Mathilde Montpetit

my first for HEIST, a new, must-read publication if you're interested in English-language news in Berlin.

"Herland" (1915) imagined a utopia without men — collective motherhood, no war, no jealousy. But Charlotte Perkins Gilman's feminist vision was a product of its time as much as a challenge to it: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/herland/

HEIST is a worker-owned online magazine, founded by writers and editors who spent years in Berlin’s media landscape and felt something essential was missing.

Launching soon.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s *Herland* (1915) A utopian novel where men are no longer necessary.

In HERLAND, Charlotte Perkins Gilman asks the question: what if every man in a remote Andean society died and the women then discovered how to reproduce by parthenogenesis? Her answer: that would be really great actually. My latest for @publicdomainrev.bsky.social

the best new books publication the western hemisphere is THE AUFLAUF: theauflauf.substack.com

subscribe to the auflauf! undoubtably berlin's premier gossip-mongering literary review!

March Books: McDonald, Franck, Ismaïl Poems by Matthew McDonald and novels from Julia Franck and Agri Ismaïl, plus some gossip from our new correspondent.

Another great set of books this month: Matthew McDonald's debut poetry collection @ajbwells.bsky.social; Julia Franck's autobiographical novel @return2sanders.bsky.social; and Agri Ismaïl's account of dislocation and late capitalism @brynstole.bsky.social. Plus some EXPLOSIVE new gossip...

Imagined Futures: Early Sci-Fi and Electric Visions Podcast Episode · Object · February 23 · 29m

We are partnering with Object podcast for its new season, Imagined Futures, exploring the visual culture of retrofuturism. First episode — Early Sci-Fi and Electric Visions — is out!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

Poor Ghost! by Gabriel Flynn being held up by a bookseller at Blackwells

haven't done any self-promo in a while but it's payday and everyone's talking about Manchester so... if you're looking for a novel to read this weekend, pick up a copy of Poor Ghost! from your local bookshop.

The ONLY debut novel set in Manchester to be published in 2025 (as far as I'm aware)

Oi quick question! What's a great opening? For an extra scoop of Auflauf, we asked some mates how best to begin.

We asked some friends, too:

What's one of the great openings to a story, poem, novel or essay?

Christa Wolf in our day - Lettrétage Discussion and reading “Is life identical with time in its unavoidable but mysterious passage?” asked Christa Wolf in the introduction to her book One Day a Year. “While I write this sentence, time pa...

Come along to our Christa Wolf event in Berlin tomorrow to hear @katyderbyshire.bsky.social read from her translations—and more—while we explore Wolf's post-Wall legacy in discussion & texts submitted from all across town >> psst also it's free >>

www.lettretage.de/Termine/chri...

ICYMI — was interviewed by @mathildegm.bsky.social for The Auflauf

read here:

open.substack.com/pub/theaufla...

Tobias Ryan: ‘I dealt with it for ten years—now someone else can have it.’ The minor literature[s] Editor-in-Chief on his new novel GLANTZ

In the Auflauf's first monthly author interview, @mathildegm.bsky.social dials up @tobiasvryan.bsky.social in his Parisian garret to talk about unrelatable fiction, @minorliteratures.bsky.social, and the Unreal (European) City of his soul .......

theauflauf.substack.com/p/tobias-rya...

Tobias Ryan: ‘I dealt with it for ten years—now someone else can have it.’ The minor literature[s] Editor-in-Chief on his new novel GLANTZ

@tobiasvryan.bsky.social has written a gross, beautiful, challenging book about a horrible man who won't leave you alone – and I got to talk to him about it for The Auflauf:

Tobias Ryan: ‘I dealt with it for ten years—now someone else can have it.’ The minor literature[s] Editor-in-Chief on his new novel GLANTZ

interview @ The Auflauf

with thanks to @mathildegm.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/theaufla...

Centaurs, dragons, and snail shell houses — just a few of the otherworldly marvels depicted in a 15th-century French manuscript (BnF, Français 22971) illustrated by Robert Testard. More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/secrets-de-l-histoire-naturelle/

Snail Homes, Bog Bodies, and Mechanical Flies: Robert Testard’s Illustrations for *Les secretz de l’histoire naturelle* (ca. 1485) A wondrous illuminated manuscript, which gathers and illustrates the marvels of the world and beyond.

In 1485, the illustrator Robert Testard drew the whole world into a manuscript: mountains of gold, centaurs, dragons, wars between storks and men... And even more shockingly, places where women are in charge.

deadline closes FEB 10TH send us your BEST

media friends: I'm looking for some new work to supplement the excellent roster of outlets I edit for on a regular basis (Jezebel, Foreign Policy, IPQ). Do you need a cover for an editor on leave, a fact-checker, a morning newsletter writer? I can do it all—and more! Please be in touch :)

February Books: Maci, Reimann, Clark Essays from Enis Maci, a novella by the GDR's Brigitte Reimann, and Christopher Clark's nineteenth-century Prussia.

The Auflauf, a new newsletter for Berlin books, is here! Fresh out the oven: book reviews from me, @return2sanders.bsky.social and @brynstole.bsky.social; not to mention some hot literary gossip... Interviews and more to come!

Check out The Auflauf, a new substack of Berlin books. Our first course: @mathildegm.bsky.social on Reimann, @brynstole.bsky.social on Clark, & me on Maci. @ajbwells.bsky.social is in the kitchen too helping cook and dish up lit crit, goss & conversations: theauflauf.substack.com

Cool new project alert!!! Subscribe for more soon!

I was honoured to fact-check the gossip section for this issue; will also be doing reviews, interviews, &c. in future instalments

An “auto”-biographical film in the most literal sense, this 1943 US propaganda short is told from the Jeep’s own point of view — a strange and revealing piece of wartime self-mythmaking: publicdomainreview.org/collection/a...

*Autobiography of a “Jeep”* (1943) A WWII propaganda film narrated as an "auto"-biography

Can the sub-1/2 ton 4x4 utility truck speak? According to this WWII propaganda film by the later-blacklisted documentary filmmaker Irving Lerner, yes – and he's got great news for you about the future of American empire.

pals please repost and share with your friends and students if relevant

WE WANT YOUR PROSE—submit now to read at our Feb 21 Lettrétage event about Christa Wolf (and her post-Wall writing e.g. One Day A Year). Send us some short prose in any language about the day, the daily, the recurring date, everyday politics. We will print a zine!

sites.google.com/view/mayroec...

Peter Kropotkin’s Memoirs of a Revolutionist (1899): a radical Bildungsroman from the former Russian prince — page to Alexander II, explorer-scientist, twice imprisoned, and (by century’s end) one of the world’s leading anarchist voices: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/kropotkin-memoirs/

Peter Kropotkin’s *Memoirs of a Revolutionist* (1899) The memoirs of an aristocratic man revolutionised into an anarchist communist.

I had a great time reading Peter Kropotkin's memoirs for @publicdomainrev.bsky.social: never has the transformation from Russian prince to anarchist firebrand been narrated with such good humor and verve:

Higher Ed's Bad Bargain To salvage academic freedom amid Trump’s attacks, universities must break from their Cold War compromise with US militarism.

Online today @JewishCurrents: my examination of how nearly a century of cooperation between American universities and the military-industrial complex has made a mockery of the concept of academic freedom jewishcurrents.org/higher-eds-b...