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Vol 1, No 20, 8 November 1999
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| Rotten to the core |
P O S T - S O V I E T:
Chernobyl in Slow Motion
The Soviet Union's nuclear program bequeathed an environmental timebomb to the Soviet successor states. In the first of a three-part series, we tally the current costs and looming dangers caused by the old empire's mismanagement of its radioactive waste.
Peter Szyszlo
S L O V A K I A:
Lessons in Democracy
Slovakia, its minorities and the European Union
If the countries of Central Europe can be likened to students preparing to graduate into the European Union, Hungary would be the model student. The Czech Republic would be the one with great potential but a poor attitude. Slovakia is the one that puzzles the teacher.
Greg Nieuwsma
Theme of the week:
Education
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CZECH REPUBLIC:
Teaching Morality
Robin Healey
Czech universities have struggled to adapt to post-1989 reality and to define post-1989 morality. As a result, they have given very little moral guidance to their students. |
ROMANIA:
Hungarian University in Transylvania
Catherine Lovatt
The debate about the re-creation of the Hungarian "Bolyai" University began in 1997, raising issues of national identity, ethnicity and minority rights. |
SLOVENIA:
Ljubljana University: Between hopes and anxieties
Ales Debeljak
While Slovenia's university and education system have improved significantly, stubborn problems linger as a result of the country's short academic tradition and the sluggish, ineffective efforts to force the departure of Communist professors and come to terms with the system's own history of ideological compromise. |
CER's Regular Columnists:
Kinoeye
FORGOTTEN CLASSIC:
Your Heart Is Beating Too Loudly
Kuleshov's Velikii uteshitel'
Andrew J Horton
Lev Kuleshov's Velikii uteshitel' has a curious place in film history. On the one hand, it is always mentioned in accounts of Russian film of the 1930s and praised as a brave stand against Stalinism. On the other hand, it is almost universally criticised and has received little detailed analysis beyond a perfunctory synopsis. Perhaps this is because Kuleshov engaged in an adventurous, and ultimately misunderstood experiment, which used overlapping plots and sentimental slush as means of satirical and subversive comment on Stalin's brutal brand of Communism.
THE KINOEYE ARCHIVE
Resources on Central and East European cinema.
Books and Literature
S U P P L E M E N T:
The CER Book Shop:
Books about Central and Eastern Europe
Have a look at CER's list of books on the region - all available from Amazon.com. The list is divided into five subject headings: cinema, literature, politics, history and economics.
M u s i c
Arks and Labyrinths
Nicholas Reyland
At the end of the 1950s, Poland's contemporary classical music scene was transformed from neo-classical backwater to avant-garde frontier.
Musicologist Nicholas Reyland considers the music of one of this scene's most prominent figures - Krzysztof Penderecki - who was the subject of the London Symphony Orchestra's recent "Penderecki Discovery Day."
S U P P L E M E N T:
The CER Music Shop
In co-operation with Amazon.com, Central Europe Review offers you this on-line shopping supplement.
O n D i s p l a y
 P H O T O G R A P H Y:
Incomplete Testimony
A photography exhibit on
the Kosovo conflict
Robert Young
Usually, the large double doors of the dilapidated Yugoslav Embassy in Prague's Mala Strana are closed up tightly, but in recent weeks, they've opened up to visitors of the Testimonies of NATO War Crimes in Yugoslavia photography exhibit, which documents the destruction of the recent war but leaves some sides of the story undisclosed.
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EVENTS:
Coming Up in the UK
Andrew J Horton
Details of selected Central and East European cultural events in the UK over the next few weeks.
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CULTURE ROUND-UP:
Poland's Week in Culture
Wojtek Kosc
Highlights of cultural events in Poland for the week starting 1 November 1999.
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Mel Huang and his Baltic news reviews will return next week.
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