Süddeutsche Zeitung, 05.01.2007

"Beijing used to be a cowering city. It stood there like an old man who spins tales endlessly. Today's Beijing is upright. As though it's taken a dose of Viagra, the city erects itself bit by bit." For the series on major cities, author Xu Xing tells of his love-hate relationship with Beijing. "I have trouble breathing if I don't see street merchants pissing their pants in fear. Or a conniving crook, stealing glances. Or a nomadic worker digging one finger into his nose and rubbing his toes with the other while waiting for his employer. Or a street girl with the sex appeal of the youth. Or a policeman making someone tremble with fear. Or a girl from the country hiding porn DVDs in her kid's' diapers."


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 05.01.2007

Philosopher Catalin Avramescu describes in a wonderful text how the public space is becoming strangely private in Romania. The drivers of the public buses, for example, are creating private areas for themselves. "The drivers hide behind glass and curtains to isolate themselves from the passengers. There sits a man at the steering wheel in his vest and flip-flops, cigarette in mouth, listening to 'Manele' music. He's decorated his cabin with streamers from the soccer team Rapid, posters of the pop star Ana Lesko and plastic Christian crosses. He's often accompanied by relatives or chatting with a friend. I have seen buses where the occupants of the cabins have set up flower pots. While it lacks chickens or mongrels on chains, this microcosmos is a faithful reproduction of the suburban courtyard, an enclave of rural Romania relocated to a Mercedes bus that cruises through the city."


Die Welt 05.01.2007

Comedian Helge Schneider (website) who starred as Hitler in Dani Levy's new film "Mein Führer," squirms out of giving a straight answer so long in an interview with Peter Zander that the latter eventually says: "Sorry, but that sounds like the cliche of all nominal Nazis: I was only playing along." To which Schneider replies: "Well that's a going a bit far. And the remark is completely uncalled for in this context. I played Hitler for a Jewish director, to whom I entrusted myself. And actually, I don't need to be asked what I think about what he made out of it. Nor about what I think about the film or how it turned out. When a director makes a film, it's not up to the actor to say: I stand and fall with him. That would be utterly absurd. (...) Dani was trying to teach a young audience using the most economical means: treat your children better, people. That was his intention, I would have done things differently."


Die Tageszeitung 05.01.2007

Mona Sarkis introduces the most important women's religious community in Syria, the Qubaisiate. "They are treated like a secret sect. One reason being that its putative 75,000 members do not practise their religion openly, the other being that they do not speak with non-members. Information about them comes only through Muslim religious scholars, some of them women, who have attended one or other of their seminars. This is information not given readily due to the heavy taboo surrounding 'religion and women' – especially because the Qubaisiate belong to the influential upper classes. One can tell how high their standing is within the group by the shade of their robes. The closer they are to the legendary sheika, Munira al-Qubaisi, the darker they are."


Frankfurter Rundschau 05.01.2007

A new play "Ehrensache" (point of honour) by Lutz Hübner, one of Germany's most staged playwrights, which deals with the 2004 murder of a 14-year old German-Turkish girl from Hagen by two boys not much older than her, will soon allowed to be shown, Ruth Heynen reports, even though it violates the personality rights of her family. "In the recent court case filed by the Lübeck theatre, a settlement has been arrived at for the time being which warrants the unimpeded performance and printing of the play: in all publicity material, theatre programmes and – in the eventuality of a performance – opening credits, it should be made very clear that although the drama is oriented around real events, it is otherwise 'a product of artistic imagination'."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 05.01.2007

Richard Kämmerlings takes a look at the legal process surrounding Maxim Biller's novel "Esra" (more). Biller's ex-partner and her mother, who are identifiably the subjects of the novel, have succeeded in having the book banned and are demanding 100,000 euros compensation. Kämmerlings believes the judgement is justified as Biller knew that he was testing the limits. "It's extremely curious that authors call for a complete autonomy of fiction and art while at the same time, emphasising the social relevance of literature or lamenting its disappearance. Art that wants to be effective has to be sure that it meets the mark. To then lift the magic cloak at the critical moment and say 'it was all just thought up' is both inconsistent and cowardly. Otherwise, a literature of radical self-exposure, which Biller demands and practices in 'Esra', would make no sense. The strange thing about the debate is that Biller is being defended below the standards of his own novel and its implicit poetics."