Never before have there been so many private collectors making extensive acquisitions of contemporary art. Are they the real key figures of a global art business?...
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The Nation | Salon.eu.sk | London Review of Books | Die Weltwoche | The New Statesman | Polityka | The Economist | Standpoint | The New York Times
The Nation 05.01.2009 (USA)
The age of the book is over, delares editor's publisher and blogger Tom Engelhardt while he watches publishers waste away and book sales plummet. It's funny how books seemed so recession-proof, "unless you happened to focus on just how many dazzling entertainment options had, in the interim, entered the American home at prices more than competitive with the book. After all, most Americans can now read endlessly on the Internet, play video games, download music, watch movies and even write their own novels without stepping outside; and keep in mind that the 27.95 dollar hardcover and the 15.95 dollar paperback on the shelves of that mall store, once you drive there, aren't exactly the inexpensive objects of yore."
Salon.eu.sk 10.12.2008 (Slovakia)
How does it feel to worship someone like an idol then drop him in embarrassment decades later, only to find out that the rest of the world holds him in much higher esteem that they do you? This is how the writer Stefan Chwin feels about Lech Walesa. And he has a sneaky suspicion why this might be. "His great career, his glamorous rise to the heights of the Polish Republic, demonstrated the failure of the Polish intelligentsia, the failure of the Polish democratic opposition, the failure of Jacek Kuron, Adam Michnik, Litynski, Modzelewski, the Kaczynskis, Macierewicz and others, the failure of the visible and invisible elites, yes, the failure of the entire Polish intelligentsia which, in a key historic moment, failed to produce an intellectual leader of Vaclav Havel's stature, and one who was also liked by the majority of Poles. And the Czechs did like their Havel. ... The current panicky Walesa cult ('we have to defend the legend!') as well as the equally panicky destruction of the myth ('the legend has to be unmasked!') is further proof of the failure of our intelligentsia, whose members are not able to stand up in their own right when it comes to leadership." (Salon has translated Chwin's article from Tygodnik Powszechny into English.)
London Review of Books 01.01.2009
John Lanchester enters the world of the computer game which, he says, is still unknown territory to great swathes of the educated classes. Even though, economically speaking, in the UK this year video games overtook the music and film industries combined. He makes other interesting comparisons: "Gaming is a much more resistant, frustrating medium than its cultural competitors. Older media have largely abandoned the idea that difficulty is a virtue; if I had to name one high-cultural notion that had died in my adult lifetime, it would be the idea that difficulty is artistically desirable. It's a bit of an irony that difficulty thrives in the newest medium of all - and it's not by accident, either. One of the most common complaints regular gamers make in reviewing new offerings is that they are too easy. (It would be nice if a little bit of that leaked over into the book world.)"
Further articles: The novelist Hilary Mantel looks back on her time in the Saudia Arabian city of Jeddah, twenty-five years ago. Sara Roy describes the situation in the Gaza Strip. Adam Shatz comments on the unrest in Greece. There are reviews of John Updike's novel "The Widows of Eastwick" and Gus van Sant's new film "Milk".
Die Weltwoche 18.12.2008 (Switzerland)
Wolfgang von Mecklenburg, former head of advertising at the Weltwoche, explains in an interview on the newspaper crisis: "I do not believe that newspapers will become redundant, but the industry is changing.... Saturday and Sunday are becoming more important as reading days, while the radio and internet are the primary news providers during the week. In Switzerland it is the papers offered free at train and underground stations. Other free newspapers exclusively target a youth readership. What will they read when they get older? This is the product which publishers should be working on now."
Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Radio Echo Moskow, Russia's last independent Radio station, describes the mounting pressure on journalists in Putin's Russia. "There are objective signs for a negative trend in the last eight years. There have been a total of 43 draft laws aimed at curtailing the freedom of the press and not a single bill which bucks that trend. In the last ten years, between 12 and 17 journalist have been murdered but the investigations into their deaths have never led anywhere. The problem is not that we are being murdered, that is an occupational hazard. The problem is that the authorities are not investigating the murders properly. The journalists are not seen as a public institution but as an instrument in someone else's hands."
The New Statesman 18.12.2008 (UK)
Is English becoming the language of world literature? Or is Anglo-Saxon literature provincial? Inspired by Horace Engdahl's derogatory remarks about American literature, the writer and philosopher Jonathan Derbyshire outlines his thoughts on the concept of world literature since Goethe: "There is a significant wrinkle in Goethe's theory of Weltliteratur... And it is that Goethe reserves a special role for one national literature in particular: Germany's. He wrote that it was the 'destiny' of the German language to become the 'representative of all the citizens of the world'. With the centrality of translation to German literary culture, anyone who knew the language well enough wouldn't have to go to the trouble of learning Greek or Latin or Italian; they could read Homer, Virgil or Dante in German translations that were more than a match for the originals. Germany, therefore, was the literary marketplace par excellence. And Weltliteratur, it turned out, wasn't so much a matter of dissolving national boundaries as a matter of a single national literature going global. You might say that today America (or the 'Anglosphere', if you want to include Britain) plays the role that Goethe once envisaged for Germany."
Polityka 19.12.2008 (Poland)
Adam Michnik explains in an interview (here in German) with Jacek Zakowski why he is so insistent that the Communists should receive some credit for what they did for the Third Republic of Poland. "I have used the expression 'man of honour' in the past, but I would be more cautious about so today. It is not my job to hand out certificates. But I will remind you that, sitting at the Round Table, I heard accusations coming from the opposite side that we were ignoring the Poles in Lithuania, who were being discriminated against by the Lithuanians. As President, Jaruzelski had sufficient means to fan these sort of emotions. If the Communists had dealt with the Ukrainian question like the right-wing Radio Marya is doing today, they would have had no trouble in stirring up ethnic sentiments. But they never attempted to do so. However abominable the communist system was, and however many crimes and disgraces were committed in communist Poland, one thing has to be said: In 1989 these people passed the test of Polish patriotism."
The Economist 21.12.2008 (UK)
In a Christmas edition packed with scientific findings, it is only fitting that the obituary should be of a man who helped to unlock many a door to the human memory. The patient H.M., who died at the age of 82, had lost the ability to retain memories after an experimental operation to treat his epilepsy. From that point, everything was constantly new and completely foreign: "It has often been said that a man with no memory can have no sense of self. Both Dr Milner and Dr Corkin disagree. H.M. had a sense of humour, even if he was capable of telling the same anecdote three times in 15 minutes. He was polite, and would cup Dr Corkin's elbow as they walked around MIT. Everybody liked him, though it was a temptation for those who knew him to patronise him, to treat him like a favourite child or pet, such was the inequality of his and their knowledge about his life."
Other articles cover the loneliness of Chinese birdwatchers and our shopping brain. We also learn that ecstasy has proved benficial in combating post-traumatic-stress syndrome. A long article explains a number of biological speculations that link music to sexual success.
Standpoint 19.12.2008 (UK)
Edward Lucas (his blog), Eastern Europe correspondent for The Economist, is puzzled and alarmed by German's love of Russia. And he is nothing short of contemptuous for Michael Stuermer's book, which was written in English, "Putin and the Rise of Russia", and which he sees as symptomatic of the author's countrymen. "The problem is that the semi-colonial relationship that Germany seems to want with Russia is in fact a two-way street. As other imperial countries know well, you may start off exporting your values and outlook, but you end up importing theirs. German business was already surprisingly corrupt even before the great push eastwards that followed the collapse of communism. Dealing with Russia has accentuated that. Germany's commitment to the Atlantic alliance was looking wobbly from the 1980s onwards; now it is frayed and rotten. Rather than exporting German virtues to Russia, the danger now is that Germans are importing Russian sleaze, corporatism and anti-Americanism. That is bad for Russia, bad for Germany and terrifying for the countries in between."
The New York Times 21.12.2008 (USA)
Mexico's Oportunidades programme for fighting poverty has proved so successful that other countries are starting to adopt it, reports Tina Rosenberg. It's all about tough love: you get financial support in exchange for giving your children a future: "Until recently, for example, children like Maleny did not go to high school. Though Maleny's school is public, families often prefer not to pay the fees they’re assessed or to pay for school supplies, food and transportation. More important, if she were not in school, she, too, could be working in the fields. Such work is especially common among girls, as their education has been widely derided as a waste of money in rural Mexico - why educate someone who is just going to get married? Now Maleny goes to school because her mother is enrolled in Oportunidades. Solis gets 61 dollars a month from the Mexican government on the condition that Maleny goes and maintains good attendance. (If she worked in the fields and earned a typical salary, she would be paid 7.40 dollars or an eight-hour day.) Such grants start for students in third grade, increase for each year of school and are higher for girls, which gives families added incentive to send them." The programme is proving so successful that Michael Bloomberg the mayor of New York is keen to test it out in a number of districts there. (More on Oportunidades here in Spanish and in English and an external evaluation of the project here in English.)
Further articles: Lynn Hershberg profiles the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman – or rather she let's him talk and adds only the most essential bits of information, which makes for fascinating reading because the man has plenty to say. Mark Leibovich sends a report about Obama's media strategy and his press speaker, red neck and bulldog Robert Gibbs.
In the Book Review there is a double review of Ingo Schulze's "New Lifes" and Christoph Hein's "Settlement", of Steward O'Nan's novel "Songs for the Missing", Ingrid D. Rowland's biography of Giordano Bruno, Gustav Niebuhr's book "Beyond Tolerance" about interfaith dialogue in the United States and Christopher Plummer's memoirs "In Spite of Myself".
RSS
The New York Times investigates the new hunger for reality. In Salon, Andrzej Stasiuk sees only individual realities. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, the ethnologist Tomasz Rakowski describes the reality of the Polish poor mines. Sometimes you can turn reality on its head, El Pais reads in the Financial Times. Le Monde diplomatique gives the low-down on the ACTA talks. And the New Yorker dreams of less polish and a bit more grit.
In Magyar Narancs Agnes Heller demands more civil courage of the Hungarians. Mohammed Ali Atassi explains in Qantara, why conservatives in Egypt see women as candy: either wrapped or covered in flies. Oliver Roy outlines in Resetdoc, why's there not so much as a hair's breadth between the Christian right and the secular left. In Magazin, the philosopher Ludwig Haslar tells the Swiss that if they want mediocrity today, they cannot expect the superman tomorrow. Jonathan Safran Foer tells Prospect why he neither wants a chicken in his bed nor on his plate. The NYT embarks on a human-flesh search and finds a kitten killer.
The New Yorker tells the story of how corrupt podiatrists almost brought down the US health system. In Polityka, the Kapuscinski biographer Artur Domoslawski explains how he thinks the legendary reporter should be read. In Tygodnik, Zygmunt Bauman calls for more understanding for Kapuscinski. Magyar Narancs celebrates the ban on Holocaust denial in Hungary. In Le Point, Jorge Semprun asks whether Claude Lanzmann is the only person who's allowed to talk about the Holocaust. Wired describes how Google learned how to tell the difference between a hot dog and a poached pooch.
In Eurozine, the Transylvanian-Hungarian-Armenian writer Kinga Kali tells the story of a "virgjinesha". Prospect celebrates the next art superstar, Argentinian painter Guillermo Kuitca. The Gazeta Wyborcza explains how young people use the web. The New Yorker sends out a message to the depressed: stay away from psychiatric literature. Outlook Indian learns to play Carnatic music online. The London Review swims with the salmon sages.
The Atlantic finds out why the Chinese are not enemy number one in cyberspace. Elet es Irodalom asks why no one in Hungary is interested in former informers. In New Statesman, Tariq Ramadan can't tell us what a moderate Muslim is. The Guardian hearkens to the ticking bomb in Emily Dickinson's bosom and links it to the shards of crockery on the floor. And if it can't smoke, El Pais Semanal wants everything painted black.
In Prospect, Tim Berners-Lee invites the world to play with the British government's data. England, not Nigeria belongs on the terrorist list, literary Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka informs The Daily Beast. In Rue 89, Beppe Grillo explains why Sarkozy is more dangerous than Berlusconi. In Tygodnik Powszechny, Stefan Chwin mourns for the Polish idealist. Polityka reveals where a Pole turns to when he's not allowed to marry. Olga Tokarczuk walks her Polish tangle around Amsterdam for Salon. And the Guardian thinks about Armenian women rubbing their soft breasts on a stone.
In Wired, Chris Anderson celebrates the next industrial revolution - taking place in garages near you. The Boston Globe serenades the camel - Nabati style. In El Pais Semenal, the sociologist Edgar Morin complains about European lethargy. Outlook India asks why the Australians hate the Indians. Odra and Tygodnik are still debating the impact of freedom on literature. In OpenDemocracy, Salome Zourabichvili mourns for the wilted petals of the rose revolution. In Prospect, Martin Amis divides the literary sheep from the goats, according to the pleasure principle. The NYT profiles a dyed-in-the-wool jihadist from Alabama.
Das Magazin reports on the dramatic increase in the number of pupils who have threatened to gun down their classmates. The Spectator warns City bankers about gun-wielding dominatrices in Switzerland. In Sinn und Form, Marc Fumaroli remembers the man whose name shall not be mentioned: Mario Praz. In the New Humanist, Laurie Taylor remembers the holy men who sexually abused him as a child. The Guardian asks why Theo von Doesburg slipped into avant garde oblivion. And in the NYRB, Garry Kasparov asks why computer chess programmers are so uninspired?
OpenDemocracy explains why a novel called "Paranoia" suddenly disappeared from Belarussian bookshops. Prospect fears that a ban on Islam4UK could undermine British democracy. The Gazeta Wyborcza explores Polish-Jewish relations. Le Monde diplomatique watches the carving up of Africa. In El Pais Semanal, maths whizz Marcus du Sautoy explains the sex appeal of suduko. And Gerhard Richter manages to surprise the Nation.
The New Yorker buries itself in the Arab novel. In Le Monde, Bernard-Henri Levy heaps scorn on the state-run caricature of a debate. Qantara points to the person responsible for all the misery in the Arab world: Daddy. In L'Espresso, Umberto Eco takes a pin to the overblown daily paper. The Nation has earmarked 30 billion dollars to save journalism. In Tygodnik Powszechny, the writer Wojciech Albinski explains what makes Poland exotic. And the Spectator waves a tear-stained old hanky as shabby chic fades into the past.
In Merkur, art historian Wolfgang Ullrich defines a new type of artist: the contractor. In Nepszabadsag, writer Peter Nadas considers the crisis in Hungary and how it might end. In NouvelObs, Francis Ford Coppola explains why DVDs should be free. Eurozine introduces Lithuanian literature. In the New York Review of Books, Wyatt Manson asks why Pleiade is omitting Celine's anti-Semitic trilogy from the collected works. In Express, Philippe Gavi reminds us that Mohammed was not a crazed killer. A Californian marvels in NZZ Folio, at the reincarnation of an Indian factory worker. And confronted with the recent proliferation of literary cuddling, the New York Times yearns for a bit of Philip Roth.
Wired tracks James Cameron's 32-year quest to out-Lucas Lucas. In Nouvel Obs, Alain Finkielkraut and Alain Badiou tear each other apart over immigration and national identity. Tygodnik Powszechny introduces the pioneering artist Miroslaw Balka. Andras Bozoki asks why Hungarians are undermining democracy. In The New Statesman, Leo McKinstry explains why the bombing of Coventry was an inspiration to the British Air Staff.
Vanity Fair goes in search of a superpartner. Elet es Irodalom reads a new collection of essays by Imre Keresz. Outlook India complains about journalistic corruption. The New Yorker reads a new Koestler biography. Nepszabadsag foresees the next French revolution. Rue89 wonders about the provenance of prawns. And in the New Republic, Moshe Halberthal celebrates the sublime humility of Amartya Sen.
In Wilson Quarterly, the economist Tyler Cowen sings an ode to multitasking. Prospect has seen the monsters of the left. The Boston Globe follows James C. Scott to the new Shangri-La in the mountains of Tibet. Weltwoche is up in arms about the criticism of Switzerland's anti-minaret vote. In the Novel Obs, Pierre Nora applies his mind to the bestseller. New Criterion knows why the Pop art bubble won't pop. NZZ Folio examines the chicken nugget. Al Ahram asks what political Islam wants. The Walrus mourns for the first victim of the C-58. In Resetdoc, Joseph Massad explains why Arab homosexuals are an invention of the West.
Slovenian poet Ales Debeljak argues for a fusion of cultures in Eurozine. Umberto Eco agrees in Le Monde. The Nation portrays the Salvadorian author Horacio Castellanos Moya, who himself explains in Babelia why 200 years after independence there's nothing to celebrate in a number of Latin American countries. Polityka lies Poland down on the couch. La vie des idees reads a book on Jews and the resistance in France. Americans read more than Europeans, writes historian Peter Baldwin in Merkur. And in The New York Review of Books Robert Darnton makes two bold proposals for a new Book Settlement.