Charlie Bertsch / 29 Jun 2022
Between Europe and America
Reconsidering Susan Sontag
There was a time in the 1960s and 1970s when Susan Sontag somehow became an international star. (...)
Fiction
Charlie Bertsch / 08 Jun 2022
Switzerland or Bust
Return to Magic Mountain
Ever since I finished Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, I have been trying to find a way of explaining why it’s worth reading that prioritises the words on the page rather than my idiosyncratic response to them. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 25 May 2022
The View From Davos
Thomas Mann in Silicon Valley
Why would someone want to read Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain? And why would they finish it?(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 18 May 2022
The Thomas Mann Mountain
Learning to Read Again
As I made my way up the trail, the late-afternoon sun temporarily muted by clouds, I suddenly realised how strange my situation was.(...)