Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 02.02.2005

Michael Braun is very taken by the latest collection of poems by Thomas Kling, one of Germany's leading contemporary poets, "Auswertung der Flugdaten" (Evaluation of the Flight Data). "This fascinating book opens with 'Song of the Bronchoscopy', a gripping cycle of poems based on inklings of death in which the lyrical subject reflects on his situation 'at the edge of the grave'. The verse deals with cool medical investigations and X-rays of the human body. These are the poems of a man casting his accustomed cultural archaeological gaze on himself. The body of the lyrical subject is not merely the physical object of a medical visit, but material for a story where medical interventions become a sort of geological experiment."

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the death of French baroque author Louis de Rouvroy, Duke de Saint-Simon (1675-1755), Mark Zitzmann draws a portrait of the author, whose autobiographical "Memoires" blend real life elements into an "autofiction" that inspired Stendhal, Flaubert and Proust. Arguing for Saint-Simon's relevance today, Zitzmann calls him both voyeur and visionary. "A voyeur, because Saint-Simon continually takes up the posture of the observer, whose Argus' eyes greedily register every gesture, down to the tiniest movement." A visionary because in peering into the darkest corners of the courtly life, he paints the weaknesses that would bring about its downfall. "The image Saint-Simon's 'Memoires' give of bygone times is in reality a blackened, distorting mirror full of twisted faces. The stormy, idiosyncratic style, the eerily accurate, bitter power and the sometimes timid lyricism of his so un-French, and yet so deeply French prose distills pessimism, pride, disdain, even hatred and acid humour into a drug that has earned its place in the poison cabinet of world literature."


Frankfurter Rundschau, 02.03.2005

The orange revolution was Ukraine's first step towards becoming a modern nation, comment Claudia and Uwe Dathe, of the DAAD in Kiev. The "deciding factor" is "the sweeping institutional changes which Yushchenko's victory has made possible." A victory which "was won not only through pressure from the masses, but also through institutional channels. His aim was not to storm the institutions, but to strengthen them. Evening after evening he explained the duties of the parliament and the courts to the freezing crowds. By emphasising the importance of these institutions for the reorganisation of the country, he channelled the political energy of his supporters. Once the Ukrainians started to realise that institutions which for 14 years had served only to maintain the power of a political elite could be changed from the roots up, many began to accept his ideas on modernisation. This became clear on December 26 not only from the presence of hordes of foreign election observers, but also from the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who worked in the electoral commissions and controlled the vote count."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 02.03.2005

In the wake of the most recent suicide bombing in Irak that killed over one hundred people, Iraqi author Hussain al-Mozany comments bitterly on Arab intellectuals, who in his view do not reflect critically enough on the violence in their own culture. "Instead of thinking about the brutality of the present they prefer to rehash the good old anti-Americanism with European fellow intellectuals and poets, reciting Palestinian poet Mamoud Darwish's credo: 'I urinate on the Americans'. This leaves the Islamic fundamentalists free to go on dreaming about their paradisical brothel."

Ellen Kohlhaas writes an interesting report on the heroic work of the Zagreb Opera, which has to survive on a shoestring. "Opera seats are filled to 85 percent, and the ballet is always sold out. Although opera tickets are very expensive in comparison with the average income, amazingly it is the elderly who regularly go to the opera. And they pay for it by saving on basic needs. For them high culture is simply a part of life - this is a leftover of the Habsburg era. Middle aged audiences are dwindling and this is a result of the sheer fight for survival in Croatia today. But part of this trend can also be attributed to the communist regime, which frowned on the opera as a feudal relic."

An ongoing debate is raging in Germany about the pros and cons of daycare for children. Some argue they should be more heavily subsidised to allow parents to work, while others insist mothers should stay at home and care for their children themselves. Gabriele Dietrich advises against putting very small children in nurseries, arguing that an early separation from the mother could traumatise the tots. "When children are separated from their mothers, they suffer psychic pains that can damage the psyche irreparably. This fact can no longer be dismissed as an outdated myth, because brain researchers are now confirming what experience has always taught us. A neurobiological study on mammals at the University of Magdeburg shows that 'socio-emotional and intellectual abilities' depend on the quality of the parent-child relationship in early years. Interrupting this contact leads to synaptic modifications in the brain, which play a fundamental role in the development of 'emotional behaviour, learning ability and memory'."