Merkur
2012-04-03
Summary Merkur 4/2012
The April issue (Number 755) opens with two texts that won't win any popularity contests. Ralph Bollmann has penned a fundamental "praise of bureaucracy," and Helmut Fangmann illuminates the same topic from the perspective of "politics and administration."
The two following essays form a diptych of West-Eastern Europe. Lawyer Benno Heussen skeptically observes the European Union politics as an insider of business mergers and places particular emphasis on German-French aspects. Adam Krzeminski points to the idea of Europe posed by Polish nobleman Adam Czartoryski, once foreign minister under Czar Alexander I, which is interesting again in today's context.
Michael Maar praises Wolfgang Herrndorf's novel Sand as a work with staying power and simultaneously subjects it to a subtle, detective-like reading. Rosten Woo explains why the Apollo spacesuit is interesting for architectural theory; Martin Urmann explores Armen Avanessian's study of the ironic spirit of modernism. Michael Esders warns us about the internet-driven hype of "real time," while Wolfgang Marx sees Wittgenstein throwing the ladder away and Kai Spanke reports on his experiences in South Korea.