Matthias Politycki left Germany last year and moved to Vienna. Now the writer has explained the reasons in a book.
Last year the writer Matthias Politycki surprised everyone with a guest article in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. In it, the 66-year-old announced that he had left Germany – and immediately provided the explanation for his departure: he was particularly bothered by the narrow culture of debate and the ideological perception of the language in this country.
The article caused quite a stir and gave Politycki a lot of publicity. The 66-year-old has now written an entire book on the subject. In “My farewell to Germany. What I talk about when I talk about freedom”, the writer (“Weiberroman”, “No one can take that from us”) explains his reasons for moving out of Germany on 120 pages.
First of all, he explains in detail how he perceives the culture of debate in this country. Politycki may have a keener eye for this than others: the writer has been traveling the world for decades and spends large parts of the year abroad, often on other continents.
Matthias Politycki on his concept of freedom
When he returns, he increasingly observes situations in which someone is outraged, Politycki writes, “because someone else said something, or actually: because he said it in a way that doesn’t suit someone, or actually: because he might have said it that way, if one believes the sources, and because the suspicion is reason enough to distance oneself from it”. Often this occasion is a single word.
Often there is no clarifying conversation: “Bullying, termination of cooperation or social ostracism” – that is the consequence that the dissenter gets to feel. What particularly annoys Politycki: That arguments are dismissed in favor of the opponent being downgraded according to external criteria such as age, skin color, origin and gender. As an old, white, Central European man, the 66-year-old complains that one is generally wrong. The authors of this new direction are clear to Politycki: it was the “Wokists” who silenced others through shame and indignation.
Matthias Politycki: “My farewell to Germany: What am I talking about when I talk about freedom”
Hoffmann and Campe, 144 pages, 16 euros
© Hoffman and Campe
The writer opposes this discourse, which is increasingly fueled by exclusion, with his own concept of freedom: to endure other perspectives and opinions – as long as they are located within the framework of the law. In doing so, Politycki repeatedly draws on the achievements of the Enlightenment, which he contrasts with the “counter-enlightenment” of “Wokeness”. “As a classic leftist, I am sensitive to the fact that the vision of a better society can also turn into bad regimentation and tyranny.”
In doing so, and this is an important point, Matthias Politycki clearly acknowledges many points that also drive the “Wokeness” movement, such as standing up for minorities and sensitivity to racism. What distinguishes him from them is their “quasi-religious frenzy about world salvation”, for Politycki a “perversion of emancipatory, left-wing thinking”.
Identity politics as a threat
For Politycki, the demands of identity politics are a threat, not only to his own cosmopolitan thinking, but also to his work: his novels are often set in foreign countries, he sees himself as a border crosser, a wanderer between two worlds. Politycki fears that what was previously appreciated as cosmopolitanism in his books could soon be perceived as cultural appropriation.
The writer describes a few examples from the publishing industry, where there are already cases of self-censorship – so the threat to artistic freedom is not only imagined and felt, but in some cases actually real.
By positioning himself in the emancipatory camp, Politycki cleverly manages to avoid being accused of being a die-hard who would like to see the world of the 1960s, dominated by white men, back.
Hairy on old spelling
An impression that he unfortunately somewhat destroys in the last quarter of the book. Because that’s where he devotes himself to language and gender. And reveals in some places a need to remain in the good old days on a linguistic level.
It begins with his defiant insistence on still using the old spelling “simply because it’s clearer and more beautiful”. As a writer, he is of course free to do so. But this statement is nothing more than a personal judgment of taste. Another person might find the gender asterisk “clearer and more beautiful” – that’s not a convincing argument.
Above all, with his conservative orthography, he provides a strange contradiction to his concern that the language is being “forced on”. If he has successfully defended himself against the “imposition” of writing “that” with a double S for a quarter of a century – why shouldn’t his texts continue to do without a gender star?
Little news about gender
He provides no evidence of the compulsion to gender. At one point it says: “From June 15, gender must – no, can also be changed in Hamburg’s public institutions”. Just like he can continue to use the sharp S for certain words – and doesn’t “must”, certainly not have to!
Unfortunately, he has little new to say on the subject itself, which was not also brought forward by Peter Hahne to Wolf Schneider.
Despite these weaknesses, the book is overall worthwhile. Because it shows with the sharpened view of an outsider how our society is changing. Whether you welcome these changes or hate them, it helps to be clear about them. It’s Politycki’s credit for putting this so clearly in a nutshell.
“My Farewell to Germany: What I’m talking about when I’m talking about freedom” by Matthias Politycki was published by Hoffmann and Campe and costs 16 euros. More on hoffmann-und-campe.de