Apocalyptic conflict, power politics, magic, the perils of new media, dragons and fake news. This week’s “Berliner Salon” hosted by the German ambassador to the UK and his wife did not lack imagination or ambition. On the stage in the elegant suite of reception rooms overlooking London’s Belgrave Square were the author Daniel Kehlmann, whose latest novel Tyll plays out during the Thirty Years’ War, in discussion with the novelist Ian McEwan. Surveying the audience of over 200, including a fair smattering of luminaries of cultural and intellectual London, Mr McEwan wondered whether similar gatherings were to be found at the British embassy in Berlin.
预示世界末日的冲突、权力政治、戏法、新媒体的严重危险、恶龙和假新闻。德国驻英国大使及夫人最近主持的“柏林人沙龙”(Berliner Salon)并不缺乏想象力或雄心。坐在俯瞰伦敦贝尔格雷夫广场(Belgrave Square)的典雅会客厅的台上，作家丹尼尔•克尔曼(Daniel Kehlmann)——其最新小说《小丑提尔》(Tyll)以三十年战争（Thirty Years’ War，1618年至1648年，是由日耳曼民族神圣罗马帝国的内战演变而成的一场大规模战争——译者注）为时代背景——与小说家伊恩•麦克尤恩(Ian McEwan)进行对话。环视200多名听众（其中不乏伦敦文化和知识界的名人），麦克尤恩揣测道，英国在柏林的大使馆是否也会举行类似的活动。