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