Westöstlicher Seiltanz

Abstract

One wonders how and why Arabic literature comes to Germany in cultural exchange, communicating literature is given special priority. It can reach a large number of people and opens up privileged access to the other culture. What and how other people think and feel, which traditions they fall back on and how they express themselves - literature can answer almost all of these questions. In addition, the other culture has its say directly, from its very own source without having to go through experts. But even literature does not wander between cultures of its own accord, especially when the rifts between the two are as deep as the Mediterranean Sea. It needs ferrymen, pilots, mediators. A job that, in the case of the Arabic-German literary exchange, is at least as delicate as that of the messenger, who is sometimes held responsible for the news he brings. Normally, the mediation of literature uses the free-market structures of a functioning book market. This not only has considerable financial advantages; the market economy laws also act as a regulator of mediation. If this is deplorable in some cases, it has the great advantage of being free of ideology, independent of personal preferences and measurable by an objective criterion, namely economic success.
All of these regulations are omitted in the communication of Arabic literature to German-speaking countries and vice versa. The financial flow of the mediation bodies, especially the publishers and translators, is currently secured by the public sector. The market cannot afford this in the foreseeable future. This article attempts to bring solutions to these issues. A mediation that overvalues its subject (as many Arabs not only severely criticize but often grossly overestimate their contemporary culture) runs a great risk of ending up mediating the shortcomings - and thereby doing more harm than good to its subject. Therefore, the supposed solution to the mediation dilemma, namely the multiplication of mediating activities, harbors considerable pitfalls. Every intermediary should not only know his subject well, but also realistically assess the limits of his ability to communicate. Cultural mediation in the East-West conflict does not require dream dancers,  but tightrope walkers.

but tightrope walkers.