I was in Dussmann’s English language bookshop yesterday, and I was so thrilled to find this on the non-fiction table.
Berlin days
The first couple of days in Berlin have been amazing so far. I am sinking deep into the history of the DDR, and trying to better understand the transition after 1989. I met with my brilliant German editor at Suhrkamp on Thursday, had dinner with my dear friend Susan Neiman on Friday, and have hit the Berlin Trödel markets hard this weekend.
In front of a portrait of August Bebel in Prenzlauer Berg.
Berliner Dom by night
DDR-era bust of Marx purchased in the Weissensee trödelmarkt for 3 euro
Two new typewriters from the trödelmarkt: An Olympia Traveller de Luxe and a Prvileg.
the Plaza of the 9th of November 1989
Back in Berlin again
I'm enjoying some time in the German capital, a city I first visited in 1990, almost 30 years ago. Needless to say, it has changed a lot in the intervening years. Here is the view from my temporary apartment in Mitte.
Images from the Bulgarian village of Lyutibrod
So I spent a day in a village in the northwest of Bulgaria, near the town of Vratsa. This is a very poor part of the country where people live quite close to the edge, and is probably one of the poorest regions in the European Union. But it is also breathtakingly beautiful, and it is in this part of the country that many people maintain an allegiance to leftist ideals. I am always humbled and honored to be a guest here.
The Rouge Exhibit at the Grand Palais in Paris
While I was in Paris, I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of the Rogue exhibition at the Grand Palais. This was an exhibition of art from 1917 to 1953, and included amazing works from the early Soviet Era, while not whitewashing the horrors of Stalinism.
One thing that fascinated me were the quasi-erotic paintings of athletic bodies produced during the Stalinist era. According to the curators, because Soviet society was so prudish, the only way to paint nudes or scantily-clad figures was to portray young Soviet citizens engaging in sports activities. These images would have been quite titillating, I imaging, but they were acceptable because they upheld socialist ideals of physical fitness.
Twenty years ago in Sofia
I found this photo from the summer of 1999 in Sofia. It is scary to think that two whole decades have gone by so fast.
With my comrades in Paris
In Paris after a hard day’s work with Francisca de Hann, Chiara Bonfigioli, Sara Panata, Jocelyn Olcott, and our fearless leader, Ioana Cirstocea. I learned so much in one day; it was well worth weathering the jet lag and the heat wave to attend this seminar.
Two new podcasts
I have been so fortunate to be guests on two great podcasts. Many thanks to Marina Kadriu and Alec Opperman.
New Books Network: East European Studies, “Red Hangover: Legacies of 20th Century Communism,” June 27, 2019
The Order of Things podcast, “Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism,” June 25, 2019
In Paris at the Place de Sorbonne
While I am in Paris for 3 days, I am working on a few soundscapes. Here is my first from the square in front of the Sorbonne University. I am in the cafe cross from the fountains.
Summer Reading: The Old is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born
Love this little pamphlet-essay by Nancy Fraser! Some great quotes:
“The progressive-neoliberal bloc combined an expropriative, plutocratic economic program with a liberal-meritocratic politics of recognition.” page 12
“While social life as such is increasingly economized, the unfettered pursuit of profits destabilizes the very forms of social reproduction, ecological sustainability, and public power on which it depends. Seen this way, financialized capitalism is an inherently crisis-prone social formation.” page 38
Summer Reading: Kids These Days
I read Kids These Days a couple of weeks ago and I have still been processing it.
I don’t have time to write a long or detailed review, so I’ll just offer a few thoughts. I think the book has some profound insights, and it certainly helped me to understand the challenges faced by Millennials in this most dehumanizing stage of capitalism, but I wasn’t entirely convinced that the situation Harris describes didn’t start earlier. If you go back and reread Douglas Coupland’s 1991 novel, in which he coined the term “Generation X,” many of the same trends and concerns discussed by Harris are described there. As someone who survived 8 years of Reaganomics and grew up in tandem with the rise of neoliberalism and the dismantling of the welfare state, I’m a bit shocked that “kids these days” still believe that if you work hard and invest in your own human capital you will get ahead without luck, connections, or masses of inherited wealth.
Does no one read the newspaper anymore? Scholars and journalists have been dubious about the American dream for a long time, so it seems a little weird to complain about being hoodwinked by late capitalism when anyone who wanted to could read any number of books discussing how the American education system serves as a tool for corporate America, starting with the classic 1976 book, Schooling in Capitalist America, by the Marxists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Ginits (a must read!) I know a lot of Millennials who are angry about the system, but not because they feel that they have been uniquely cheated as young people, but because they understand that the whole system unfairly distributes the wealth of society to fewer and fewer people. In other words, there are plenty of Baby Boomers who have been screwed as well. Yes, they have social security and Medicare, but there are still an extraordinary number of senior citizens living in poverty.
I think the hardest thing about the book for me was the ending. While I totally agree that the usual solutions don’t seem to offer a way forward, I am guilty of the kind of hopeful thinking that he criticizes so ruthlessly in his conclusion. Indeed, I admit that my own book offers some lame “bop it” solutions (to use his term), and I can see that this is a problem. But Harris’s suggestion that his generation will become fascists or revolutionaries, without really discussing what that means, also feels a bit disingenuous. The book just ends abruptly, and I worry that his pessimism will be disempowering and paralyzing for those who read it. I mean, if the system is so totally screwed, why struggle at all? Why do anything? Rather than becoming fascists or revolutionaries, maybe the entire Millennial generation will just walk apathetically into some future turbo-capitalist dystopia. Or perhaps be bought off and placated with UBI, legalized marijuana, public Netflix, and communal X-boxes? I don’t know. There’s lots to discuss here, so it’s definitely worth a read.
New podcast with the New Books Network →
I have a lovely conversation with Marina Kadriu about Second World, Second Sex.
So excited for this conference in Paris! →
Vestibular syndrome :-(
My poor Basset Hound Daisy has been diagnosed with vestibular syndrome, otherwise known as “old dog syndrome.” She is walking around like a drunk sailor these days, and falls over when she tries to shake. Since she was a rescue hound, I’m not exactly sure how old she is, but we guess that she is at least 11, and so well within the range for this disease. It is certainly a design flaw that our canine companions have such a short life span compared to humans.
Philly Pride!
A lovely day for a parade in Philadelphia on the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall, even if the whole thing has been hijacked by corporate sponsors.
The British paperback has been launched! →
So happy that Vintage paperbacks did such a wonderful job with the paperback version of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.
With Lisa Armstrong and Wang Zheng at the 1st Global Socialist Feminism conference
We pulled it off! After a year of logistics and organizing, we had over 35 women from around the world in Ann Arbor for a meeting on Global Socialist Feminism.
Wang Zheng speaking at the Global Socialist Feminism conference at U Michigan
Discussing her book: Finding Women in the State
Rereading Good Omens after 29 years
I have my first edition of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s book, Good Omens, which I read when it first came out in 1990. Now there is a new miniseries coming out on May 31st (starring my favorite Doctor, David Tenant), and I decided to go back and reread it just for fun. I powered through it in one sitting.
Very British!
The Cover of the German Version →
Here is the cover of the German version of my book, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. I am sad that they didn’t include the subtitle, but it does make the cover look much cleaner and less cluttered. It’s out on October 27, 2019!
