Noted German Author Accused of Anti-Semitism

One of Germany's best-known living authors, Martin Walser, has embroiled himself and his prestigious publisher Suhrkamp in a situation involving charges of anti-Semitism.

The latest scandal involving the 75-year-old author, one of the founding members of the postwar "47" literary group with Günter Grass, centers on publication of Walser's forthcoming novel whose title translates as Death of a Critic. The reference is to Germany's literary critic and TV book man Marcel Reich-Ranicki, a Jew originally from Poland, who in the book becomes a victim first of bitter satire, then of murder. As with the last half-dozen Walser novels, this one was to have been serialized in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany's equivalent to the New York Times. But when the paper's editors saw the manuscript, they published a front-page editorial declaring that they would not touch this "hate document," denouncing its "repertoire of anti-Semitic clichés."

This is the second time Walser has been criticized for his attitude toward Jews. After receiving the Book Trade Peace Prize at the 1998 Frankfurt Book Fair, he delivered a speech attacking German Jews for continuing to "exploit" Auschwitz and Nazi persecution.

Suhrkamp managing director Günter Berg told PW that what the newspaper editors saw was only a first draft of a book originally scheduled for autumn. A Suhrkamp editor spent time with Walser working over the manuscript, and some changes were made. Finally Suhrkamp gave the book a green light, moving publication up to June 26.

Berg also told PW that advance press reaction has been overwhelmingly favorable. Yet he admits that the Frankfurt daily's blast was devastating to the author's reputation. As for Walser, he told a Viennese magazine on June 6 that he is thinking of migrating to Austria.