Guard" marched in formation through the small village of Tatarszentgyörgy (more), protesting against "gypsy crime." Chief editor Zoltan Kovacs reprehends the country's president Laszlo Solyom, who limited his criticism to a letter read out by his spokesperson. Kovacs would have liked to see the president take a stronger stand, because as he writes, false interpretations of civil liberties have a long tradition in Hungary: "In the 1990s, when anti-Semitic, racist slogans were chanted in football stadiums and the hooligans were allowed back even after mass fighting, it became clear that anything goes in this country. This 'culture' has precipitated into the mass demonstrations and is creating a confusion concerning civil liberties hitherto unknown in people's heads. This could be stemmed, however, if those in high offices spoke out clearly from time to time about what such rights as the freedom of opinion truly mean, and what it can lead to when they are abused."
HVG 15.12.2007 (Hungary)
Journalist Pal Reti, by contrast, would prefer to see more engagement among the Hungarian populace. If he were a Roma he would not be reassured by draft laws of statements by the president. "What might calm my fears, however, would be if the 200 uniformed demonstrators were met and sent packing by 2,000 non-uniformed citizens in my village. Because then my people may not have been promised two aid programmes – but I would think, it's better to have two programmes that never get off the ground than a pogrom in full swing."
The American Interest 17.12.2007 (USA)
The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa celebrates the mestizaje – the advance of racial mixing in Latin America. And then he says something that many a European, Asian, African or Arabs would do well to take to heart. "Despite Latin America's universality, one of its recurring obsessions has been defining its identity. In my opinion, this is a useless enterprise, dangerous and impossible, because identity is something possessed by individuals and not collectivities, at least once they've transcended tribal conditions. Only in the most primitive communities, where the individual exists only as part of the tribe, does the idea of a collective identity have any raison d'etre." Artists have long overcome this way of thinking, Vargas Llosa says, if only the politicians would follow suit...
Itogie 15.12.2007 (Russia)
Russian crime writer Boris Akunin explains in an interview that he likes to travel to France, where it's always so calm and peaceful! "It's interesting to live in Russia, but you can't work here. You're continually confronted with intelligent people full of enthralling conversation, amusing company in which you can rest and recuperate, or crazed characters who are fascinating to observe. But in my job there are always periods when you long for peace, to talk to no one and be disturbed by nothing. That's why I keep going back to France."
Plus - Minus 15.12.2007 (Poland)
After Chrsitian Estrosi, one of Nicolas Sarkozy's closest aides, visited the tomb of the last French Emperor Napoleon III in an abbey in England, rumours are spreading of plans to return the emperor's remains. The abbey has refuted the claims, however. "Napoleon III is not the sole French monarch buried abroad. Charles X lies in a Franciscan monastery in Slovenia – will his remains be repatriated as well? If things go on like this, soon planes carrying dead French kings will be crisscrossing Europe." This new discussion does go to show, however, that Sarkozy's France doesn't cling so tightly to the idea of republicanism, Piotr Zychowicz comments.
The Economist 15.12.2007 (UK)
A linguistic analysis carried out by the University of Nice shows that Nicolas Sarkozy also uses language differently from his predecessors. He is a verbaholic and indeed the word used most commonly in his speeches is "I" followed by "want". Moreover, "of all the novelties of France under President Nicolas Sarkozy, one of the more arresting is the decline of the abstract noun. In the past, no French leader would make a speech without liberal doses of destiny and history. In one speech Mr Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, squeezed 13 abstract nouns - unity, liberty, humanity and more - into a single sentence. (...) The contrast with the wordcraft of Mr Sarkozy is instructive. In his first big foreign-policy speech, he managed in 18 pages to utter neither the word glory nor the word grandeur." Could it be, the Economist asks, that Sarkozy is changing the French tradition of conceptualism?
And there is a wonderful obituary of Karlheinz Stockhausen, the man "who kept on looking and finding tones that had never been heard before." "His most famous piece, and possibly his most popular - though he was never popular - was 'Stimmung', or 'Tuning' (1968), a sextet for unaccompanied voices on a six-note chord of B-flat that sounded sometimes like a digeridoo and sometimes like blowing across the top of the bottle, and in which the most beautiful harmonics would be interrupted by this:
'Pee peri pee pee: right over my tree
Let it gently run down
God is that warm.'
Small wonder that Sir Thomas Beecham, asked if he had conducted any Stockhausen, said no, but he thought he might once have trodden in some." A concert of Stockhausen's works in available online at BBC until 22 December.
There are also reviews of Karen Armstrong's biography of the Bible, Benjamin J. Kaplan's history of religious tolerance in Early Modern Europe, of Denise Affonco's book about her survival under the Khmer Rouge and of a collection of Noel Coward's letters.
Il Foglio 15.12.2007 (Italy)
"People are speculating in Frankfurt, shuddering in Essen, home of the Krupp enterprise, and dying in Turin." Shortly before Christmas, the otherwise rather conservative Foglio demonstrates solidarity for employees of the Krupp steel mill in Turin, where four workers died in a fire a week ago. Investigations into possible security violations are currently underway. Stefano Cingolani uses the occasion to relate a few stories about Krupp's involvement with the Nazis during World War II, before delving into the fanatical society of sworn-in Kruppianers, or Krupp employees: "True Kruppianers accept their fate, to the bitter end. Not like the Italian workers, who aren't real Kruppianers and never will be. Dying in the steelwork in Turin is not the same as dying in Essen, where for more than a century, no matter under which government, the group's employees were cared for from cradle to grave."
Przekroj 13.12.2007 (Poland)
Just days before Poland implements the Schengen Agreement, Katarzyna Jaroszynska reports from the new eastern border of the EU. With EU aid, Polish border police now have state of the art equipment, and receive lessons in following people's trails from Native Americans. "It's an endless game of cat and mouse: the border guards dress up as fishermen, the smugglers play confused tourists. Both sides are particularly active at night. And both sides are excellently prepared. Ultramodern equipment, GPS receivers and fast cars are standard. Success requires enormous concentration, huge amounts of time and patience, as well as untold hours spent in the woods at night."
The New Statesman 13.12.2007 (UK)
"I must say I'd rather wish you 'Happy Christmas' than 'Happy Holiday Season' writes of all people arch-atheist Richard Dawkins, clearly no fan of full blown secularism: "Americans coyly wish each other 'Happy Holiday Season' and spend vast amounts on 'Holiday' presents. For all I know, they hang up a 'Holiday stocking' and sing 'Holiday carols' around the decorated 'Holiday tree'. A red-coated 'Father Holiday' has not so far been sighted, but this is surely only a matter of time.… Fortunately, this is not the only choice: 25 December is the birthday of one of the truly great men ever to walk the earth, Sir Isaac Newton. His achievements might justly be celebrated wherever his truths hold sway. And that means from one end of the universe to the other. Happy Newton Day!"
RSS
Portfolio portrays the dark prince of Wall Street, who saw the storm coming, while the sun was still shining. In the Guardian, Jeanette Winterson explains why a tough life needs tough words. Polityka criticises the Catholic ideology officers monitoring Polish schools. Magyar Narancs is concerned about Hungary slipping back to the Stone Age. The New Republic eyes the collection of forceful characters on Obama's staff. And in Monde diplomatique, Juan Villoro describes a Mexico in the grip of a drug-induced here and now.
Who will be India's Obama? asks Outlook. The New Yorker looks at the tricky relationship between Obama and civil rights activism. The Guardian is stunned by the seething cauldron of neuroses that was the Wittgenstein family. Tygodnik Powszechny stares into the eyes of Polish Jews on film. Al Ahram introduces the ambitious online project of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Egypt's history. In Radar Rodrigo Fresan puts bestsellers in the dock. Vanity Fair meets the top news provider of the future: Bloomberg.
Shortly before his death, Studs Terkel calls for more reg-u-lat-ion in the Huffington Post. The Spectator shines a light on the China Poly Group - an arm of the People's Liberation Army, with a strong interest in art. The Observator Cultural compiles a dossier on the writer Mircea Nedelciu. The New Statesman looks into Chinese-Muslim relations in Kashgar. Umberto Eco finds suicidal tendencies in Italian terrorism. The New York Times portrays Lauren Zalaznick, the creator of "layered" TV for savvy urbanites. And in the New York Review of Books, Zadie Smith sounds the death toll for lyrical realism.
The new Slovakian internet magazine Salon translates articles from Miroslav Kusy, Rudolf Chmel und Gaspar Miklos Tamas on the tension between Hungary and Slovakia. In Portfolio, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen tells newspapers to scrap their print editions. In Le Point Emmanuel Todd foresees the return of Marx and Bonaparte. The Polish papers report on the Kundera affair. The TLS introduces lit crit as practised by a militant pro-capitalist. In the Weltwoche Paul Scheffer talks about the boomerang effect of immigration.
In Nouvel Obs, Oliver Roy explains what fundamentalists of every stripe have against culture. In Atlantic, Andrew Sullivan celebrates the golden age of journalism (we're in it). In ADN cultura, Paolo Coelho says we should look at Britain's history to worrying about internet piracy. For Commentary, the financial crisis is the fault of the state. For the Economist, the Milan Kundera case is just a drop in a toxic cloud.
The Observator Cultural introduces Stelian Tanase, a world champion of storytelling. In ResetDoc, the Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas recites his credo. In Lettre International, a Russian woman describes her childhood in a labour camp. In Esquire Mikhail Khordokovsky describes the Russian nomenklatura as the result of a process of natural annihilation. In Dissent, Carlos Fraenkel talks about teaching philosophy in Indonesia. In the Guardian Margaret Atwood sings the praises of Alice Munro. The Walrus visits Josef Skvorecky. Przekroj introduces Jacek Duka, the new Stanislaw Lem. And the Economist answers the call of nature. 
Protect investors from themselves, cries the New York Review of Books, in tune with George Soros. Teach the Roma how to work, calls Nepszabadsag. In La vie des idees, Historian Roger Chartier shows how the digital age has returned the book to its medieval state. The Economist thinks it has seen the light for the music industry. In Standpoint, tenor Ian Bostridge pops a rock 'n' roll bubble. Jonathan Littell goes to Georgia for Le Monde. Bollywood is to India what Dante was to Italy, says Outlook India. And the New York Times visits a rosy-cheeked Kleiner Perkins. 
In the Nation, Joseph Stiglitz is not buying anything the Bush administration is selling. L'Express introduces the "black book of publishing". The Times Literary Supplement warms to the unlikely Ukraine defender, Archduke Wilhelm Franz von Habsburg-Lothringen. Literaturen travels to Kamering with Austrian author Josef Winkler and his pepper spray. HGV has the end of lonely thinking in sight. And The Economist is keeping a beady eye on Total Information Awareness.
Portfolio portrays the billionaire Raymond Harbert who is knocking ever louder on the New York Times's door. In Espresso, Umberto Eco has a good old chuckle about downgrading. In the Gazeta Wyborcza historian 
Rupert Murdoch is fantasising about reaping sweet revenge on the New York Times, Vanity Fair believes. The New Yorker describes the sticky situation of the Putin-critical radio station Ekho Moskvy. The Spectator describes the impossible situation of bloggers in Iran. Le Monde diplomatique prints a posthumous text by Jacques Derrida about rogue states and how to outfox them. Outlook India celebrates India's rise to nuclear standing. And the Atlantic thanks the Met's Philippe de Montebello for never underestimating the public.
The New Yorker tells the tale of a hero, police officer James Zadroga. In El Pais author Javier Cercas seaches for happiness, boring as that might be. Le Figaro explains the difference between a snob and a dandy. Nepzsabadsag is amazed at how Serbian nationalism is moving with the times. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, political scientist Ivan Krastev admires the power of the paper tiger. Przekroj harbours the secret of the Westerplatte. The London Review of Books examines the malaise of party politics. And in L'Espresso, Umberto Eco calls for a new law on naming streets.
The New York Review of Books explains how Russia sent a message to the Ukrainians and the Balts. In Le Point, Bernard-Henri Levy awards Monsieur Putin a gold medal for his cynicism. Prospect meets the world's best and fairest society. Rue 89 asks whether France was waging a revolutionary war in Rwanda. Elet es Irodalom prescribes an "Operation Paprika" for Hungary. Gazeta Wyborczy remembers the Polish Danzigers. Folio goes on a dream holiday. And the Nation describes how New Orleans came close to reinstating segregation.
The Hudson Review tells the story of the boxing film "The Set Up" which was based on an epic poem from 1928. Wired plugs into the future of electric cars in Israel. In The New Republic, Joseph Stiglitz looks at the impact made by the Great Depression 2008. Tygodnik Powszechny tells the Catholic Church to wake up and smell the environment. In Babelia, novelist-turned-publisher Javier Marias explains how he ended up working for the afterlife. In openDemocracy, Ivan Krasten looks at the fatal consequences of the war in Georgia for Russia. And in the New Yorker, John Updike follows Max Factor on his journey from wigs to bee-stung lips.
The Atlantic holds up the termite as a paradigm of bio-efficiency. The New York Times investigates wine classification in Bordeaux. In Tygodnik Powszechny, writer Marek Nowakowski outlines his strategy for accommodating communism. Letras Libras misses the hawkishness of Roberto Bolano. Outlook India portrays the new Bollywood star Aksay Kumar. In Rue 89 Michel Wieviorka warns about burgeoning racism in France. And in L'Espresso Umberto Eco smells fear and regression in Italy.
In Die Welt, Victor Erofeyev collects his thoughts on Solzhenitsyn's life and work. The New Republic laments the Europeanisation of American cities. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, theatre directors Monika Strzepka and Pawel Demirski are pining for the equality that neoliberalism has abolished. Prospect magazine covers the re-emergence of character in Britain. Przekroj magazine covers both Sarkozy and heavy metal, albeit in separate articles. And Roberto Saviano tells us in L'Espresso why Italy's boxers will be packing a punch with Southern gusto.