global reading Europe: a random scandal book + a bestselling runaway novella (or: the joys of a telephone book box)

7 continents, 7 books, the next step: from the South Pole to ... Sweden and Germany

I started the 7 continents reading challenge well-planned in Antarctica, browsing books-from-Antarctica-lists and reading reviews. The book I picked was "Ice Bound" by Jerri Nielsen, I blogged about it here: global reading: Ice Bound (or: penguins, Antarctica, Endurance + how to count life)

For the next step, I tried a rather different, random approach: I went to our local telephone book box, and let myself be suprised by the books that were currently lined up there. I also brought some own reads in indirect exchange - and came home with thtree books.

The first is "Runaway Horse" by Martin Walser, who is a well-known author in Germany. But the real surprise was Carl Jonas Love Almqvist. I didn't know this author, and basically went with the cover, the note that it is a book about a journey, and the country of origin: Sweden. I haven't read a book from there so far, and with the Walser novella, this also neatly decided the next continent for the reading challenge: Europe.

So: the Almqvist book. Turns out, the book was originally published in 1839 in Sweden, and caused a scandal. The German edition I came across is a new edition, published in 2004. I guess Almqvist would have been thrilled to learn about the difference he made, and the still existing interest in his work - unfortunately, writing the book caused a downward spiral for himself, he lost his job,, even had to leave the country, and struggled ín exile. Here's more about him, and the book, from Wikipedia:

Carl Jonas Love Ludvig Almqvist (28 November 1793, Stockholm, Sweden – 26 September 1866, Bremen, Germany), was a romantic poet, early feminist, realist, composer, social critic, and traveller. "Sara Videbeck and the Chapel" is the English translation of Almqvist's most famous work, whose Swedish title is "Det går an" (lit. "It will do"). The novel is primarily an attack on lifelong marriage as an institution and the inability of women to become financially independent. The book's social tendency aroused lively debate and "det-går-an literature" became a concept. The controversy over the work, however, forced Almqvist out of his post as rector at the New Elementary School, Stockholm.

The book itself is a novella, and surprisingly vivid to read. It also is a reminder how much society and cultural norms changed in Europe in the last 150 years - and how books had an important role in that process. Almqvist himself was inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe.

But back to the back: as I browsed the links for it, I saw that it is actually available online in a place that is the very counterpart of the telephone book box: the internet library archive. Which host hundred thousands of files. Here is the link to it in the archive: Sara Videbeck and The chapel.

Now I just broswed the archive a bit, and was both amazed by its size, and overwhelmed by it. That's what's so nice about the phone box: it is simple, with maybe 200 books on its shelves. It's a good place to find books you never heard about, and read outside one's usual comfort zone, without being overwhelmed by choice. Here's a photo:


 

I discovered the book phone box 2 years ago, and wrote a longer note on it which also includes a book encounter of the sweet kind: "but there are no princess books"

Reading Almqvist also reminded me of the "Readwomen"-initiative, and my own resolution to read more books written by female authors. So that's another good global-reading match: the Antarctica book is written by a woman, and is a memoir. The European books so are written by male authors - the second book is Martin Walser's "Runaway Horse". Here's more about Walser and the book, from Wiki:

Martin Walser (born 24 March 1927) is a German writer. He became famous for describing the conflicts his anti-heroes have in his novels and stories. In 1998 he was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in Frankfurt. His most important work is "Ein fliehendes Pferd" (English: A Runaway Horse), published 1978, which was both a commercial and critical success.

The book has an own story to it: Malser wrote it during a summer-holiday stay in Sylt, as a playful small work as he paused with the longer book he worked on. And it probably is both this playful touch and the parallel to his own character and stay there that added to its success: reading it, you wonder how much is fiction and how much is observing himself and the people he meets. Altogether, the book is about pretending - both between the partners in a marriage, and between "old friends" who happen to meet again. How much of the stories we share are truth, and how much is make-believe? It's a thought-provoking read, but for me, at some point the ongoing and growing pretention started to feel tiring, as it's only in the end that the truth is revealed - I guess personally I would have been interested to read more about how the characters deal with the end-of-pretend, both on their own and in the relation to the others. But then, it's a novella from start and concept, and leaving you with the open end and question is a skilfull turn, too.

*

The third book I picked brought a nice surprise, too: it's written by a German female author. And is set in Spain - which is where I am right now. I already started to read it, and will do a second half of the "Europe" reads in a seperate post..... which is now online here: island reads: The Humans, Life Lessons, Zerotime, The Hive 

*

Reading Links 
Here are some additional links:

• The reading challenge - it's open to join: 7 Continents, 7 Billion People, 7 Books
• The readwomen-initiative, which started in 2014: #readwomen2014 - can a hashtah change reading habits?
• World books I read so far, listed by country: Book list by country
• The previous global reading book blog post: New places and where to start + global reading: Ice Bound (or: penguins, Antarctica, Endurance + how to count life)

24h city hyperlapse, or things found while...

from the department of interesting things found while looking for something else:

Stuttgart is the largest city here in this region. now someone took the time and created a video that includes 36 different of its places and covers 24 hours in 6 minutes.


24H HYPERLAPSE STUTTGART from yves pascal eckhardt on Vimeo.

**

and here are some of my own takes on Stuttgart:

• Stuttgart city walk: Stuttgart photo collage + note: 288 hours 
• art trip: space / art / territories (Kunstmuseum Stuttgart)
• and the thing Stuttgart is most "famous" for these days: Stuttgart21, or 11.000.000.000 Euro

day/dream - tag/traum, or: all those hidden words (a to z)

today: playing with words and images. once more i am surprised by the mirror effect - the way an image changes when it is simply duplicated and flipped horizontally. this change from real to surreal when actually nothing was altered in the image itself.  (the original is online in the photo blog: "door")

 the "door" photo, it was inspired by the current photo blog callenge "Room" - a word with two contradictory meanings: the open space, and the confinded space. and as it turns out, a word that sparked the next a-z post: "Room" is "Raum" in German, and also curiously is included in the word "Traum"... "Dream" ...  and so it went on, translating forth and back, and finding relations between languages and inside words.

and looking at the image above, i now notice that "Dream" includes "am"... all those words hidden in words.


*

Related links: 

• Previous posts: Anfang / Arrival / Alle, Blue, or the 6900 names of..,  Color Code 
• Other A-to-Z bloggers: Chris Galvin, Rose Hunter, Margrét Helgadóttir, Jane Hammons, Jo Thomas, Fred Osuna + introduction post: A to Z: A Blog Tour of the Alphabet 

Comic Coal Metropolis, or: short trip photos from the Ruhr Region

Back from a short trip to the Ruhr Region ("Ruhrgebiet"). Traditionally this was an area of coal mining and heavy industry. But in the last decades, more and more coal mines had to close and the whole region is now goes through a huge transition from old industry to modern industry.

The reason i went was "industry"-related: there's a huge comic + boardgame fair, and as i freelance for a comic company, i was there for live blogging and talks and generally helping with everything (including hosting the comic artists).

altogether, this now turned into a multi-themed trip with summer weather in October. here's an image stream:

view of the Ruhr Region from the "Gasometer",

an old gas tank that now is a museum 

"Zeche Zollverein": once a massive coal mine,

now an Unesco world heritage
(more photos from this place, here)

of course, not all is industry here:

church courtyard in the city centre

...and now, to the comic fair:

comic artist at work -

... and more art, now back in the Gasometer:

photo exhibition "Magisch Orte" / "Magic Places"

(which opened April 2011 and closes today, so i was just in time to see it) 

city moments: monuments and autumn trees 

sun reflections in the city

and finally: the drive back home

Once upon a time, an empty page

This post belongs to the Aotearoa Affair blog carnival - a web initiative of Kiwi and German writers and artists. It's inspired by the theme "Past Myths, Present Legends", moves from present to past to the now, and includes one of the oldest German literary works: a (anti)heroe's tale.

June, 2009, Konstanz
Together with a friend I walk through Konstanz - a city located at the edge of Lake Constance, which itself is an edge: the southern border of Germany. Neither of us has been in this place before. We walk through the old streets of the city centre, and arrive at a house with a large mural, like a memory of the past. We try to decipher the scenes, and notice the word: "Salve".

Our guidebook doesn't tell the story of the mural, but it includes a timeline. Turns out,  the history of Konstanz reaches back to Roman times. Back then, around the year 300 a.C., the settlement was named Constantia. So that's what the words "Salve" relate to: the Roman greeting. Now, if only those old stones could talk and tell the tales of those times.

*

*
January, 2012, Munich
In many places, the old stones were lost: demolished, to make space for new houses. Or simply: built upon. Sometimes they appear again. Like in this construction site in the centre of Munich. Underneath the planned new buildings: the old foundations of houses forgotten a long time ago. Who lived there? And which tales were told in those old rooms? Nothing remains but the silent stones. And sometimes, a piece of paper.

*

Year 900, in an unknown place
After 30 years of war and forced exile, as a German legend has it, an old warrior returns home. At the border, a young soldier stops him, and asks who is. The father realizes that the young soldier is his son - but the son believes his father is dead. He calls for a fight, in the honour of his father.

The story, it's the "Hildebrandslied" - "Hildebrand's song" - an old legend that points at the reality of the region that started to turn into "Deutschland" in the 15th century. Before that, Germany was a patchwork of changing borders, and endless wars. It's maybe not coincidence that the warrior legend is one of the earliest literary works in German, written in Old German verse, and with it, is the only surviving example of what probably was an oral tradition of the Germanic tribes.

Here's the original start, in Old German - which no one would be able to understand now, except of a few experts of old languages. The lines, they are like language fossils. But their sound still carries the tale, beyond understanding:

Ik gihorta ðat seggen
ðat sih urhettun ænon muotin
Hiltibrant enti Haðubrant untar heriun tuem
sunufatarungo iro saro rihtun
garutun se iro guðhamun gurtun sih iro suert ana
helidos ubar hringa do sie to dero hiltiu ritun

here's the German version:
Ich hörte (glaubwürdig) berichten,
daß zwei Krieger, Hildebrand und Hadubrand, (allein)
zwischen ihren beiden Heeren, aufeinanderstießen.
Zwei Leute von gleichem Blut, Vater und Sohn, rückten da ihre Rüstung zurecht,
sie strafften ihre Panzerhemden und gürteten ihre
Schwerter über die Eisenringe, die Männer,
als sie zu diesem Kampf ritten.

and here's the English translation:
I heard tell
That warriors met in single combat
Hildebrand and Hadubrand between two armies
son and father prepared their armour
made ready their battle garments girded on their swords
the warriors, over their chain mail

*

Two Pages
1100 years is the age of the pages that carry the Hildebrand-text. It was written down in a monastery, on the first and last page of an even older biblical manuscript. The text is not complete - as the space on the last page wasn't large enough for all verses. Still, it survived. Was stolen, brought to another continent, brought back. Its story, it now is a fable in itself.

*

2012, Überlingen
Tales told. Tales forgotten. Tales lingering.
And sometimes: tales turned into a fountain. Like here, in Überlingen - a place that also borders at Lake Constance. I walked around the fountain twice, but there's no plate, no hint at the tale itself. But it's there, wordless, rising.

*
1885, Regensburg
A recent article in the Guardian: For years, a historian travelled a the region of Germany called Oberpfalz, to collect the local fairy tales, like the Grimm Brothers. But while the Grimm fairy tales got popular, the collected tales of Oberpfalz didn't gain much attention. The volumes were filed in the city archive, and forgotten, for 150 years. The rest, again, is a tale itself: a cultural curator looked for regional stories in the archive, and re-discovered the books that alway had been waiting there, carrying 500 tales.

One of them is online now in English: The Turnip Princess

*

And to end these notes on tales with a beginning, here the starting words of fairy tales in German:
Es war einmal...
It was onetime...

----------------
related links, myths, lines:

• myths + tales in this blog: life as a journey with some myths included
• the current issue of the Aotearoa Affair: Crossings
• the Hildebrand lines: wikipedia/Hildebrandslied

a first time: "Leipzig, or: East West Real Life"

my first e-book.
about my first visit to the other side of Germany.
...is now online

the cover photo is right from the middle of Leipzig city, East Germany.
more about the book, free sample included:

Leipzig, or: East West Real Life

(if you want to read it all, make sure to follow the hint - it leads to a coupon)

signage

"streets, signs, directions" is the feature theme of the upcoming anniversary edition of the language/place blog carnival. i'm excited about hosting the carnival again, for the first time after the inaugral edition. and now started to work on it.

the current issue + call is up here, and here's an invite with notes: into October.

above, a street signage photo from my own photo files - that's from Mallorca, Northern coast.

and this is where you arrive at when you picture google: "signs streets directions" - i like how the second entry is a future sign, in between multiple choice sign posts.

(in other news: Berlin was target of a railway attack, police found 7 prepared incendiary spots in time to prevent worse. it's such a relieve they found it in time, after another incident, and no one got injured. seems it was a new left-wing radical group. their plan: to protest against war. it was main news, but just for a short time. now the Euro trouble is main headline again. also, air control might go on strike later this week, nationwide. but on the upside, the book fair starts, making Frankfurt, this place of banks and money, for a while a headquarter of books)

poetry, politics, pirates, and the wealth of the world, in a wiki list

friday. still trying to catch up with all the news of this week.

poetry
so good about the Nobel Prize of Literature, honoring a poet, and pointing at the quality of poetry: to give a fresh access to reality. i started to browse Tranströmer links, then came across his collection, published by an indie press. which gave the impulse to piece a blog entry together for the blueprint blog: New Collected Poems - Tomas Tranströmer

then the post man arrived, delivering: A Foal Poem by Rose Hunter. i read it as pdf, but it feels different as complete book. Rose is still sending out PDFs if you are interested. opening the pages of poems also made me think of what poet Daniela Elza said about poetry: "I see freedom in poetry because we all own the materials it is made of, and it provides a spiritual self sufficiency which materialism does not like, since it wants you to be dependent on it. I think when we are emotionally in tact we need less stuff." (link)

value systems and literature
later, i picked up the new "Zeit". their feature theme this week, in celebration of Frankfurt Book Fair (which will happen next week): books. they even have an extra book magazine included in this week's paper, which features new German books, and on the guestland of the book fair: Iceland. "Wenn die Aktienkurse in den Keller rutschen, steigt der Wert der Literatur," they titled their main article. "When the stock markets fall, the worth of literature rises."

it sounds like an author's dream at first, but if put slightly different, it connects to a conversation i had with a friend about money as value system: that the human mind tends to falls for money, maybe also because it seems like a system that is simple to understand, and allows easy comparisons: what is more expensive, what is cheaper? who are the richest persons? who has the most expensive villa, car, wedding, divorce, etc? there are hundreds of money lists out there, and the group of the "rich and beautiful" (as if there was a logic connection) are one of the main role models of our society. but in times like this, with the Euro suddenly being unstable, and whole countries on the verge of national bankruptcy - a time of stock markets falling daily, and millions and millions of $$ lost there daily, gone (gone where? all this ghost money). - so back to value: in those times, money isn't so easy to understand. and it feels, there should be other, deeper values to life. and if literature seen as a contemplation on life - then the quote actually makes a lot of sense.

politics & pirates
which now also connects to the book i am reading: "Persist: In Praise of the Creative Spirit in a World Gone Mad with Commerce" by Peter Clothier, who blogged about the Wall Street happenings in his blog this week: Democracy not Corporatocracy - here's a quote from it, from the "Declaration of the Occupation of New York City":

"As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power."

the Wall Street protests are main news here in Germany, too (right next to the Euro-drama). altogether, the year seems to bring a time of citizens standing up for a better world, in so many places. here in Germany, a wave of protests started in 2010, induced by a mega-railway-project. first everyone ignored the protesters. now the political scene is shifting - the "Green Party" reached the majority of votes in a regional election, which lead to afirst Green regional governor. and there is a new politial party: The "Piratenpartei" - the Pirate Party, with unexpected first success (here's a Guardian article: Pirate party snatches seats in Berlin state election - Irreverent campaign that initially focused on filesharing, data protection and censorship draws 8.5% of vote, exit polls indicate)

as an effect of that, currently all political parties discover their green and citizen-interested side. some of the conservative hardliners now get replaced by more moderate and sympathic candidates. it's a huge shift in the political landscape, a process that no one expected to happen.

percentages
the question is, though, if any political party currently is able to solve the massive problems that keep tumbling through the news-tickers in fast forward: the Euro-crisis, the possible state bankruptcy of Greece, the famine in Africa (which now dropped to the end of the news stream), the growing gaps in society - "Which party is best equipped to solve the political problems?" a recent national study asked. "Keine Partei kann das", 40% answered. "None of the political parties."

who, then? (they didn't ask that. i wished they had, though)

and following the theme of percentages: it's scary to see the statistic of the distribution of wealth in the US, with 1% of the citizens holding 40% of the nation's wealth, and induced through it, also a strong influence on political processes and decisions (wiki "We are 99%", "5 Facts", "Who are the 99%" - Washington Post).

reading through the articles and looking at the numbers adds a question mark to the American way of life. where is it leading to? and also, how well does it work as role model for other states - and how is the actuall concentration of wealth affecting other societies through global corporate companies?

the wealth of the world, in a wiki list
taking these percentages a step further is a global List of countries by distribution of  wealth.
this list looks overwhelming, but allows sorting by user:

• click "share of world population". you get the same list, now starting with the world's largest populations: China and India, then a gap, then the USA, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia.
• click "share of world wealth" to arrive at a list that show the richest countries (by summed-up wealth): USA, Japan, China, UK, Germany, Italy, India...
• now, click "wealth per adult" - which logically is the quotient of wealth/population: which puts Hong Kong and Luxembourg on top, followed by the USA, Switzerland, UK and Netherlands.
• the last column, "Wealth Gini", shows if the wealth is equally or unequally distributed. the higher, the more unequal: starting with Namibia, Zimbabwe, Denmark.. and then: the World as a whole, then Switzerland and the USA 
• on the other end of the Gini-list, the countries with a more equal distribution of wealth are: Japan, China, Spain, Korea, Macao, Ireland, Italy, Yemen, Finland, Australia...