Joseph Roth igen

Titeln på det urval av Joseph Roths journalistik som jag sen en tid läser - och läser om - har inte utan skäl titeln "The Hotel Years". Roth levde större delen av sitt liv på hotell. De var hans hemland, hans enda hem.

Nu när nationalismens spöke, i olika skepnader, går genom Europa, är det befriande att läsa Roth:

"The guests come from all over the world. Continents and seas, islands, peninsulas and ships, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and even atheists are all represented in this hotel. The cashier adds, subtracts, counts and cheats in many languages, and changes every currency. Freed from the constriction of patriotism, from the blinkers of national feeling, slightly on holiday from the rigidity of love of land, people seem to come together here and at least appear to be what they should always be: children of the world."