Germany's Rich Literary Culture Prepares for Another Book Fair

    
Just about a week from today, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest book and media fair in the world, kicks off in Germany, where more than 7,000 exhibitors from 100 countries will be on hand to conduct business at the annual event organized by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.

As an indication of just how popular the fair is; last year’s attendance totaled 299,112 visitors, including 186,240 trade visitors from 117 countries.

Past authors to Frankfurt have included: Umberto Ecco, Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, Julio Cortazar, Albert Schweitzer, and yes-Muhammad Ali.

This year, prominent authors include: Frank Schätzing, Günter Grass, Jan Weiler and Herta Müller; while International stars expected to attend include: Tim Parks, Margaret Atwood, Håkan Nesser, Leon de Winter, Donna Cross and Nick Cave.

Although most trace the history of the Frankfurt fair back to post-World War II, a book fair was first held in Frankfurt as far back as the 15th century; and some scholars even trace book fairs taking place in Frankfurt as early as 1074; in 1240, Emperor Fredrick II proclaimed ``Freedom of the Fair.’’

For a brief period (1530 to 1590), Frankfurt had been considered one of the leading publishing and printing cities in all of Europe before being overtaken by Leipzig, a city in east-central Germany, which also had its own book fair. In 1586, Leipzig began to outpace Frankfurt in domestic book sales and the fairs’ popularity was further enhanced when a catalogue of the Leipzig Book Fair was published

Thanks in large part to Johannes Gutenberg's invention of moveable type and new printing technology, Frankfurt, from 1470 through 1764 became a leading center for book publishing. By 1498, 12,887 book titles were published in Europe,: 3,979 in Germany and 6,736 in Italy; so that by 1501, an estimated 1,100 printing establishments were operating in as many as 254 European cities, which turned out almost 30,000 works, totaling 12 million copies.

According to ``A History of the Frankfurt Book Fair" by Peter Weidhaas, the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), had the most devastating impact on Frankfurt, pushing the Catholic book trade away from Frankfurt and toward Salzburg and Prague, still citadels of Catholicism. Frankfurt’s economy during this tumultuous period was additionally damaged by Louis XIV’s war along the Rhine and the ``War of Spanish Succession’’, while Leipzig remained unaffected. By the 18th century, the Leipzig Book Fair prospered, while Frankfurt’s grew less and less popular before fading altogether. In 1780, the number of titles at the Leipzig Book Fair exceeded 2,600.

When the Frankfurt Book Fair began again in 1949, it wasn’t long before it quickly took hold around the world. By 1953, for the first time, foreign exhibitors outnumbered German exhibitors; the following year, more than a thousand exhibitors were on hand.

And as the book fair grew in popularity, so did a few storms of dissension.  In 1968, as many as 300 police were forced to use tear gas and water guns when protestors were upset over Leopold Senghor being awarded a peace prize. Earlier in the year, the Sengalese president used French troops to close the University of Dakar.

In 1989, Iran was excluded from the fair due to the controversy over the publication of Salman Rushdie’s ``Satanic Verses’’ with its blasphemous references to Islam, setting off rage among Muslims. In 1991, eight Iranian publishers were invited to the Frankfurt Book Fair; their invitations were later rescinded, however, after the fair’s directors met with heated criticism. Again in 1992, Iran was excluded from attending the fair

This year, more controversy swirls over the fair, this time involving China. The Chinese government was so upset with the fair’s organizers for including two of its dissents:  Bei Ling and Dai Qing in the event’s list of participants that it threatened to pull out its delegation. Ling is a poet, while Qing is an environmental journalist. This year’s theme was ``China and the World’’ and was to include more than 2,000 Chinese publishers, along with a number of Chinese artists, writers, and poets.

To avoid an international embarrassment, the fair’s organizers apologized to China for not informing them of their invited participants and canceled  the appearances by Ling and Qing, both of whom were later added as guests by the German PEN club of independent writers.

The controversy may not end there. Some are questioning why a theme should have been built around China at all, given its human rights abuses and history of smothering political dissent.

In an effort to demonstrate they are not completely caving into Chinese pressure and are open to diverse viewpoints, the fair’s organizers invited Nobel Prize winning author Gao Xingjian, author of La fuite/Fugitives, a book which used the 1989 ``Tiananmen Square Massacre’’ as a backdrop, prompting the Chinese government to ban his works in China, while considering him not welcome to return to his homeland.

So the stage seems to be set for a rebellious week of writers, authors, and artists giving voice to China’s attempts to suppress freedom of expression, while the German government drives home the most important component of a free society, which is (as told to the Wall Street Journal by a German foreign ministry spokeswoman), ``art without freedom is inconceivable.’’

In 1976, the fair for the first time in its 28 year history, created the concept of an annual theme; in 1976, the theme was Latin America.  Many of the participants were themselves exiles from authoritarian states in South America, including Manuel Puig of Argentina, Jose Donoso of Chile, and Jorge Amado of Brazil.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]

A Few Facts about the 61st Edition of the Frankfurt Book Fair

Exhibitors: 7.300 from 100 countries

Visitors:  More than 299, 000 expected

Trade visitors: 186.000 from 117 countries (75 percent visitors from Germany and 25 percent from abroad)

Journalists: Approximately 10, 000 journalists from 63 countries expected to attend

Literary Agencies: 286 Agencies, including 510 registered agents’ und scouts

Publications: 402, 284 publications, 123, 496 of them being new titles

Events: 2,900 Events

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Footnotes:

In 1983, nonmedia, audio visuals and data are presented for the first time

In 1993, 160 exhibitors from 14 countries present ``new media'' at the Book Fair

In 1994, The Frankfurt Book Fair launches its first website

2000: A comic section is introduced at the Fair

Source: Frankfurt Book Fair

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Website to keep in mind:
Frankfurt Book Fair Home Page

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Comments

[Gerd Tepass]

Talking about Manuel Puig!! Maybe the blogg http://www.manuelpuig.blogspot.com will interest you. I posted some interviews he made during 1968 and 1992. All these articles are part of the first multimedia-biography on CD-ROM about Puig: „Manuel Puig: Una aproximación biográfica". Buenos Aires 2008. ISBN 978-987-05-4332-9. Distribution via: http://www.manuelpuig.com
mil greetings!!