Magris criticizes "pop" politics in Italy and France

Oct 16, 2009, 15:52 GMT

   Frankfurt - Claudio Magris, 70, the author set to receive the German Book Trade Peace Prize this weekend, voiced Friday his distaste at the 'pop' politics in France and his native Italy.

He said the conduct of politics under Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and to some extent under French President Nicolas Sarkozy was not aligned with the classic rules of democracy.

'Beforehand I would not have believed that sort of thing was possible,' he told an audience at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

'It's unthinkable in a democracy to say you don't accept the rulings of your constitutional court,' said Magris, referring to recent remarks by Berlusconi about the Rome court's decision to remove his immunity from prosecution over his business affairs.

   Magris said a 'European state' was needed. Compared to serious trans-national problems such as migration, most nation-level problems were risible, he said. Europe now had the opportunity to think 'universally,' combining individual liberties with the public good.

On Sunday, Magris is to receive the peace prize, awarded annually for the efforts of artists and scholars to overcome hatred.

A native of Trieste, he is a retired professor of German literature who writes essays and novels. He had a brief political career as a Left Alliance senator in Rome for Trieste from 1994 to 1996.

His selection in June for the prize brought renewed interest in his philosophical ideas and incisive writing, and revived speculation that he was in line for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

However some German arts commentators criticized the choice, saying his enthusiastic vision of European unity was out of date at a time when many EU citizens are bored with European Union politics and nationalism is rampant again.

The prize, which was introduced in 1950, usually goes to writers or scholars whose work improves understanding between rival nations and ethnic groups. Unusually, it was given last year to an artist, Anselm Kiefer.

Administered by the Boersenverein, the German association of publishers and booksellers, the prize is to be handed over at an Sunday ceremony, to be attended by German leaders, at the close of the Book Fair.

Magris was born April 10, 1939 and attended the universities of Turin in Italy and Freiburg in Germany and was then a professor of German at Triest and Turin from 1968 till 2006.

Much of his writing has examined the interlocking cultures on the north and south slopes of the Alps, beginning with his 1963 book, The Habsburg Myth in Austrian Literature.

Among his most accessible works is Danubio, a book portraying the Danube river from its source to its estuary.

A 2005 novel, Alla cieca, about the prison camp ordeals of an Italian named Cippico, also attracted wide attention. Magris said he took 18 years to write the book.

Magris' work has also included translating authors such as Arthur Schnitzler and Georg Buechner from German into Italian and writing columns in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.