Leipzig, etc.
Mar. 26th, 2004 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakBriefly, from your exhausted correspondent in Leipzig: it's a compare and contrast experience if you think of the Frankfurt Book Fair in autumn. The Leipzig one isn't anywhere near as huge and doesn't have the relentless energy, but its very intimacy contributes to its charm and gives it an advantage of its own. That and the fact there are more readings and debates here than in Frankfurt, plus it's blessedly free of un-literary celebrities. (No Bohlen, thank God. That's not telling you anything if you're not German. Be grateful. You don't want to know who he is, believe me.)
So far, the most memorable thing for me was debating with the French writer and philospher Jean-Claude Gillebaude about ethics, biogenetics, and one's duty as an author. Now I did have French at school, but unfortunately it was my third foreign language, which meant I only had it for three years, and it was also the one I wasn't very good at (as opposed to Latin and English). However, as it turned out I was fluent enough to understand everything M. Gillebaude said, though I spared our audience the dubious pleasure of hearing me murder the French language and spoke German, which got translated to M. Gillebaude simultanously. (That translator was a minor miracle - he also translated anything M. Gillebaude said into German for those of the audience who had wanted earphones. It made for a spirited debate; if anything, we agreed to much, and so the moderator played the advocatus diaboli a bit and took contrary positions to both of us, which was good for keeping everything vivid. As soon as we were done and rose, M. Gillebaude went to me and kissed me left and right on the cheek. In the spirit of French/German friendship, one supposes.*g*
There were some interesting books at the fair (note to self: check out Molly Ivins when at home), though the one I came back to the hotel with wasn't one I would have bought - a signed copy of Helmut Kohl's memoirs. Not a big fan of our former chancellor here - nor of the present one, to clarify that - and if it had to be a thick volume by a former head of government, why couldn't it be Jimmy Carter's novel about the American Revolution, newly published this spring and also presented at the fair? But you don't say no if a nice publishing person thinks she does you a favour.
There is a very strong presence of comics - or graphic novels, to use the more pretentious term - and lo and behold, both the second volume of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the first half of 1602 are out in German now. And a new translation of Prelude and Nocturnes is promised. (Though I don't know what's wrong with the old one. Personally, I read Gaiman in the original, but the translations of Sandman are rather good.) A lot of Anime and Manga, the appeal of which I still don't get on an emotional level. I mean, that one Manga Death novel was fun, but aside from that - I shudder each time I see someone draw one of the Marauders in a style which looks as if its cutefying them into big-eyed kids. And I don't even want to imagine the horror of Manga!Snape.
The disadvantage of being at the Book Fair is that I hardly get to go online, which means all sort of things could be happening at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
theatrical_muse to my unprotected muses.
Lastly: when will we get a new Angel episode? (I need to know in order to prepare a bribe for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bimo or cavendish.)
So far, the most memorable thing for me was debating with the French writer and philospher Jean-Claude Gillebaude about ethics, biogenetics, and one's duty as an author. Now I did have French at school, but unfortunately it was my third foreign language, which meant I only had it for three years, and it was also the one I wasn't very good at (as opposed to Latin and English). However, as it turned out I was fluent enough to understand everything M. Gillebaude said, though I spared our audience the dubious pleasure of hearing me murder the French language and spoke German, which got translated to M. Gillebaude simultanously. (That translator was a minor miracle - he also translated anything M. Gillebaude said into German for those of the audience who had wanted earphones. It made for a spirited debate; if anything, we agreed to much, and so the moderator played the advocatus diaboli a bit and took contrary positions to both of us, which was good for keeping everything vivid. As soon as we were done and rose, M. Gillebaude went to me and kissed me left and right on the cheek. In the spirit of French/German friendship, one supposes.*g*
There were some interesting books at the fair (note to self: check out Molly Ivins when at home), though the one I came back to the hotel with wasn't one I would have bought - a signed copy of Helmut Kohl's memoirs. Not a big fan of our former chancellor here - nor of the present one, to clarify that - and if it had to be a thick volume by a former head of government, why couldn't it be Jimmy Carter's novel about the American Revolution, newly published this spring and also presented at the fair? But you don't say no if a nice publishing person thinks she does you a favour.
There is a very strong presence of comics - or graphic novels, to use the more pretentious term - and lo and behold, both the second volume of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the first half of 1602 are out in German now. And a new translation of Prelude and Nocturnes is promised. (Though I don't know what's wrong with the old one. Personally, I read Gaiman in the original, but the translations of Sandman are rather good.) A lot of Anime and Manga, the appeal of which I still don't get on an emotional level. I mean, that one Manga Death novel was fun, but aside from that - I shudder each time I see someone draw one of the Marauders in a style which looks as if its cutefying them into big-eyed kids. And I don't even want to imagine the horror of Manga!Snape.
The disadvantage of being at the Book Fair is that I hardly get to go online, which means all sort of things could be happening at
theatrical_muse to my unprotected muses. Lastly: when will we get a new Angel episode? (I need to know in order to prepare a bribe for
bimo or cavendish.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-03-26 12:43 pm (UTC)Sounds like you're having an interesting time in Leipzig :)
:-)
Date: 2004-03-26 01:23 pm (UTC)Also your report from the Leipzig Book fair sounds quite interesting, especially your debate with the French philosopher ;-) (my french is just well enough to order breakfast and to know that I would dearly _like_ to understand the songs of Jaques Brel, if only I could. ;-) ).
And speaking of ethics in biogenetics: I have read the first, say, 150 pages of Götterdömmerung. (originally I had decided not to take a signed copy with me on the train to work, but then I thought if I continue this I am never going to read it ;-) ).
And so far I really liked it :-). (but I do not know if this is the right place for such a discussion ... ;-). Anyway, thanks again for the nice bribe :-).
F.
Thank you, oh generous one
Date: 2004-03-28 06:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-26 01:58 pm (UTC)14th Avril, je pense (and being English I'm allowed to murder the French language, they expect it of us *g*).
no subject
Date: 2004-03-28 06:37 am (UTC)love the icon! It should be my motto!
Date: 2004-03-26 09:55 pm (UTC)icon courtesy of <lj user="sabine101">
Date: 2004-03-28 06:38 am (UTC)The horror. The horror....
They say laughter is good for you...
Date: 2004-03-27 03:12 pm (UTC)(Yes, the majority of my friends here are teenagers. That may sound as if I'm seriously regressing, but in reality it's just a side-effect of the British educational system which releases students to universities at the tender age of 18, and sometimes even 17. Since the average university education here takes three years, that means that most of them will be teenagers through most of their university years. Someone like me, a 27-year-old student, is a real oddity. I know 22-year-olds who are having medium-sized crises due to their 'advanced' age!)
Re: Bohlen:
I know someone here who once went to a Modern Talking concert in Mongolia!
Re: Kohl:
Well, it could have been worse: it could have been Bohlen! ;-) (Or is that better? Hmm...)
Re: Manga!Potter characters
*shudder* Yeah, the fandom is infested with them.
Not that I have anything in general against manga. In fact, there is even stuff out there that does not have the typical, cutesy big eyes, and since I am currently on a quest do discover all kinds of Good Comics, I may well branch out into manga, some time. At the moment I'm still busy with American independents, though, and next up are French and Belgian 'bande dessinées' - already got a few interesting 'candidates' lined up. Unfortunately buying comics is an expensive hobby, so I can't read quite as many as I would like.
Glad to help with your health *g*
Date: 2004-03-28 06:40 am (UTC)Clearly, Mongolia isn't what it used to be...