What's wrong with this picture? (Morgenbladet 9-15 Nov.)

I am actually not that much of a newspaper reader. I do more headlines that actual articles. I do however subscribe to a weekly here in Norway, Morgenbladet. It is this newspaper that has been among the biggest inspirations for this blog, as hopefully I will comment on some of the stuff that I read there which I find thought provoking.

So here is one of the first of many.

On page two of the newspaper there is always an interview with someone who has been in the headlines. This week's interview is with Géza Jeszensky, the Hungarian ambassador to Norway. He is a historian and seems to have been involved in the organisation of conference, hosted by the Norwegian Centre for Studies of Holocaust and Regligious Minorities. He was then asked by the Centre to not attend the conference in question because of a sentence in a book he wrote a few years ago.

He is quite annoyed that he was not even asked to explain himself for the sentence and admits that he would probably have phrased it otherwise today.

The whopper - apparently he thinks that the source for the controversial sentence, was wikipedia.

Is it just me, or is that just a tad ironic?

"The song before it sung" by Justin Cartwright

I find blogs like She Reads Novels quite intimidating - "She" (the blogger) is clearly quite a voracious reader and also writes clear and interesting reviews. I came across her in connection with the very book that I have just finished reading - Justin Cartwright's The song before it is sung. "She" didn't enjoy it.

I, however, did. Not because the story is sensible or the characters solidly presented - by which I mean that you feel you know them. The book achieved the "lyrical" quality which I really enjoy more often that not, and which for me at any rate makes up for a lack of a clear storyline or characters.

In the end however, I found myself wondering whether the South African origins of the author in anyway influenced his choice of subject. I certainly will always carry with me that I grew up white in Apartheid South Africa. My family was not politically active, but nevertheless against. My family is not even patriotic in any sense, neither on the South African or Norwegian side. The very loyalty which is so distinct a quality in Africa fascinates me. The loyalty and sense of belong which the character Axel von Gottburg had reminds me a lot of that.

In fact there were many parallels for me between Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa, and the inability of some to be able to let go of their loyalty and sense of belongingness (is that a word?). The reaction to the recent article in the Economist on South Africa brought that to the fore. That is something which I do not share, but which I can, well, recognise and have some respect for really.

That is what this book tapped into for me, and a book which reverberates with something inside you is never a wasted read.