Reich-Ranicki Solo
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Reich-Ranicki Solo |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| year | 2002 |
| length | 30 minutes |
| Episodes | 9 |
| Broadcasting cycle |
per month |
| genre | Cultural broadcast |
| Theme music |
Wilhelm Kempff : • Papillons, Op. 2 • Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 • Carnaval, Op. 9 |
| Moderation | Marcel Reich-Ranicki |
| First broadcast | February 23, 2002 on ZDF |
Reich-Ranicki Solo - Polemical Comments was a short-lived cultural program broadcast by the Second German Television in 2002 . It was conceived as a follow-up program to the Literary Quartet , which was deposed in December of the previous year , and concentrated - as the name suggests - on the literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki as the only actor this time.
Content and design
According to Reich-Ranicki's own words, the program should focus on "current developments in our cultural life". He countered criticism of the intellectual claim of this idea, saying that he wanted to ensure that the audience would be introduced to the “colorful world of culture” in an entertaining and discussion-friendly way, even without much previous training.
The episodes were arranged like a lecture and were recorded live on tape a few hours before the broadcast in front of a studio audience . Reich-Ranicki prepared about seven topics at a time and then decided during the broadcast which one to deal with. He was sitting on a three-tier pedestal behind a desk that only contained a few concept papers and books and a clock. Apart from occasional glances at his notes to structure the appearance, he spoke freely. His comments on literature and literary life were dominant, during which, for example, he responded with pointed assessments of new literary publications or classics of world literature. However, he also provided polemical comments and remarks on current theater and opera productions as well as literary adaptations and formulated obituaries in which he often wove anecdotes about his own encounters with the deceased. In general terms, one could say that he presented the most important cultural events of the year from his personal point of view. Now and then he went to a meta level and acted as a critical observer of the supraregional feature pages , especially literary criticism. As with the individual episodes of the Literary Quartet , Reich-Ranicki always ended his own program with a closing formula. As a confession of his own fallibility, he chose "However, but: Man is wrong as long as he strives." - a quote from the prologue in Heaven from Goethe's Faust. A tragedy. .
His solo ended after only nine episodes ; it was last broadcast on December 3, 2002. Reich-Ranicki cited other obligations and projects as reasons to which he had to devote himself. In addition, his journalistic work for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is very time-consuming. He also remarked: "Having five current topics every four weeks that are worth talking about is not easy at all in an era where literary life is not so fabulous".
Web links
- "Literature Pope messed up his solo" on February 5, 2002 on stern.de ( Stern ). Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- Werner Theurich: “Fireworks with a damp sparkler” , on February 6, 2002 on spiegel.de ( Der Spiegel ). Retrieved January 12, 2012.
- “The first violinist's last solo” , on December 2, 2002 on spiegel.de ( Der Spiegel ). Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- "Reich-Ranicki ends his" Solo "" on December 2, 2002 on faz.net ( Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ). Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- “The disturbing reef” , on December 4, 2002 on spiegel.de ( Der Spiegel ). Retrieved January 7, 2012.