To be printed silver on black. For the upcoming book about Ratinger Hof.
Posts under ‘Literature’
I’m reading Arno Schmidt again
This time in English, which in this particular case is brand new to me.
Schmidt, translated by John E. Woods
Harker 10 is out
The fabulous writer/artist team Roger Gibson and Vince Danks have just published Harker issue 10. Harker and his sidekick Critchley are still in Whitby, hunting the killer of Agatha Fletcher.
Buy! – it’s fantastic, gorgeous, tasty and delicious. Trust me, I’m an art director.
David Tennant is Craig Murray
Next Saturday on Radio 4: Murder in Samarkand.
And here is Craig Murray’s weblog. And Murder in Samarkand, the book; then, an article in The Guardian. Saturday, the 20th, BBC Radio 4 : 2.30-4.00pm. Listen.
David Tennant stars in David Hare’s new drama for radio, Murder In Samarkand, based on the memoir by Craig Murray.
In Hare’s play, Craig is a high-flyer in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who loves his job and is proud to be appointed Ambassador for the first time, to Tashkent. It’s before the Iraq war and Uzbekistan is newly in focus as a useful ally in the “War on Terror”.
Craig is a man who, when he works, likes to work really hard, and when he has fun, he likes to really enjoy himself – and he immediately starts to do both. He visits the local British businesses, he finds the girls, the night clubs and the drinking friends. And he discovers he is Ambassador to a dire regime that imprisons dissidents and routinely uses torture on its citizens. He realises the Uzbeks are supplying the Americans with intelligence derived from torture, and he cannot get his head around the fact that UK complicity in this doesn’t seem to concern his superiors – though they are shocked by the girls and the night clubs. The consequences for him couldn’t be greater.
The Ratinger Hof Book
As you may or may not know, I’m editing and designing a book about the Ratinger Hof in Düsseldorf.
For those who don’t know: the Ratinger Hof was unique in the late seventies – this was the place where art, punk and everyday culture came together. This was the place where bands like Wire, 999, or Bauhaus had their first gigs in Germany. It was a place frequented by artists like Martin Kippenberger and Joseph Beuys, while Mittagspause, Male or S.Y.P.H. played live on stage, generating an incredible amount of noise – and the stage was only a few snooker tables pushed together with a board on top of them.
And that’s why Koewi and I are doing a book about this bright sparkling gem of German cultural history. It will be out in the bookshops this Summer. With photos by Richard Gleim, Carmen Knoebel, myself and others.
For those who know: here’s a small glimpse of what to expect.
Monsters and other creatures
The Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters (Part 1, Part 2) at the Monster Brains weblog.
Kauka Antique
The Fix & Foxi archive. Goes back to 1954, each download will cost you €0.99. Not bad actually.
A new Weblog.
Der Briefwechsel zwischen Schiller & Goethe.
Hier wird ab dem 13. Juni 2009 der Briefwechsel zwischen Schiller und Goethe als Echtzeit-Blog veröffentlicht. Der Briefwechsel umfasst 1011 Briefe in 11 Jahren. Wenn alles nach Plan geht, wird dieses Blog also im Jahre 2020 beendet werden. Genauer: am 26. oder 27. April.
Cartoon by F. K. Waechter. From: Unser Goethe, Ein Lesebuch. 2001 Verlag, 1987.
