There is hardly a theatrical profession that has recently been so fostered, celebrated, loaded with prizes and grants as young dramatists....
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The New Republic | The Nation | The New Yorker | L'Espresso | Gazeta Wyborcza | The New York Review of Books | Nepszabadsag | Al Ahram Weekly
| The Times Literary Supplement | Die Weltwoche
The New Republic, 27.02.2006 (USA)
In an excellent article, economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen
considers what form multiculturalism could take in the future. In many
European countries, the view that people are defined by their
origins, religion and culture is gaining ground. This inherent – as
opposed to freely chosen – identity is considered more relevant than
political orientation, language, or class.
For Sen, this is not
multiculturalism. "The vocal defense of multiculturalism that
we frequently hear these days is very often nothing more than a plea
for plural monoculturalism. If a young girl in a conservative
immigrant family wants to go out on a date with an English boy, that
would certainly be a multicultural initiative. In contrast, the
attempt by her guardians to stop her from doing this (a common enough
occurrence) is hardly a multicultural move, since it seeks to keep
the cultures separate. And yet it is the parents' prohibition, which
contributes to plural monoculturalism, that seems to garner the
loudest and most vocal defense from alleged multiculturalists, on the
ground of the importance of honoring traditional cultures - as if the
cultural freedom of the young woman were of no relevance whatever,
and as if the distinct cultures must somehow remain in secluded
boxes. "
The Nation, 06.03.2006 (U.S.A)
The cartoonists Art
Spiegelman and Joe Sacco give an interview on the cartoon conflict.
Sacco's first reaction was, "'What a bunch of idiots those Danes
were for printing those things.'" Spiegelman exercises a little more
restraint: "If there's a right to make cartoons, there has to be a
right to insult, and if there's no right to make cartoons, well, I'm
in big trouble. And I think America might be too."
The New Yorker, 27.02.2006 (USA)
Like the Christian ban, the Islamic ban on images of the Prophet was always the subject of infringement down the ages, writes Jane Kramer
in a commentary on the cartoon dispute. Kramer believes the
tumultuous protests in the Arab world have less to do with the
caricatures than with the 25 million Muslims living in Western Europe.
At the heart of the "power struggle in the Gulf Region" is not oil, but
"control over the Islamic diaspora, or what you could call
international Islam. It was clear to everyone involved that if the
diaspora in Europe produced a modern, critical, democratic Islam, the
Islamist regimes of the Middle East would begin to fall."
L'Espresso, 23.02.2006 (Italy)
Director Luc Besson
explains to Alessandra Mammi why his new film "Angel-A",
about a little man and a blond angel nearly two meters tall, is set
in Paris. "I needed an fabulous city that Andrew fails to see
in his desperation. If I had chosen a banal city, there would have
been no contrast. I wanted to show how this person gradually
recognizes the wonders surrounding him and thus comes to love
himself. That's why I chose Paris, but I could have shot just as well
in Rome, Venice or Siena." Apparently not in Berlin.
Gazeta Wyborcza, 18.02.2006
(Poland)
In an article published on
February 12, the Stockholm paper Dagens Nyheter wrote that "in
the Second World War, ninety percent of Dutch Jews were taken to
German and Polish death camps." Shortly thereafter, Katarzyna
Tubylewicz reports from Stockholm, Relacje, the magazine of Poles
abroad, printed an open letter objecting to the use of the term
"Polish death camp." The letter claims "This is an
insult to the Polish people. It looks as though the Swedish media
wants to respect Muslims but doesn't mind insulting Poles." The
editor in chief of Relacje, Krzysztof Mazowski, called for a boycott
of the Swedish paper. Tubylewicz reports that the spokesman of Dagens
Nyheter has in the meantime admitted that "Polish death camp"
was "incorrect and sloppy wording" that would be amended.
The author of the article, Bengt Albons, has now apologized.
The New York Review of Books,
09.03.2006 (U.S.A.)
"How swiftly victory
can spoil the best-laid plans," write Hussein Agha and Robert
Malley in an analysis of Hamas' election victory in Palestine.
"Hamas' leaders had hoped to hide behind Fatah and the PA; they
are now on the front lines. The burden that was supposed to be on
others is now squarely on them. In the days just after the election,
Hamas suddenly sounded more modest, restrained, and dependent on
third parties.... Paradoxically, Hamas' electoral sweep has curbed
its freedom of action far more than defeat would have."
Nepszabadsag, 15.02.2006 (Hungary)
This year the the Berlin International Film Festival seems to have been used primarily as a platform for German cinema, writes
Geza Csakvari somewhat sourly: "The festival takes place before the
ultra-modern backdrop that has gone up where until recently the
no-man's-land separated the East Bloc from the West. Presumably this year's edition
is supposed to demonstrate the triumph of German film. The
strict selection committee chose four German films for the competition,
while East European filmmakers barely featured in the programme,
despite the fact that they have played an increasingly important role
at the Berlinale over the past few decades... The only east European
film in the competition is 'Grbavica', the debut of Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic - and, needless to say, a German co-production." (Still, the film did end up winning the Golden Bear.)
Al Ahram Weekly, 16.02.2006 (Egypt)
Writing from Berlinale, Samir Farid reviews the Danish film "1:1" by Annette K. Olesen about a Muslim immigrant in Denmark: "With this film and the popular demonstrations against the caricatures, the Danes extend their hands to Arabs and Muslims.
Why should we turn them away simply because one imbecile drew a
caricature and another published it?" Another report by Ayman El-Amir picks up on the subject, demanding that people should try to understand the differences between the Arab-Muslim world and the West, "instead of masking them in an empty 'dialogue of civilisations'."
The Times Literary Supplement, 17.02.2006 (UK)
Christopher Hitchens calls "The Dragons of Expectation", the latest book by historian Robert Conquest, an absolute must for anyone who appreciates "irony and scruple and detachment".
The book deals with the failures, blindness and ideological gullibility
of intellectuals down the ages. But for all its readability, Hitchens
is still somewhat startled: "Is Conquest really recommending that
visions of the future be abandoned? The human desire to imagine a
better world may be the root of much idiocy and crime, but it does seem to be innate and it might, like religion, be ineradicable."
Die Weltwoche, 17.02.2006 (Switzerland)
Peter Wensierski's book "Schläge im Namen des Herrn" (blows in the name of the Lord) has not yet been reviewed in Germany. Reinhard Mohr is shocked
at the book, which investigates violence in Church orphanages in the
postwar period. "Most of the sisters were not at all qualified in
childcare, and some of their methods were directly taken over from Nazi practices. More than that: in the 'Kalmenhof'
orphanage in Idstein, for example, at least one thousand children were
murdered between 1941 and 1945 in the context of the institution's forced sterilisation
and euthanasia programmes. Many of the 'educators' and staff from this
time remained employed until the 1960s. And it was only in the 80s that
the mass grave containing children's skeletons was uncovered."
RSS
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.
The New Yorker searches for the ultimate difference between male and female. Elet es Irodalom comments on the Imre Kertesz interview in die Welt. Prospect assesses the development of Swedish crime writing. Walrus finds out from the conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin why it's sometimes necessary to get a little rough with the score. In Polityka, the historian Jerzy W.Borejsza remembers the assimilators, accommodators and collaborators in Poland's history. In the Guardian, Zadie Smith defends the novel against the essay.
In OpenDemocracy, the Moscow poet Tatiana Sherbina tears her hair out over Russia's obsession with Stalin. Polityka celebrates a film where it's okay not to be heroic. The London Review of Books cements its friendship with Roland Barthes. In Espresso, Umberto Eco suggests removing Christ from classroom crucifixes. In the New York Review of Books, Timothy Garton Ash talks velvet and guillotines. Magyar Narancs talks candidly about the Roma. The New Yorker eats in secret with a Michelin inspector. In Letras Libras, writer Cesar Aira explains why people shouldn't be forced to read. And Newsweek sings a swansong to America, the land of innovation.
In Open Democracy, Neal Ascherson wishes that the 1989 had had more French revolutionary zeal. Tygodnik remembers that Polish dissidents wanted German unity as far back as 1954. In Newsweek, Niall Ferguson argues that 1989 was not a patch on 1979. Laszlo Borhi hurls a rotten egg at Austrian's Social Democrats in Eurozine. Outlook India travels to Arunachal. Wired visits the Henry Ford of the information age. The New Republic embarks on a Peter Zumthor pilgrimage.
OpenDemocracy tells of the Russian waves which are doing away with the Iranian sparrows. The London Review reads new books on honour killings. The Nation goes in search of the last Yugoslav, Dusan Makavejev. The Walrus weeps for the printed book. The Guardian navigates its way through Michael Haneke's oeuvre. Polityka tells the Poles that you can have ethics without Catholicism, or even God. In Dawn, Arundhati Roy defends the Maoist guerillas in India. In Frontline, the Maoist guerilla leader, Koteswa Rao, chats about revolutionary executions. In Le Monde, Vaclav Havel is still fascinated by his critics. And HVG explains why the Hungarians think capitalism comes from the communists.
When Karadzic goes on trial in The Hague, the Hungarian plague will be tried alongside him, says the Magyar Narancs. The New Yorker explains why robots are better than husbands. In the New Republic, Enrique Krauze asks why Gabriel Garcia Marquez had such a thing for dictators. Europe has a sure footing in Turkey, Orhan Pamuk assures the Nouvel Obs. History is no recipe for how to live our lives today, the historian Karol Modzelewski tells Tygodnik Powszechny. N+1 tracks the rise of the neuronovel, and the TLS reads new Trotsky biographies.