I’ve received seven invitations now by the artist Martin Zet to donate one of my zero copies of Thilo Sarrazin’s controversial bestseller, conveying some shady views on Muslim integration in Germany. It is the first official act of the Berlin Biennale coming up this summer, which promises to be an interesting one, curated as it is by the highly political and outspoken Polish artist Artur ?mijewski (and with some outstanding graphics by Bureau Mario Lombardo, btw, who also signed our ever so popular issue #24). The aim is obviously to withdraw at least some of the books – a targeted 60.000 – from circulation. But the really interesting question if of course the how – book burnings have a distinctly unpleasant connotation in Germany – without being politically highly incorrect.
Which reminds me of a little happy encounter with Another Country bookstore in Kreuzberg, where I wanted to depose of some English books. The owner, a rather eccentric Englishman, separated them studiously into different piles, with Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho making one pile of its own. The owner told me what he would pay me for each pile, then said, ‘And for this, you will have to pay me one euro,’ pointing at Psycho. ‘Some books are so evil that I cannot sell them at my store, so I burn them in my backyard. This is one of them and it will cost you one euro.’ I thought it was a fair price. This is the reason why you should always go to local stores, since they are still run by humans, not corporations. Talking about politically correct.
