Anti-Semitism in Hungary is stronger than ever

Ágnes Heller talks to Karl Pfeifer about Hungary and anti-Semitsm.

Welcome to Poland, the New Middle Ages!

Magdalena Środa discovers unexpected tourist potential in the controversial cross outside the Presidential Place in Warsaw.

Polish Press Roundup: Reformatted Brains

While most of the Visegrád papers and journals still seem to be enjoying their summer holidays, the Polish press offers up a few gems. Jacek Dukaj in Tygodnik contributes a long essay on how the internet has affected literature. And those who still enjoy reading books can look forward to Andrzej Stasiuk’s latest travelogue, this time from his home country.

English version updated on Wednesdays.

Central European Press Roundup: On the Path to Crime

Tomáš Janovic in Slovakia’s .týždeň offers a new definition of socialism. In the Czech Respekt Martin M. Šimečka refuses to run with Haruki Murakami.  In Polityka Adam Krzemiński presents the Polish view of Christa Wolf while in Hungary’s Népszabadság Ákos Szilágyi declares Russia a police state.

English version updated on Wednesdays.

Central European Press Roundup: Hangmen Also Die

Respekt presents a slew of interesting summer reading from Jáchym Topol, Jaroslav Rudiš, Martin Reiner, Petr Borkovec, Petr Placák, Jiří Kratochvíl and Laurent Binet. In Wprost  Magdalena Środa welcomes visitors to Poland – the new Middle Ages.  In Eurozine Alexei Venediktov laments the depressing state of the free press in Russia. And in Magyar Narancs Ákos Szilágyi warns the Hungarians not to model themselves on Russian democracy.

English version updated on Wednesdays.

Central European Press Roundup: Embellishing Leaks

Drago Jančar in the Polish Gazeta chases the ghosts of Slovenia’s postwar history.  Only embellished documents are published in Hungary, warns János Széky in Élet és Irodalom.  In the Czech Respekt Eliot Weinberger is once again happy to be American.  And in Slovakia’s .týždeň Peter Breiner tastes his way through New York.

English version updated on Wednesdays.

Central European Press Roundup: Layers of Myths

Jozef Majchrák, Eva Čobejová and Tomáš Gális in .týždeň reveal the fallacies and untruths the Slovaks believe in. Jan Hartman in Gazeta is shocked by his students’ ignorance.  Magyar Narancs and Élet és Irodalom wax lyrical over Herta Müller, while Jáchym Topol in Orientace traces Jozef Škvorecký‘s literary past.

English version updated on Wednesdays.

New: Central European Forum 2010

Dear readers, we hope some of you will join us in November in Bratislava at the Central European Forum 2010. The first distinguished guests have accepted our invitation: Zygmunt Bauman, Laurent Binet, Mircea Cartarescu, Andrei Dynko, Franzobel, László F. Földényi, Peter Sloterdijk and Jáchym Topol.

The Populist Muddle

Martin M. Šimečka regards the new Slovak Government‘s refusal to lend money to Greece and contribute to the European rescue fund as alarming signs of an emerging ideology of euro-scepticism and national egotism, driven by a mixture of economic arrogance and parochialism.

Central European Press Roundup: Unconvincing Clichés

Roman Holec in .týždeň offers a mildly shocking lesson in Slovak history. In Poland’s Gazeta Adam Leszczyński defuses a bomb in the form of a wooden cross. In Népszabadság Zoltán F. Baka is upset about his government taking the Hungarians for fools. And in the Czech Respekt writer Radka Denemarková fights demons of the fifties.

English version updated on Wednesdays