Favorites of the week: Science fiction on a very, very large scale – culture

Series: “Foundation” is entering its second season

When this science fiction series debuted on Apple TV+ two years ago, it was clear what it was supposed to be: an epic on a very, very large scale. And rightly so, because Isaac Asimov’s novel cycle is not only one of the central classics of the genre, it also spans several millennia. Even the beginning is as removed from the present as possible – “Foundation” begins ten thousand years in the future, people have colonized the entire galaxy and only know the earth as a myth. A triumvirate of clones of the former ruler Cleon rules the galactic empire. A brilliant mathematician predicts the downfall of this dynasty, is banished and founds an intellectual resistance movement with quantum technology equipment on the edge of the Milky Way. The first season was visually opulent and the changes to the novel were ambitious. For example, a majority of Asimov’s male staff in the series are female. But the plot also progressed a bit slowly, as if the series didn’t quite get to grips with its enormous material.

Anyone who was put off by this? He should definitely give the second season a chance. The authors David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman have created something rare here, namely innovative science fiction that not only revels in pathos, but can be funny and in which – shock! – even has sex. The season begins with a new time jump of 150 years. The Cleons’ rule is weakened. Their decadence is evident in the first scene, when the ruler sits in his golden bedchamber with the millennia-old android Demerzel, who has been raising the young clones like a mother for generations. What follows: an assassination attempt, the discovery of a colony of powerful telepaths and a rebel alliance with floating, genetically modified hyperspace navigators – not an episode goes by without wild plot twists. “Foundation” is big, clever entertainment, a little bit soap, a little bit “Star Wars”, always bursting with ideas. On to the next 150 years. Kathleen Hildebrand

Music: Agustín Barrios, the dreamer

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Agustín Barrios was a South American bohemian who combined folklore with romance on his guitar. For a few years he performed under the name of the Guaraní chief Mangoré and wore Indian costume. Many of his compositions and arrangements have not survived as sheet music, but only in his virtuosic and spontaneously seductive recordings; guitarists later transcribed them. With Agustín Barrios, the jungle, dreams and salons come together weightlessly, as in his famous three-part series “La catedral” or “Un sueño en la floresta”. Thibaut Garcia is also a dreamer and also a master of elegant, beautiful sound. The guitarist, who was born in Toulouse 50 years after Barrios’ death in 1994, has now recorded an exhilarating CD with pieces and two poems by the South American: “El Bohemio” (Erato). Reinhard J. Brembeck

Radio play: Interactive through the forest

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Radio drama and gaming go well together. Now ARD has realized such an interactive adventure for children for the first time. Although there is one from Lisa Krummes “The Villa in the Forest” also a conventional radio version (WDR 5, September 30th, 7 p.m. and RBB Kultur, October 1st, 2 p.m.). However, the play-along variant is even more exciting. NDR Info broadcasts a version on Sunday (8:04 a.m.) in which children in the studio decide which path the story takes. Three friends play an escape game that turns into a real adventure. From Sunday onwards, listeners can also decide for themselves on the website adventure-hoerspiele.ard.de which decisions the young heroes should make in delicate situations. Accordingly, the adventure can sometimes end well, sometimes badly. Everyone can also decide for themselves how scary the sound effects should be. Stefan Fischer

Anthology: “The World Stage”

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The Weimar Republic did not fail because of a lack of insight. Appropriate risk analyzes were available at all times. This is shown once again by a selection of comments from the magazine The world stagewhich Alexander Gallus, one of its best experts, in one beautiful brochure published by the European Publishing House. Some things are known from the editions of the works, such as Kurt Tucholsky’s demand from 1922, after the murder of Rathenau, that the Republic should cleanse its apparatus – civil servants, police, military – of its enemies. Other things you read anew and are dismayed by how current they are. Kurt Hiller asked in August 1932 why so many workers and impoverished educated citizens – especially students – did not vote for the left, but rather for the right-wing radical National Socialist vote against their class position. His answer: It’s the culture. Because of their trivial understanding of base and superstructure, the Marxist parties have abandoned the universal heritage of bourgeois culture – without offering anything better to counter it. “Proletarian culture” could not win the idealism of the youth. And Marxist thinking cannot counteract the nationalism spurred on by the revenge policy of the Treaty of Versailles – Hiller considers German nationalism to be a consequence of French nationalism. Hiller criticizes pacifism in a similar way: Justified as a peace policy, it wrongly despises the social values ​​of soldiers – dedication, responsibility, leadership, discipline, comradeship – values ​​that were upheld in the youth movement of the time. Hiller recognizes social-otic possibilities here that should not have been left to the National Socialists. In doing so, he shows that the Nazis also used modern opportunities in the cultural field carelessly left to them by the left. German classical idealism, Greek longing, natural romanticism – all of this spurned Marxist thought as a bourgeois ideology. “Too flat!” shouts Hiller. Left politics must combine class position with bourgeois culture. Don’t separate social and cultural questions, i.e. be left-wing and “woke” at the same time – wouldn’t that also be the task today? Gustav Seibt

Fresco: “Naddl and Ronny” in Dresden

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“Naddl and Ronny wins!”, a graffiti on the facade of a high-rise building in Dresden promised for a long time, and this needs to be remembered now that another of the locally famous Naddl and Ronny lettering is sparking discussions. The local political caretaker Holger Zastrow (FDP) is once again calling for the graffiti on the Carola Bridge to be removed; the currently low water level of the Elbe favors this. The Green mayor, in turn, does not fail to mention that the city’s corresponding budget is primarily intended for the removal of anti-constitutional symbols. The attitudes of Naddl and Ronny in this regard are as unknown as Naddl and Ronny themselves are. What is certain, however, is that they also receive impressive support. An e-petition is calling for the preservation of the bridge graffiti; according to the petition text, it was submitted by: “Kevin & Chantalle”. Cornelius Pollmer