Dramaturgie im zeitgenössischen Tanz ist ? positiv gemeint ? ein heißes Eisen. Idealerweise sind Dramaturginnen und Dramaturgen während der Erarbeitung eines Stücks die besten Freunde der Choreografen.
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Father Pedro Barrajon conducts courses in Rome for exorcists in
training. Here he talks about the power of the devil, pure spirits and
the position of the Pope. An interview with Paul Badde.
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In Prospect, Robert Skidelsky greets veterans of the People's Liberation Army in what used to be his family's villa in Manchuria. Merkur observes with satisfaction how stockholders can now oust top managers from their jobs. In the New York Review of Books, Ian Buruma relives Joe Louis' legendary fight against Max Schmeling. Peter Nadas tells in Magyar Hirlap what it's like to be a woman. Literaturen looks into the relationships of literary couples. In Le Point, Alain Robbe-Grillet tells how God visits him in the bath. The Economist discovers why the Japanese are so taken with robots. And in Gazeta Wyborcza, Maciej Zaremba discovers a new spectre haunting Europe.
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On Christmas Eve, the most exciting exhibition Berlin has seen in years will open to the public in the Palast der Republik, the former East German people's palace. This ad-hoc show will last exactly nine days and then the building will be torn down. But the Palast is just the art museum the city needs, says Christina Tilmann.
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Berlin's KaDeWe: The shop was called Kaufhaus des Westens (department store of the West) long before the "west" became an ideological category. It was a civilizational measuring stick. How much spending, how much luxury can a society tolerate? A search for the true German Christmas in Europe's most luxurious department store. By Roger Boyes
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On Christmas Eve Joshka, a demolition contractor, takes a stroll round the old theme park in the woods which he has been hired to tear down... A short story by Georg Klein
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Christa Wolf died on 1 Dec, aged 82. Fifteen years after reunification, Christa Wolf, a prominent German writer who chose to remain in East Germany and who was later branded a "state poet", talks with Hanns-Bruno Kammertöns and Stephan Lebert about private chats with Honecker, a German society in check mate, the influence of Goethe, the shortcomings of Brecht, and the lasting effects of Utopia.
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In Lettre International, Peter Nadas tracks down the last vestiges of Le Vernet concentration camp. In Kommune, Karol Sauerland investigates politics and everyman's corruption in Poland. Nepszabadsag reports on a brand new phenomenon in Hungary: women writers. Regis Debray and Marcel Gauchet argue in the Nouvel Obs whether a civil religion can exist at all. Die Weltwoche has located God in the temporal lobes. Harold Bloom presents America's literary figurehead in The Guardian. In Gazeta Wyborcza, Kinga Dunin analyses the significance of queer literature for Poland. And in the New York Times Magazine, Pankaj Mishra tells about the Tibetans who don't want enlightenment.
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Gingerbread hearts, 4711, the lovely Petra and appalling paintings. Author Feridun Zaimoglu describes how growing up on a German diet eventually bore literary fruit.
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Now that social and political conditions in Turkey seem to be fast approaching EU requirements, the opponents of Turkish EU entry are using a new line of argumentation. Europe is being defined more as a unit forged by a common past and common cultural values than a project for the future. This obsession with identity is a threat to European unity and the universality of European ideas and values. By Nilüfer Göle
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On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Hannah Arendt's death, Daniel Cohn-Bendit recalls his relationship with the great philosopher and reflects on her and on his generation.
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In Al Ahram, Gamal Nkrumah accuses France of enriching itself at the expense of Africa. The New Yorker fears for the future of the New York Times. In Nouvel Obs, historian Marc Ferro refuses to let the French state dictate the morality of history. The Spectator listens in on the worries of super rich art collectors. Theatre director Piotr Tomaszuk defends his right to nail a bearded female Jesus to the cross in Gazeta Wyborcza. Peter György warns against Infotainment in Elet es Iroldalom. And in the TLS, George Steiner celebrates Karl Kraus.
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The debate over a memorial for the expelled persons from World War Two continues to rage in Berlin. Meanwhile, an exhibition in Bonn takes a refreshingly balanced look at this difficult chapter in German history. By Jörg Lau
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Euripides' play "The Bacchae" is making a comeback on stages across Europe. But can we recapture the brutality of the bard of ancient times? In Munich Jossi Wieler tries hard but fails to portray the play's profound weirdness and horror. By
Peter Michalzik (Image © Arno Declair)
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Is Alain Finkielkraut an iconoclast? Or a neo-reac? According to the Nouvel Obs, his recent comments on the youth riots have hit a nerve. Al-Jazeera is fast becoming establishment writes the Spectator, and for the The Nation it is the very model of good journalism. Outlook India protests against the fatwa epidemic in India, with particular reference to tennis outfits. And Ozon asks if Volker Schlöndorff is really the man to tell the true story of Solidarnosc.
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After weeks of heavy press coverage on the rioting in the French suburbs we have compiled a dossier with four related feature articles as well as a comprehensive collection of international voices from In Today's Feuilletons and our Magazine Roundup.
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Germany's new grand coalition government has announced its objectives in the form of a contract: 143 pages of well-intentioned, naval-gazing blindness. The challenge facing Germany, says Arno Widmann, is not the aftermath of reunification, but a united Europe and globalisation.
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The social sciences have failed in their analyses of amok killers, frenzied murderers and the terrorist mind. And yet one look is enough to identify the culprit: the radical loser. By Hans Magnus Enzensberger
(Photo © Mariusz Kubik)
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