Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Strangers to the reader too

Kundera’s new work ‘Ignorance’ is the tale of two émigrés — Irena and Josef — who meet by chance upon their return to Prague from, respectively, Paris and Denmark. Both were forced into exile at the time of the revolution 30 years earlier, and both are returning now in search of something of their lost and former selves.
In Milan Kundera’s clumsy new novella, a portenteous, worn-out philosophy that borders on the ironic and absurd stands in for real thinking.

Kafka’s Islands of Dying Stars

Treasure every sunrise. Forget the idea that we live in a youthful universe.

If two American professors are correct, the cosmos is middle-aged. And it has not got an old age to look forward to. Despite what recent observations suggest, Professor Linde and his wife Professor Kallosh say the universe will stop expanding and collapse in the relatively near future.

Auf Wiedersehen Möllemann

The bizarre story of German politician Juergen Moellemann became even more strange this week. Moellemann was forced to resign his remaining party leadership posts over apparent campaign finance violations. He may also face criminal charges.

This is not the first time he has hit the bottom. In the early 90s he was forced to resign as federal Commerce Minister for improperly promoting an in-law's business venture and was subsequently ousted as state party leader ...

In the meantime, the journalists continues to press for an explanation of the campaign contributions and the state prosecutor will want to have a word with him as well.