Snap Judgment: Books.(New Lives)(The Highly Civilised Man)(The Utility of Force)(Brief Article)(Book Review)

Byline: Marialuisa Plassmann, John R. Bradley, Ginanne Brownell

'New Lives' by Ingo Schulze

In this 800-page novel, written in German, the author unfolds a dense narrative of the turmoil wrought by German reunification. His protagonist, Enrico Turmer, like Schulze himself, was a writer in East Germany until the wall came down. In a series of letters, Turmer delivers an absorbing account of the first half of 1990. He had cultivated an illusion of the West as "a real-life paradise"--and found himself unprepared for the brutal clash with capitalism. A sensation at the recent Frankfurt Book Fair, this is a compelling take on Germany's recent history told in the best tradition of the literary fairy tale.

--Marialuisa Plassmann

'The Highly Civilised Man' by Dane Kennedy

Richard Burton burst onto the British public scene in the early 1850s with his account of visiting Mecca disguised as a Muslim pilgrim. Translations of "The Arabian Nights" and the "Kama Sutra" followed. ...