Read it twice. A magazine of culture and ideas, from many Europes and many languages.
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Issue Six is here! A lilac cover binds together fiction by Adania Shibli, Théo Casciani & Agnes Lidbeck, a review of the EU’s new Artificial Intelligence Act, a lamentation of German carpet, a rummage through Jane Austen’s wardrobe, some probing questions about the past, present & future of photography, a wander around translations of The Waste Land and much more.
Dive into Issue Six here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/issues/issue-six/
We are excited to share the stunning cover of Issue Six, luxuriously lilac on the outside, with contents that are equally lush.
Brought to life by the ERB's remarkable print design, this issue invites you to turn the pages to read or cut them to discover a second layer of depth and digression.
We’re excited to share that issue 6 of the European Review of Books has just arrived fresh from the printer. Soon, it will be making its way to you!
Stay tuned—next week, we’ll be revealing the cover that will grace this new edition.
Kate Elizabeth Creasey's "Moscow on the Med" takes you through two winters in Istanbul, a haven for dissident Russians and Ukrainians. Dive into the trilingual public announcements, anti-war activism, and the historic ties between Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia.
Read the article for free here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/moscow-on-the-med/en
This week in front of the paywall:
Discover the unlikely refuge of dissident Russians in Istanbul with Kate Elizabeth Creasey's "Moscow on the Med." From Cyrillic menus to anti-war swag, explore two winters in a city reshaped by political exile and war.
Find the article here:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/moscow-on-the-med/en
Explore the ascetic life of solitary sailor Gilles Grelet as reviewed by Ben Carver. Learn how the coldest, cleanest waters of Europe become a canvas for a radical, fully human work in "Theory of the Solitary Sailor."
Read the article for free here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-coldest-cleanest-water-in-europe/en
This week in front of the paywall.
Dive into the depths of solitary sailing with Ben Carver's review of Gilles Grelet's "Theory of the Solitary Sailor." Discover how the coldest, cleanest waters of Europe shape a unique philosophical journey on the high seas.
Find the article here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-coldest-cleanest-water-in-europe/en
This week in front of the paywall:
The untold story of Villa Verde alla Foce, a guesthouse that « became a haven for Europe’s literary exiles » escaping fascism. Run by Austrian-Jewish journalist Dora Kellner, it « bore witness to, and offered precarious respite from, the eddies and storms of the twentieth century. » Notably, Walter Benjamin, Kellner's ex-husband, called it a quiet haven and wrote essays there.
Find the review essay here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/last-resort/en
What better essay to highlight in front of the paywall than our Issue Five review of a biography of a legendary San Remo hotel?
« perched above the azure waves of the Mediterranean amid the verdant, sun-kissed hills of the Ligurian riviera »
Find the article here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/last-resort/en
Patrick Doan is truly the ERB’s triple treat: designer of our print magazine, illustrator of all drawings therein and now also writer of an essay (and: a talented restorer of Seiko watches from the ’60s and ‘70s, but that’s beyond the ERB’s remit – for now).
This week in front of the paywall: Patrick’s beautiful Issue Five travelogue of a momentous family trip to Cambodia.
Find it here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/photographer-refugee-king/en
Patrick Doan writes the story of three generations of his family visiting Cambodia, the first time since Patrick’s father A-Kong fled with the country him when he was still a toddler, in 1976. What do you find when returning to a place you’ve had to leave in a hurry, almost fifty years ago?
Read it here:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/photographer-refugee-king/en
« Overground Gaza becomes the negative shape — the reflection — of Underground Gaza. »
This week, we share an insightful conversation between Fernanda Eberstadt and Forensic Architecture-founder Eyal Weizman. Eyal talks about his upcoming book, which delves into Gaza’s subsoil, exploring the intricate history of Gaza’s tunnels and addressing the intriguing question: where does all the unearthed sand go?
Find the article here:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/a-worm-s-eye-view-of-gaza/a-worm-s-eye-view-of-gaza
This week, we're sharing a conversation between our contributor Fernanda Eberstadt and Forensic Architecture-founder Eyal Weizman. Eyal discusses his upcoming book on Gaza’s subsoil, exploring the history of Gaza’s tunnels and answering the intriguing question: where does all the unearthed sand go?
Now in front of the paywall!
Find it here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/a-worm-s-eye-view-of-gaza/a-worm-s-eye-view-of-gaza
Commemorating exactly 100 years since the assassination of Jacob Israël de Haan. His legacy of longing for a united coexistence between Arabs and Jews remains profoundly relevant. Dive into his story and its impact in "The Size of Longing" by Sudeep Dasgupta, featured in Issue Five of the European Review of Books.
Read it here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-size-of-longing/en
This week, we showcase Fiona Bell’s review essay, which asks the question: insofar as erotica can ever be about something, what is Russia-themed erotica about?
Find it here:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/ice-queens-sex-machines/en
In her Issue Five essay, Fiona Bell sets out to discover the history of Russia-themed erotica. Via Claude Anet’s Ariane, a Young Russian Girl and C.F. Henningsen’s The White Slave; or, The Russian Peasant Girl, she hones in on the role of Russian selfdom in the genre, and how the kink of the Russian « white slave » has proven adaptable to other historical settings.
Read it for free this week:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/ice-queens-sex-machines/en
Sander Pleij was moved, immediately and mysteriously, when he saw an artist’s self-portrait: «Anthon van Rappard, an artist who died at the age of 33, and to whom Vincent van Gogh wrote 58 letters.» Why is so very little known about him?
Read « Ça ira! There will be fire and enthusiasm in you » for free this week:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/ca-ira-there-will-be-fire-and-enthusiasm-in-you/en
« I saw a self-portrait and it moved me. Two young eyes over a coarse visage looked at me, the eyes somewhat enlarged, in their gaze the hint of ... what, exactly, I could not say. Submissive yet superior, vulnerable yet untouchable, deliberate yet open. One feels and then one formulates. But I could not find an adequate word or new expression for what this face was telling me. »
Now in front of the paywall is Sander Pleij's essay on Vincent Van Gogh's friendship with Anthon van Rappard:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/ca-ira-there-will-be-fire-and-enthusiasm-in-you/en
Construction work sprouts from every nook and cranny in each and every town or village. The morning rush hour starts at 6am and persists until 9.30am. The second wave commences at about 3pm and carries on till at least 7pm. Honking and hooting, shouting and swearing, singing and whistling. Lord Byron is commonly said to have referred to the Malta of two hundred years ago as « an island of yells, bells and smells ».
Read Clare Azzopardi and Leanne Ellul’s essay on the overwhelming noise culture in Malta now for free!
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/noise-s-grip/en
This week in front of the paywall: Clare Azzopardi and Leanne Ellul’s vivid essay on the overwhelming noise culture in Malta. From the relentless construction work to the deafening village festivals, they explore how noise has become the norm on this small island.
Read it here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/noise-s-grip/en
In the run-up to the European elections we have hefty discount for a limited time: a print+digital subscription for €115 €70 (that's 3 issues + unlimited digital access!) and a digital yearly subscription for only €50 €25.
Click the link for this offer:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.clienthub.nl/subscription-offer/
The day before the literary festival began, the « anarcho-capitalist paleolibertarian » Javier Milei won Argentina’s open primaries by surprise. By noon the following day, Monday 14 August, the Argentine peso lost 25 percent of its value. Something changed that Sunday, though nobody knew what, how much or for how long — least of all Milei, caught unawares by the results but ecstatically ready.
Read The anarcho-astrologer by Federico Perelmuter for free this weekend.
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-anarcho-astrologer/en
This week in front of the paywall we’re showcasing Federico Perelmuter’s raucous, bracing essay on Javier Milei’s weird rise to the presidency of Argentina, and the literary traditions behind it. Will novels help?
Federico Perelmuter’s essay on the new Argentine president Javier Milei is many things: a lucid guide to Argentinian politics and Milei’s weird rise therein; a swirl through literary «Latin Americanism» today; a raucous dispatch from Buenos Aires, with an account of the inauguration itself.
Read the article here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-anarcho-astrologer/en
Now unpaywalled: In his Issue Five essay, Michael Erard delves into 'The Centre' by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqui, a novel where language is not just learned but devoured. The premise is described as a 'wonderful fantasy', where linguistic skills are absorbed through a form of nourishing cannibalism that heals both body and soul.
Read it here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/cannibalinguistics/en
"Any such medicine that you possess doesn't have to be buried with you but can sustain other lives, too — your languages, and your self, are recycled for future generations." In his Issue Five essay, Michael Erard explores 'The Centre' by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqui.
Read the full essay for free here:
europeanreviewofbooks.com/cannibalinguistics/en
Michael Erard—linguist, writer, connoisseur of the history of hyperpolyglotism—reviews The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqui, a novel in which a young translator encounters a new way to learn a language: by devouring a native speaker. Read this essay from issue 5 for free!
Read it here:
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/cannibalinguistics/en
On Eurovision, how best to LOSE Eurovision, Eurovision’s geopolitics, & when to boo.
«Should we see Eurovision as an essential item on the checklist of Europeanization? First EBU, then Eurovision, then the European Union and/or NATO?»
Now free: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/we-are-the-winners-of-eurovision/en
Now free to read: Justina Buskaitė on losing Eurovision (uproarious even if you don’t watch Eurovision)
«The worst and surest formula for losing Eurovision—or maybe the cheapest one?—is to write a song about winning Eurovision.»
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/we-are-the-winners-of-eurovision/en
Today is Europe Day! Don’t miss our Europe Special: an extra print edition celebrating the 2024 European elections. It contains our best writing on Europe from the ERB’s first five issues.
You can find it in bookshops or buy it from our online store.
https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/shop/extra-edition-europe-special
This week in front of the paywall.
How to lose Eurovision, at which Lithuania has peculiarly excelled: «It is easy to say what makes a Eurovision-winning song. A good formula for losing is a much more delicate thing.»
Find the link here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/we-are-the-winners-of-eurovision/en
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Issue Six is here! A lilac cover binds together fiction by Adania Shibli, Théo Casciani & Agnes Lidbeck, a review of the EU’s new Artificial Intelligence Act, a lamentation of German carpet, a rummage through Jane Austen’s wardrobe, some probing questions about the past, present & future of photography, a wander around translations of The Waste Land and much more. Dive into Issue Six here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/issues/issue-six/
What better essay to highlight in front of the paywall than our Issue Five review of a biography of a legendary San Remo hotel? « perched above the azure waves of the Mediterranean amid the verdant, sun-kissed hills of the Ligurian riviera » Find the article here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/last-resort/en
Patrick Doan is truly the ERB’s triple treat: designer of our print magazine, illustrator of all drawings therein and now also writer of an essay (and: a talented restorer of Seiko watches from the ’60s and ‘70s, but that’s beyond the ERB’s remit – for now). This week in front of the paywall: Patrick’s beautiful Issue Five travelogue of a momentous family trip to Cambodia. Find it here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/photographer-refugee-king/en
In the run-up to the European elections we have hefty discount for a limited time: a print+digital subscription for €115 €70 (that's 3 issues + unlimited digital access!) and a digital yearly subscription for only €50 €25. Click the link for this offer: https://europeanreviewofbooks.clienthub.nl/subscription-offer/
The day before the literary festival began, the « anarcho-capitalist paleolibertarian » Javier Milei won Argentina’s open primaries by surprise. By noon the following day, Monday 14 August, the Argentine peso lost 25 percent of its value. Something changed that Sunday, though nobody knew what, how much or for how long — least of all Milei, caught unawares by the results but ecstatically ready. Read The anarcho-astrologer by Federico Perelmuter for free this weekend. https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-anarcho-astrologer/en
Michael Erard—linguist, writer, connoisseur of the history of hyperpolyglotism—reviews The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqui, a novel in which a young translator encounters a new way to learn a language: by devouring a native speaker. Read this essay from issue 5 for free! Read it here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/cannibalinguistics/en
«It is the era’s great novel not of anti-Zionism per se, but more particularly of post-Zionist disillusionment. That is what a reader today might thrill to, when ‘Zionism’ no longer evokes an abstract aspiration but a murderous ideology.» Read Sudeep Dasgupta piece on Jacob Israël de Haan’s Palestine and Arnold Zweig’s novel of post‑Zionist disillusionment here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-size-of-longing/en
May we present: Issue Five of the European Review of Books. It’s verdant green, and the vignette on the cover is a teddy bear that doesn’t want to budge. Issue Five has questions: How best to lose Eurovision? What is Russia-themed erotica about? And it has destinations: refugees and guards on the Polish border, Europe’s noisiest island, early Zionist disillusionment in Palestine, a return to Phnom Penh. Javier Milei literarily considered, Vincent van Gogh’s forgotten friend, Walter Benjamin’s last resort, Hélène Cixous on fiery foundations, philosophy at sea. Subscribe now or buy your copy of Issue Five in our webshop.
Issue Five contains some brilliant writing to wander in, accompanied by some equally brilliant vignettes – drawn by the ERB’s print designer Patrick Doan. The new issue will be sent to print subscribers this week, and arrives on our website on 9 April.
Issue Five is almost here! It arrives in verdant green, with brilliant writing to wander in. On Eurovision’s losers, Slavic erotica, Palestinian intimacies and Maltese noise. Dispatches from Istanbul, Buenos Aires and Białowieża Forest. Essays and interviews from Europe’s many corners. Subscribe now to have it land on your doormat in the coming weeks.
When we visited the ERB’s printer – our friends of Wilco Art Books – earlier this week, Issue Five and its predecessors greeted us at the door. This vision in verdant green will land on subscribers' doormats in the coming weeks, and online on 9 April.
May we present: Issue Two! Wisdom for an anxious age and well-sharpened profanity for a vulgar one. New books, invented languages, resurrected darlings, and to every reader their own Dichter und Denker. Plus paranormal detectives and Chinese palindromes. Jump in here: https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/issues/issue-2
We asked contributors: what's your favorite font? A potentially intimate, certainly divisive question. Here are some of their answers. https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/launching-the-erb/en
Meet Patrick Doan, the ERB's print designer. With notes on the ERB's gambit of uncut pages and the system of vignettes that adorn its pages. From our newsletter: -- We wanted to deliver a distinct experience, to mark the magazine as somehow… different, to remind a reader how strange and marvelous it is to get absorbed in reading at all. Peculiar gadgets of pulp, ink, linen and glue. Uncut pages are a gimmick in the good sense, giving physical form to «read it twice». The design fits the mission and the pleasure of the ERB. We want essays that speak across a divide, that translate untranslatable things, that might need an extra spot to unpack their ideas. -- Kill your darlings, as Patrick says, but also keep them. Nice to imagine essays written with this structure in mind. https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/launching-the-erb/en
Meet Patrick Doan, the ERB's print designer. With notes on the ERB's gambit of uncut pages and the system of vignettes that adorn its pages. From our newsletter: -- We wanted to deliver a distinct experience, to mark the magazine as somehow… different, to remind a reader how strange and marvelous it is to get absorbed in reading at all. Peculiar gadgets of pulp, ink, linen and glue. Uncut pages are a gimmick in the good sense, giving physical form to «read it twice». The design fits the mission and the pleasure of the ERB. We want essays that speak across a divide, that translate untranslatable things, that might need an extra spot to unpack their ideas. -- Kill your darlings, as Patrick says, but also keep them. Nice to imagine essays written with this structure in mind. https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/launching-the-erb/en
Yet another video, to lure you in (with great cunning) to a video-less magazine! Since our contributors are all over the place, we asked them to read us some favorite lines from their own pieces. Here are just a few of them. Read it all in in Issue One, in print and online. https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/issues/issue-1
May we present: The European Review of Books. Issue 1 is off the presses and en route to backers and bookshops, and the website is alive. Give it a whirl: http://europeanreviewofbooks.com. We hope you like what we've made. Please subscribe if you do. From our newsletter: « The website was its own intricate design riddle: not only for moving between languages, but for moving within an article itself. To that end you’ll find gems studding the margins of many a piece. Click them! They want to be clicked. Other features are built with a future in mind, notably the site’s ever-expanding Library, which subscribers will be able to browse, sort, shuffle, and scramble. (It is a work in progress, in the happiest sense of that phrase.) »
Went to the printer. Picked up and ripped open Issue 1 of the ERB. (Nice work Wilco Art Books!) Subscriptions available June 13.
Today we unveil not one but TWELVE maps of Europe by Rem Koolhaas, created for the ERB. (You may have wondered what these drawings of drawings of Europe look like, especially if you have claimed one!) There are five days left of our crowdfunding campaign; you can still get yours. Faithful Readers will receive a large print of all twelve, arrayed in a vivid grid, with colors to get lost in. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erb/the-european-review-of-books
Culture & ideas, in print & online: a European magazine that speaks your language. Great writing in English and a writer’s mother tongue. Help launch the European Review of Books today, and support the far-flung writers and translators who will bring an adventurous magazine to life: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erb/the-european-review-of-books
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