Construction of the Elbe Philharmonic is underway, with its opening planned for autumn, 2011. Hamburg?s creative artists are not alone in seeing a new landmark for their city in this spectacular concert hall....
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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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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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We present the books that shaped Germany's literary world this autumn, with futuristic novels about clones and time standing still, two major tomes on the fall of the Wall, and a sampling of bookish delights from around the globe.
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Essays by Karl Schlögel and Andrzej Stasiuk, memoirs by Martin Walser and Luc Bondy, histories of German fascination for Russia and a friendship with Hitler, a Weber biography and a book on painter Gerhard Richter.
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A monumental Mao biography, an essay on hate, a book about a 1969 failed bomb attack in Berlin's Jewish Community Centre, and a study of "mental capitalism" on the pervasiveness of advertising.
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Ukrainian poet and playwright Yuri Andrukhovych talks to Barbara Burckhardt about his new play "Orpheus, Illegal", the
Orange Revolution, euphoria, disillusionment and Bubabu.
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Guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Korea presented a lively mix emphasising both tradition and
transformation. In the absence of North Korea, politics was blended out and culture did the talking. By Andreas
Breitenstein
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Korea is the featured country at this year's Book Fair in Frankfurt. Poet Hwang Chi Woo, head of the Korean delegation, reflects on the difference between the visual culture of Europe and the sensual culture of Korea. Where he comes from, Western aesthetic categories simply don't apply.
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The country in focus at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair is Korea. Katharina Borchardt takes a look at the abundance of recently translated works and discovers a literature full of contrast and in the midst of change.
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Austrian poet Friederike Mayröcker has written a new book of prose, "And I shook a darling", haunted by the ghost of her life-long companion Ernst Jandl, who died in 2000. By Christina Weiss
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On August 1, we launched a poetry translation competition to celebrate what would have been Austrian poet Ernst Jandl's 80th birthday. Entries poured in from around the world, a jury headed by poet Barbara Köhler deliberated long and hard. Now the long-awaited moment has arrived. And the winner is ...
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"As I today, after many years, start off on a journey to the land of my birth, I feel as if I were leaving for Africa or Alaska. I am leaving for the unknown lands of my past without actually knowing why." Serbian author Bora Cosic visits his divided homeland for the first time since 1992.
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Marcel Reich-Ranicki is known as the Pope of literature – that's dumb.
Because the Pope is not interested in erotica and his language is
rarely juicy. Better: Marcel Reich-Ranicki is an 85-year-old pop star
who entertains his audience with book reviews. A conversation with weak
knees.
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