But still, like I said, this is also an extremely frustrating subject to deal with among German intellectuals as well, simply because it holds back their artistic community so profoundly. Because the fact is that the German literary community right now is at its strongest point it's been since Goethe himself; there are over 90 poetry slams there right now, for example, more than even here in the US, and just thousands upon thousands of German citizens now out there reading at them and writing new work and posting regular updates at their blogs. Yet almost no one there actually self-publishes their work in a way that can be commercially released in retail bookstores; almost no small presses exist; almost nobody goes on self-organized book tours there, despite all these amazing opportunities just literally a couple of hours from where they live. (This issue, in fact, became a running joke during my own 2003 book tour there - about how amazed I was that I never had to travel more than an hour or two to get to my next appearance, and how horrified most Germans were at the idea of traveling an hour or two just to perform at a literary event.) And when you question German writers about why this is, most of them will reply that they don't feel they even have the right to do such a thing - "After all," a typical comment might go, "I don't know any professional editors who will help me. And how could I possibly release my work to the public if I haven't had a professional editor go over it first?"

This is something I think a lot of people overlook when it comes to the arts in Europe versus the arts in America, and in my opinion is the main reason the US still produces the majority of the world's indie-rock bands, small-press books, cutting-edge software and the like; because in America it's okay to be an amateur, and in fact in many cases your audience will love you even more precisely for this reason. For all its extra government money, for all its increased opportunities, the arts in Europe are still a much more regimented thing than you see here in the US; in Germany, for example, a huge section of the general populace won't even consider taking an artist seriously unless they have the official stamp of approval of a larger, more reputable arts organization first. We American intellectuals, on the other hand, I think pride ourselves on our rebellious spirit, plus of course apply the principles of free-market economics to the arts much more than Europeans do; that is, that anybody who wants to should have the right to release their work to the public, and that it's the public itself who will determine whether that artist is any good or not, based on whether they buy that artist's work or not. And not to toot our own horn too much, but I think in general that this is a much better way to think about the arts; after all, such a system has given us McSweeney's, and Matador Records, and Manic D Press, and Boing Boing, and just a million other little companies we intellectuals just adore the shit out of, none of which would've even been allowed to open for business if the founders had lived in Germany instead of here.

Like I said, though, things are rapidly changing over there - I mean, we wouldn't even be having this conversation in the first place if they weren't. Every day, in greater and greater numbers, more and more Europeans are coming to believe what we in America do as well - that it's okay to be an unproven artist and still present your work to the public, that there is a certain inate charm to amateurs who pursue the arts only as a hobby, and that such people might actually have something interesting and entertaining to say as well. And some countries in Europe, like England and Spain for example, are making this transition rather smoothly; and then some countries, like France and Germany, where this very different attitude about the arts exist, are having a lot more problems with this transition. And personally, I feel like this is one of the issues that's going to be coming to a big head in the German arts soon - as well as another issue they've actually been dealing with since the '70s, of whether you're a traitor to your culture by writing your work in English (the reason being, of course, that its shorter words and looser grammar makes it a lot easier for writing song lyrics and slam poems, versus the sometimes overwhelming Gottenschaudefrauenblahblahblah of most German words). As an admitted fan of both Germany and the German intelligentsia, I look forward to watching this debate, and seeing what will eventually emerge on the other side.

But of course there's an equally important issue to talk about when it comes to this entire subject - of whether it's a good idea to encourage Germans to take pride in their country in the first place. After all, I think you remember what happened there the last time its populace was encouraged to do this. Oh, but that's an entire essay on its own, and I'm almost out of space today, so I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.

So is anyone else watching the new six-part adaptation of Bleak House, which just started its run last night on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre? I am, for three main reasons: 1) It's based on a novel by Charles Dickens, and I'm a fan of Dickens; 2) it was adapted by Andrew Davies, and I'm a fan of Davies; and 3) it stars Gillian Anderson, and I'm a big fan of Gillian Anderson (or, well, that is, if you define "big fan" as "want to fuck her so much that I almost taste it"). Anyway, for those of who who are also following along, I just wanted to point out that PBS actually hass this really amazing supplement to the miniseries at their website, including interviews with both Davies and the show's producers, an overview of Dickens' life and of how Bleak House came about in the first place, an examination of Victorian London, a timeline history of Masterpiece Theatre's Dickens adaptations - oh, it just goes on and on, in fact. Definitely worth checking out, if you're watching the miniseries right now like I am.

Bis spaeter, und Tschuss!