Sunday, October 15, 2017

At Frankfurt Book Fair, Politics Loom Large

At Frankfurt Book Fair, Politics Loom Large

By ANNA CODREA-RADO





 
President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Tuesday. Ralph Orlowski/Reuters

“Books are the best weapons,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair, addressing the unifying power of literature and language. “Without culture, there is no Europe.”
The French leader, who joined Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the opening ceremony of the world’s oldest book fair Tuesday night, spoke of culture’s crucial role in Europe, and of how it can be a unifying force at a time of rising nationalism. France is the guest of honor this year, and more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries are expected to attend.
“Identity of language lives through the confrontations with other languages,” Mr. Macron said.
He also asked Ms. Merkel to join him in his vision for overhauling the European Union, which he said in a speech in Paris last month was “too slow, too weak, too ineffective.”
“History shows that in order to further develop Europe, we need impulses from Germany and France,” Ms. Merkel responded, agreeing with the French president on the importance of culture, but remaining vague about whether she endorsed his plans to overhaul the bloc.

The European leaders’ speeches underpinned a political undercurrent at this year’s book fair, which opened to the public on Wednesday and runs through Sunday. Both have been forced to deal with challenges from the far-right in elections this year.
“The presence of Chancellor Merkel and President Macron at the opening of the Frankfurter Buchmesse symbolizes the close relationship between Germany and France and their commitment to a strong, unified Europe,” Jürgen Boos, the fair’s director, said in a statement last week.
“In times when poisonous narratives have become popular and the spreading of fear and hatred have once again become socially acceptable, we liberal, democratically minded bibliophiles must respond with attractive counterarguments,” Mr. Boos said at a news conference at the fair’s opening.
Can Dundar, the former editor in chief of the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet who faces imprisonment in Turkey, will add to the political theme in a talk about writing in exile; the German author Thomas Wagner and the activist Gerald Hensel will discuss the identity of the new right.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is a highlight in the global publishing industry’s calendar, and it has worked in recent years to make itself more relevant beyond the literary landscape. Among the authors attending this year are Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown and Nicholas Sparks.
Ms. Atwood, whose novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” is the basis of a popular new TV show, will receive the German book trade’s Peace Prize at the fair. Mr. Brown will present “Origin,” the latest in the “Da Vinci Code” series, on Saturday.

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