Publisher Description

In this highly acclaimed and entertaining book, already "among the touchstones of the new travel writing" (Newsweek), one of West Germany's leading authors takes us on an insider's tour of Europe in the recent past. Focusing on Italy, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal, he describes how Europe has been moving toward a new identity.

Enzensberger makes a witty and knowledgeable traveling companion, delving into surprising corners and byways—from the back alleys of Budapest to the halls of the Italian mint—and striking up conversations with everyone from bankers to revolutionaries, astrologers to apparatchiks. In the process, he suggests that Europe's strength lies increasingly in embracing diversity and improvisation, not bigness and regimentation. He enables us to see with fresh eyes one of the most exciting parts of the world today.

Author Biography

Internationally known as a journalist, essayist, poet, translator, and dramatist, HANS MAGNUS ENZENSBERGER is the author of numerous books, several of which have appeared in the United States, including Critical Essays, Politics and Crime, The Consciousness Industry, several books of poetry, and a play, The Havana Inquiry. Born in Germany in 1929, he now lives in Munich.

Table of Contents

Swedish Autumn • 3
 
Italian Extravagances • 36
 
Hungarian Confusions • 87
 
Portuguese Reveries • 133
 
Polish Incidents • 178
 
Spanish Shards • 230
 
Epilogue: The Seacoast of Bohemia, 2006 • 283
 
Afterword  • 325

Review

"Spirited, acute, and brilliantly observant."
—The New York Times

"[Enzensberger is] a raconteur of mordant wit . . . a trenchant political thinker . . . a pleasure to read."
—Newsweek

"[Enzensberger's] piercing perception, his talent for evoking astonishing scenes and persons . . . and finally his angry loyalty to truth, make Europe, Europe a collection to which I'll resort for inspiration again and again."
—The New York Review of Books

Review Quote

"Spirited, acute, and brilliantly observant." -- The New York Times "[Enzensberger is] a raconteur of mordant wit . . . a trenchant political thinker . . . a pleasure to read." -- Newsweek "[Enzensberger's] piercing perception, his talent for evoking astonishing scenes and persons . . . and finally his angry loyalty to truth, make Europe, Europe a collection to which I'll resort for inspiration again and again." -- The New York Review of Books

Excerpt from Book

ITALIAN EXTRAVAGANCES (1983) In the Hades of Milan, beneath the cathedral, in the endless, dark-brown corridors of the subway station, in this limbo of mass transportation, I learned of the existence of a German educational establishment previously unknown to me: The High International Academy of Artists of the Occult Sciences of Berlin. Right next to a dazzlingly bright window display of pajamas and underpants in every possible color, I had noticed one dusty glass showcase. The following objects were laid up in the dim pink light of a flickering neon tube: a red devil''s cap pulled over a white polystyrene skull . . . an aluminum teapot with a black plastic handle, which could, if desired, give birth to a crowd of little foam-rubber animals (90,000 lire--or 54 dollars) . . . a sad bunch of flowers made of lollipop colored feathers . . . a mysterious little box with whose help any number of doves could be conjured up (100,000 lore--60 dollars) . . . a death''s-head and a small pile of bright-colored play bank notes with a face value of 100,000 lire. Issued by the "Banca d''Amore," they were adorned with the portrait of a bearded gentleman who vividly reminded me of the sociology students of the early seventies. A hand-painted poster hanging over this wide selection of articles read as follows: Warning: Italian certificates and diplomas are not recognized by the state. Anyone who wishes to obtain internationally recognized diploma must call 059-685323. SILVA THE MAGICIAN is authorized by the High International Academy of Artists of the Occult Sciences of Berlin to confer diplomas on professional and amateur practitioners of the occult arts. I hesitated. Tempting though the prospect of a conversation with Silva the Magician might be, the area code puzzled me: 059 . . . that must be somewhere in the mountains, past Reggio Emilia, probably near Canossa. But I didn''t want to go so far. It wasn''t necessary anyway, as I learned from the telephone books. Every large town in Italy has dozens of magicians listed in the yellow pages. Unfortunately, I have space here to mention only a few of them: the Magician of Florence, Joseph Cervino (National Chairman of the Magicians of Italy, A.N.D.D.I. Association) . . . the Sorcerers of the Seven Rings . . . Dr. Marco Belelli (President of CISA, the International Center for Astrological Studies, Grand Master of the Theurgical Order of Elios) . . . the Magician Pharaoh Tutankhamen . . . and Professor Joseph, the Magician, who was blessed by His Holiness Pope John XXIII for his humanity and great kindness (Honorary Member of the National Association of Magicians and Spiritual Healers of Italy and holder of the Honorary Diploma of the Venerable Institute of Metaphysical Sciences in Paris). For further information I must refer the reader to the appropriate trade press, especially to Astra (the astrological monthly published by Corriere della Sera ), whose classified pages are a mine of information on the occult. The number of practicing maghi in Italy is estimated at a hundred thousand. The range of specialization is wide. Exorcists and pendulum-healers, astrologists and palmists, clairvoyants and pranotherapists, hypnotists and parapsychologists, readers of coffee grounds and experts in extrasensory perception, demonologists and radium healers, card-readers, and those gifted with second sight earn many hundreds of billions of lire every year and in return "solve any problem, whatever the distance." A few years ago, workers in the supernatural professions began to unionize to overcome the one problem that still defeated them: the integration of magicians into the welfare state. The magicians'' trade union, Uaodi ( Union astrologico-occultistica d''Italia ), has already set up an official register and placed before Parliament a draft law that even provides for a state-approved examination for magicians. "We demand," states Mario Davano, the union''s secretary-general, "that the following titles finally be given state recognition: Chartered Astrologist, Chartered Occultist, Consultant in Bioplasmology and in the Occult . . . Anyone abusing these titles must be subject to disciplinary proceedings. Yes, and in particularly serious cases may even be struck from the professional register to deduct value-added tax at the legal rate . . . In return we demand equal sums with other professions, especially with regard to pensions and health care." ### "I don''t know what you''re trying to get at with your magicians . . . Or rather, I know only two well . . . I can already see him before me, the superstitious Southerner who pulls out a piece of coral the moment he encounters someone with the evil eye . . . the pilgrim who believes in miracles, in quest of the blood of some saint . . . the Mafia boss who bursts into tears because he''s lost his amulet. But these are the clich

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