The "scandal" surrounding Christian Kracht

I love it when a book sparks controversy.  And it is even sweeter when the book is a work of fiction.  Translator and German book-lover Katy Derbyshire writes about the uproar around Christian Kracht's newly-released novel Imperium.  Actually, the uproar has more to do with Georg Diez's hatchet job on Kracht in Der Spiegel: in his review, Diez accused Kracht of being a "doorman for radical right-wing ideas" (Türsteher der rechten Gedanken) and otherwise a racist and Nazi to boot. 

I haven't read Imperium (yet) but the book deals with the  colonial adventures of a delusional German seeker around the turn of the 20th century, so a racist subtext is entirely appropriate to the theme.  In any event, the entire literary establishment - writers, publishers, critics, doormen, etc.... have come to Kracht's defense.  An open letter attacking Diez and Der Spiegel was signed by 17 writers: 

mit dem Spiegel-Artikel »Die Methode Kracht« hat der Literaturkritiker Georg Diez für uns die Grenzen zwischen Kritik und Denunziation überschritten. Äußerungen von literarischen Erzählern und Figuren werden konsequent dem Autor zugeschrieben und dann als Beweis einer gefährlichen politischen Haltung gewertet. Wenn diese Art des Literaturjournalismus Schule machen würde, wäre dies das Ende jeder literarischen Phantasie, von Fiktion, Ironie und damit von freier Kunst.

(With his Spiegel article "The Kracht Method" the critic Georg DIez has crossed the line from criticism to denunciation.  Statements made by the narrator and characters are attributed to author and then judged to be proof of dangerous political views. If this type of literary journalism catches on, that would be the end of literary fantasy, of fiction, irony and artistic freedom.) 

The letter is signed by -among others - Elfriede Jelinek and Necla Kelek.  Righteous anger makes for strange bedfellows! Since the piling on Diez continues from all sides, let me say a few words in his defense. 

Diez bases much of his attack on Kracht not so much on Imperium but rather on the letters Kracht exchanged with the American composer and performance artist David Woodard, which were published as FIve Years: Briefwechsel 2004 - 2009.  Woodard has made something of a name for himself with bizarre projects such as revitalizing the Aryan utopia in Paraguay started by Friedrich Nietzsche's sister and composing a fanfare for mass-murderer Timothy McVeigh, whom Woodard compared to Jesus Christ.  In other interviews Woodard seems to compare himself to the German writer Ernst Jünger, best-known to Americans for his apotheosis of modern warfare in Storm of Steel (In Stahlgewittern - 1920). 

If Woodard is an artistic crackpot, Christian Kracht seems "kracked" in this 2008 interview as he talks about living in Buenos Aires and how he intends to lead the Argentine people in a glorious (and bloody) war to liberate the Falkland Islands:

 

 

Of course, none of this has anything to with Imperium, which I look forward to reading and reviewing.

Update: see my review of Christian Kracht's Imperium.

 

Comments

[Katy]

Thanks for that video, David. I didn't know that particular stance of his.

[michijo]

I am starting to see Der Spiegel not so much as a single magazine with a basic view, but a sort of forum where writers fight to have their views heard. Some articles will seem to support the right wing nazis or take them lightly with humor. Some articles even support Arianism, with phrases like "blonds have more fun" I have read. They publish articles by Gabor Steingart that attack common American liberals. But here they accuse an author of right wing behavior. Perhaps they know themselves best when seeing those aspects in another? Der Spiegel is a hair-raising adventure.