Speaks out against a cancel culture directed against Russian culture: Deniz Yücel, the president of the German PEN.
Image: dpa
“The enemy is called Putin, not Pushkin”: The writers’ association PEN warns against a boycott of Russian literature.
Dhe international writers’ association PEN has warned against a boycott of books by Russian authors. “The enemy’s name is Putin, not Pushkin, Tolstoy or Akhmatova,” said German PEN President Deniz Yücel in a statement in Darmstadt on Sunday.
Demands to no longer buy books by Russians and no longer perform their plays are wrong and have the effect of “symbolic substitute actions”. “A blanket boycott would also affect the courageous colleagues in Russia who oppose Putin’s ruthless dictatorship and this war,” the PEN statement said.
“If we allow ourselves to be carried away by such reflexes, generalizations and hostilities against Russians, then madness has triumphed, reason and humanity have been lost.”
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