Enzensberger’s Illusions

I assume that it is on purpose that Hans Magnus Enzensberger keeps his concluding remarks in Kursbuch so ambiguous, because he wants to stimulate discussion. But a double standard lurks in his refusal to take a personal stance. Initially, Enzensberger does something extraordinarily welcome: he introduces to West German readers a few of the leading figures of the peoples presently fighting for their liberation. He allows them to voice their often desperate and aggressive arguments—only then, in his postscript, to turn their own statements against them by making the reader aware of how “threadbare and exhausted,” how “antiquated and incredible” they sound to our ears. To be sure, he warns once again of such reservations and shows an almost sympathetic understanding for these “leaders who speak for the Poor world” who in their pursuit of the improvement of the plight must avail themselves of a language lent them by their...