For Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, modernism was a sinister force, especially in Russia, where it foretold “the most physically destructive revolution of the twentieth century”. Richard Tempest explores Solzhenitsyn’s overt and covert (dis)engagement with Russian and European modernism, arguing that he employed modernist means to achieve anti-modernist ends.
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The comic book Tintin in the Congo has been charged with racism in a Brussels court for its display of colonial attitudes from the 1930s. Morten Harper re-reads “countercultural” Norwegian comics and reveals how there, too, humour functions at the expense of minorities.
Of course we should love, honour and cherish our species, says British moral philosopher Mary Midgley. But should we have to worship it too?
Author Janice Galloway reveals her lifelong fascination with Pieter Breugel the Younger, whose love of the “ordinary”, she believes, chimes with the Scottish character.
British author Simon Mawer has used the history of Brno and the personalities connected with the city in two of his novels. His latest, The Glass Room, loosely based on the story of Mies van der Rohe’s famous Villa Tugendhat, was recently published in Czech to a very favourable reception. It would, however, be a mistake to connect Simon Mawer with only one book and one theme. Marek Seckar talks with the writer about real and literary buildings, Brno, and about art, science and uncertainty.
The advance of populist anti-Islamic forces in the liberal bastions of northern Europe – Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden – appears to reflect a betrayal of these societies’ renowned social tolerance. But there is a more subtle logic at work, says Cas Mudde.
A grain of sand in the seashell
A conversation with artist Barbara Gaile
Barbara Gaile got her academic education in times of total chaos in former Soviet Latvia and was probably the first to graduate the Art Academy with abstract compositions. In interview with Liga Marcinkevicha she recalls the past and talks about her latest exhibition Perles (Pearls) at the Latvian National Art Museum.
In 1980s Hungary, as in the USSR and many other communist ruled countries of eastern and central Europe, censorship and opposition to it was a hot issue. A onetime dissident turned historian recalls the passionate debates at the time and establishes their continuing relevance in the post-Wall world.
After visiting an art exhibition in the Riga Art Space, Janis Taurens visits his friend Vasilij Voronov where he confesses his disappointment with the exhibition. Like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson they go on to analyse the art scene of the last century within the cultural space of Latvia.
Racism has certainly exacerbated the destitution and exclusion of the Roma following the collapse of communism. But an encounter with a group of Roma in Lille reveals another dynamic at work. Rather than be forced to reflect on the fragile link between affluence and belonging, society pushes the problem to the edges. A reportage.
Mixing fact and fiction, Suren Pillay tells a compelling story about journalistic ethics. A photographer takes a picture of a young man throwing a petrol bomb during a 1985 township riot and ponders over the possible consequences of publishing the photo.
The rapid pace of change in Chinese urban landscapes has led to a resurge in interest in the architectural heritage of the “bourgeois era”. The Hungarian architect László Hudec, best known for the Grand Hotel in Shanghai (1931-34), is being rediscovered as a pioneer of Chinese modernism. János Gerle recalls the life and work of the technical and stylistic virtuouso.
The stranger, the mother and the Algerian revolution
A postcolonial reading of Albert Camus
The purely existential themes of The Stranger hide Camus’ critique of the discriminatory nature of French rule in Algeria. Yet Camus never entirely renounced the civilizing premise of colonialism. The reason lies in his relation to his mother, writes Michael Azar.
"Why did they need to chop down the trees?"
An interview with Mavis Gallant
As an ex patriot in Paris, Canadian novelist Mavis Gallant experienced May ’68 first hand, keeping a diary of the events that was published two decades later as Paris Notebooks. In interview with her Russian translator, she bemusedly recalls the revolutionary fervour of the day.
Attempts by successive French governments to deal with Roma migrants smacks of colonial racism, argues Valeriu Nicolae. Deportation will not solve anything; the problems that exist in Roma settlements is the result of decades of neglect, indifference and underfunding.