Saturday, January 28, 2023

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Beers & Books CCLVXXX – John Hume

Difference is of the essence of humanity.
Difference is an accident of birth and should therefore
never be the source of hatred or conflict.
The answer to difference is to respect it.
Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace:
respect for diversity.

John Hume (18 January 1937 – 3 August 2020)

Monday, January 16, 2023

Mo(o)nday Poetry

Dice la tarde:
"Tengo sed de sombra!"
Dice la luna: "Yo, sed de luceros."
[...]
Says the afternoon:
"I'm thirsty for shadow!"
Says the moon: "I want stars."

Yo tengo sed de aromas y de risas.
Sed de cantares nuevos
Sin lunas y sin lirios,
Y sin amores muertos.
*
I'm thirsty for scents and for laughter.
Thirsty for new songs
Without moons and without lilies,
And without dead loves.


 

Excerpt of Federico García Lorca's poem Cantos nuevo / New songs

Federico García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936)

Sunday, January 15, 2023

 Nâzım Hikmet had a dream

Yaşamak bir ağaç gibi tek ve hür
ve bir orman gibi kardeşçesine,
bu hasret bizim.

To live like a tree and at liberty
and brotherly like the trees of a forest,
this yearning is ours.


Nâzım Hikmet (15 January 1902 – 3 June 1963)

Sunday, January 08, 2023

Saturday, January 07, 2023

Beers & Books CCLXVII – Mankell: The White Lioness

The White Lioness*

Henning Mankell (3 February 1948 – 5 October 2015)

* Unlike the German synopsis of this excellent political thriller the English one is suboptimal, to put it politely. F.e., the Broederbond is not about to orchestrate the murder of de Klerk but of Mandela. 

Beers & Books CCLXVI – Alexander Kielland

A great piece of literature
obviously ignored by English publishers.

Alexander L. Kielland
(18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906)


Thursday, January 05, 2023

Beers & Books CCLXV – Letters from the Great Blaskets

 Letters from the Great Blasket is
 the only book in English by any Blascadian author

Eibhlís ní Shúilleabháin (1911 – 12 September 1971)

The Great Blasket

Wednesday, January 04, 2023

Beers & Books CCLXIV – Jürgen Habermas

"It is not a political decision,
but a constitutional imperative
to maintain a media structure
that enables the inclusive character of the public sphere
and a deliberative character of the formation of public opinion and will." *

Jürgen Habermas * 18 June 1929

* From "Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik", erste Auflage 2022, Suhrkamp / "A New Structural Change in the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics", first edition 2022, Suhrkamp

Sunday, January 01, 2023

Beers & Books CCLXI – Jakob Wassermann

All injustice and suffering on earth
has its reason in the fact
that experiences cannot be transmitted.
At the most, they can be communicated.
Between the appropriate and the unbearable
lies the whole path of experience,
which only one person can ever travel alone.
Just as only one person ever dies alone
and no one knows anything about death....

Jakob Wassermann (10 March 1873 – 1 January 1934)