Tuesday May 2, 2006

Die Tageszeitung, 02.05.2006

Anti-Semitism is growing in Turkey, and among Turks living in Germany, write Daniel Bax and Michael Kiefer. "The latest thing is books warning of an infiltration in Turkey by so-called Dönmeh. The word Dönmeh refers to followers of the former rabbi of Izmir, Sabbatai Sevi (1626 - 1676), and their descendants... In Jewish history, Sabbatai Sevi is considered a 'false Messiah.' But his followers' descendants are still mistrusted in modern Turkey as crypto Jews. They are viewed with hostility as they are said to have preserved certain Jewish rites and habits. And in fact, good numbers of Dönme are found among committed publicists, liberal politicians and left-wing journalists."


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 02.05.2006

Andrian Kreye reports on the discussion on identity and integration which signandsight.com organised with Perlentaucher at the New York PEN festival. "Integration is an active process, warned Necla Kelek at the end of her talk. Pascal Bruckner agreed in principle, but suggested that although America still had the ability to overcome its mistakes, Europe had long since fallen into a collective depression, which was leading to the paralysis of society's processes. But precisely this is the root of modern thinking, Richard Rodriguez threw in. 'We got the pronoun 'I' from the French Enlightenment', he concluded. 'It's about time we finally threw off the old 'We' culture." (Click here for more information about the speakers.)


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 02.05.2006

Sabine Haupt returns somewhat put out from the Salon du livre in Geneva. The book fair is above all a "noisy bazaar" whose core business of selling books, not to mention literature, is increasingly put on the back burner," she writes. "People have got used to the Geneva Book Fair selling jewellery and fashion accessories, crystals, graphological analyses, toys and equipment for health and fitness. But being harassed to get new credit cards or telephone contracts, just like in a shopping district or at a train station is something else entirely. The rents for stands in Geneva are presumably more affordable for such businesses than for some Swiss-German literary publishers, who since the Basel Book Fair was founded can simply no longer afford a second national appearance in Geneva."


Saturday April 29, 2006

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 29.04.2006

The Iraqi writer Najem Wali reports on the advancing militarisation of everyday life in the Arab world – now women are increasingly packing weapons. "The front pages of the newspapers show women with painted nails brandishing their Glock and Tarek revolvers. (In Bagdad after the attack on the golden cupola in Samara, the Glock has a market value of 1,280, the Tarek 806 dollars). Nowadays it is more common to see a gun than a book in Arab countries. Since 1967 and the defeat of Arab machismo by the 'feminine' Israel (the word is a feminine noun in Arabic and half of the Israeli army is female), Arab societies are becoming increasingly militaristic."


Die Welt, 29.04.2006

In the literature section, Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt talks about how different Freud sounds in French: "Freud sounds as ordinary in German as he does aristocraticly upper-middle class in French. That psychoanalysis is considered so much more important in France than in Germany is perhaps partly due to the fact that the texts seem to gain in weight by being less accessible. Curiously enough, although Freud's language is not exactly easy in German, it is always in harmony with the language's stylistic rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. And this is precisely what does not function in French. As a result Freud's slightly mocking, ironic tone and occasional wink of an eye always come out grave and deadly serious."


Berliner Zeitung, 29.04.2006

Markus Schneider presents Turkish-German pop star Muhabbet, whose single "Sie liegt in meinen Armen" (she's lying in my arms) has been downloaded several hundred thousand times. Muhabbet does "conventional R&B, enriched with hiphop, reggae beats and plenty of melismas. Strings and wind instruments grind out the melodies, while the singer's voice adds short, arabesque melodic loops to the syllables. 'Maybe you're wondering: can't he sing straight?' says Muhabbet. 'But the thing is, with us the feeling's got to come first.' Then he demonstrates how to do 'Arabesque' – the name of the Turkish popular style underlying his art – mixing elements from schmooze singer Xavier Naidoo and a German children's song."