From Publishers Weekly
Munich-based German poet, essayist and editor Enzensberger (Mediocrity and Delusion; Civil Wars) reveals his forcefully lyrical sensibility in this new collection of essays. His subjects range from a look at Bartolome de Las Casas, the Spanish historian of the colonization of the New World, to a vehement indictment of Saddam Hussein in a 1991 article titled, "Hitler Walks Again." No slacker for attacking vast targets, he also takes on the World Bank and IMF in a chapter, "Billions of All Countries, Unite!" After a number of such subjects in which the author shows his verve and mettle, the reader is inclined to lend him an even more attentive ear when, toward the end of the book, he addresses literary and aesthetic issues, such as the value of the literary avant-garde. Some of these pieces approach Swiftian irony; "In Praise of the Illiterate," where Enzensberger mentions that the German scandal sheet Bild Zeitung "proved that it is possible to sell the abolition of reading as reading, and to manufacture a print medium for secondary illiterates." Despite the many different hands involved in translating the present volume, including critic John Simon, who praises the author's "humanism" and "sardonic acumen," it reads with force and momentum. This worthy collection suggests that politics and culture are indeed inseparable.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Iconoclastic essays on the state and fate of the West at the end of a dreadful century. Did he not eschew the word, the German poet and essayist Enzensberger (Europe, Europe, 1989, etc.) might be termed a ``postmodernist,'' for he speaks here of an era, modernity, that has exhausted itself. Unlike most postmodern thinkers, however, he writes well and coherently, and possesses a sense of humor. He is more bemused by the modern world than outraged (though well aware of its tragedies.) Enzensbergers targets are many, from politicians to the World Bank to intellectuals (with a nice take on the tooth of the narwhal, as well). Connecting these disparate subjects, however, is a gentle but penetrating attack on the shibboleths of the modern world; certainty, progress, perfectibility are all called into question. ``Consistency,'' writes Enzensberger, ``will turn any good cause into a bad one.'' A belief in progress, the inexorable march of time toward the great and perfect futurebe it a classless society, the true Germany, the realm of freedomhas led to ruin time and again. Better, writes Enzensberger, is ``normality,'' for within normality, the persistent attention to the details of everyday life, lies a common humanity and collective memory and wisdom that has been able to withstand all who would perfect us. And so, within these pages, we seem to bumble on, succeeding as a species despite, not because of, grand designs. Not all the essays here are of equal quality. Some topics are quite trivial (fashion in ``The Street Theater of Rags''), others are overfamiliar (television in ``The Zero Medium''). Also, many of the pieces have appeared in English in previous volumes. Still, the quality of writing and thought here is usually superior to better known and more celebrated contemporary social critics. In all, an eloquent defense of common sense, humanism, and thought. --
Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
