Europe, Europe

April 1, 1989
Enzensberger's disillusioned travel diary based on his wanderings through six European countries is an acerbically witty look at a continent beset by corruption, shadow economies, discredited political parties, and laboring under a crazy-quilt of special-interest groups. This German essayist ( Politics and Crime ) and poet finds the Swedes docile, conformist, touched by historical innocence. His sarcastic sketch of Italy lightly mocks a people obsessed with status and intrigue. In Portugal, he contemplates the stolid natives' passive sabotage that undermines capitalist efficiency. A Polish woman tells him: ``Feminism is a detested aberration! Our men worship us, it's true . . . and that's the source of our power.'' In Hungary, he sees a people stagnating because the political system won't tolerate needed economic reforms. ``Madrid is about as festive as Moscow or Houston,'' the author quips. These sharply illuminating vignettes gauge the social and political realities of each country with a perspicacity rare in travel writing.