András Kiséry
@andrask.bsky.social
early modernist and book historian, curious about shorthand, epigraphy, catalogs and other media. also sociology of cold war translations, history of media studies, … and Uwe Johnson.
Reposted by András Kiséry
hello friends! I'm giving a talk at the Columbia Shakespeare Seminar this friday -- it'll be on Ovid (ish), Petrarch (sorta), obscure 17th century English lyric (yes!), trans poetics, and maybe a hint of psychoanalysis. Abstract at the link below -- and if you want to Zoom in, DM me for a link :)
November 12, 2025 at 1:43 AM
hello friends! I'm giving a talk at the Columbia Shakespeare Seminar this friday -- it'll be on Ovid (ish), Petrarch (sorta), obscure 17th century English lyric (yes!), trans poetics, and maybe a hint of psychoanalysis. Abstract at the link below -- and if you want to Zoom in, DM me for a link :)
Reposted by András Kiséry
Oh, fuck. www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-a...
Amazon introduces Kindle Translate, an AI-powered translation service for authors to reach global readers
The service translates between English and Spanish, and from German to English, expanding opportunities for Kindle Direct Publishing authors.
www.aboutamazon.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Oh, fuck. www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-a...
From the press “committed to the daily re-imagining what a university press can be.” Well, maybe try again, fail better…
Thurs. Nov. 20th, join @drtomfrieden.bsky.social & Chelsea Clinton for a free public event at the New York Public Library! Learn how to protect your health and more lessons from Frieden's book "The Formula for Better Health."
Livestream & in-person. Register here: www.nypl.org/events/progr...
Livestream & in-person. Register here: www.nypl.org/events/progr...
November 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
From the press “committed to the daily re-imagining what a university press can be.” Well, maybe try again, fail better…
Reposted by András Kiséry
Imagine you time travel back to 1847 and you find the left response to industrialization is a) machines will never be as good as human weavers or b) we need to copyright loom patterns or c) it’s a speculative bubble.
You’d say “Y’all. Not helping. What you need is obviously a labor movement.”
You’d say “Y’all. Not helping. What you need is obviously a labor movement.”
November 1, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Imagine you time travel back to 1847 and you find the left response to industrialization is a) machines will never be as good as human weavers or b) we need to copyright loom patterns or c) it’s a speculative bubble.
You’d say “Y’all. Not helping. What you need is obviously a labor movement.”
You’d say “Y’all. Not helping. What you need is obviously a labor movement.”
Reposted by András Kiséry
Posting a photo of Ceausescu’s bathroom for no apparent reason.
October 31, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Posting a photo of Ceausescu’s bathroom for no apparent reason.
Reposted by András Kiséry
An information session for those interested in learning about Rare Book School’s 𝗠. 𝗖. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 will be held via Zoom at 6 p.m. ET on 29 October. Register at rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/lang
October 28, 2025 at 8:07 PM
An information session for those interested in learning about Rare Book School’s 𝗠. 𝗖. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 will be held via Zoom at 6 p.m. ET on 29 October. Register at rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/lang
Reposted by András Kiséry
Do you work at a small U.S. liberal arts college or at a university with 5,000 or fewer undergrads? If so, check out Rare Book School’s 𝗠. 𝗖. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀!
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
October 15, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Do you work at a small U.S. liberal arts college or at a university with 5,000 or fewer undergrads? If so, check out Rare Book School’s 𝗠. 𝗖. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀!
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
Reposted by András Kiséry
The British Library would amount to nothing if it only had its hordes of books. The real power is in the immeasurable treasures of staff expertise and dedication. Pay them real money!
Out this morning supporting British Library workers demanding decent pay. I have been using the library regularly for 20+ years
October 27, 2025 at 1:17 PM
The British Library would amount to nothing if it only had its hordes of books. The real power is in the immeasurable treasures of staff expertise and dedication. Pay them real money!
Reposted by András Kiséry
Out Now: Some Essays by Heinrich von Kleist (trans. @unpaginated.bsky.social) Published in rapid succession during the last year of Kleist's life, these brief but challenging essays present the finest distillation of his philosophical thought: paradiseeditions.net/products/som...
October 23, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Out Now: Some Essays by Heinrich von Kleist (trans. @unpaginated.bsky.social) Published in rapid succession during the last year of Kleist's life, these brief but challenging essays present the finest distillation of his philosophical thought: paradiseeditions.net/products/som...
Reposted by András Kiséry
It’s been a long while! Empyrean Series nos. 46–50 are announced & available for preorder as of today.
Books by Jean Paul, Pierre Custot, & Fernando Pessoa are due out in November. Ludwig Tieck & Niu Sengru will be published next spring.
asterismbooks.com/publisher/em...
Books by Jean Paul, Pierre Custot, & Fernando Pessoa are due out in November. Ludwig Tieck & Niu Sengru will be published next spring.
asterismbooks.com/publisher/em...
October 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
It’s been a long while! Empyrean Series nos. 46–50 are announced & available for preorder as of today.
Books by Jean Paul, Pierre Custot, & Fernando Pessoa are due out in November. Ludwig Tieck & Niu Sengru will be published next spring.
asterismbooks.com/publisher/em...
Books by Jean Paul, Pierre Custot, & Fernando Pessoa are due out in November. Ludwig Tieck & Niu Sengru will be published next spring.
asterismbooks.com/publisher/em...
Reposted by András Kiséry
Are you interested in how publishers’ archives illuminate the history of the American book? Apply for RBS's winter online course, H-95v: Reading Publishers’ Archives for the Study of the American Book!
𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝟭 𝗗𝗲𝗰. 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝟭 𝗗𝗲𝗰. 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
October 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Are you interested in how publishers’ archives illuminate the history of the American book? Apply for RBS's winter online course, H-95v: Reading Publishers’ Archives for the Study of the American Book!
𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝟭 𝗗𝗲𝗰. 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝟭 𝗗𝗲𝗰. 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
This is such a great piece about a place I barely (but at least barely) know—but it is not just about Berkeley and that stretch of Telegraph, so read it even if you have never been—it is so good. (And by the way the shoes improved and that is o.k., maybe the one thing that is.)
I spent a half year overthinking this, and though it's hard to think about anything other than the East Bay's immanent invasion by ICE (may their crops fail and their penises fall off), I'll share it again, a big piece of "what Berkeley means to me": www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/war-is-over-...
War is Over (Because UC Wants it)
A Tale of Two Murals on Telegraph Avenue, Aaron Cometbus's "The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah," and Praising the Emptiness
www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org
October 23, 2025 at 11:45 PM
This is such a great piece about a place I barely (but at least barely) know—but it is not just about Berkeley and that stretch of Telegraph, so read it even if you have never been—it is so good. (And by the way the shoes improved and that is o.k., maybe the one thing that is.)
Reposted by András Kiséry
Recommended:
What can we learn from Hungary's experience when conceptualising academic freedom?
ANDRÁS L. PAP offers eight lessons as part of our current symposium on Article 13 of the Charter.
verfassungsblog.de/hungary-acad...
ANDRÁS L. PAP offers eight lessons as part of our current symposium on Article 13 of the Charter.
verfassungsblog.de/hungary-acad...
October 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Recommended:
Reposted by András Kiséry
"By the 2020s, Krasznahorkai has become one of the vanishingly few living world-literary authors whose works are promptly & pretty much automatically translated into English." @andrask.bsky.social has a really interesting series on LK's route to "world authorship" open.substack.com/pub/translat...
László Krasznahorkai, world author (I.)
the system of literary translations in the 21st century
open.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:18 PM
"By the 2020s, Krasznahorkai has become one of the vanishingly few living world-literary authors whose works are promptly & pretty much automatically translated into English." @andrask.bsky.social has a really interesting series on LK's route to "world authorship" open.substack.com/pub/translat...
Reposted by András Kiséry
It’s unsettling to work at an institution that is this dedicated to global collaborative and critical knowledge work and feel the contraction nearly everywhere, in small and big ways.
I’m a German historian of the US, and I remember how I said to myself a few years ago man it must suck to be a German historian of Russia with all the repression bearing down on the GHI in Moscow and the dangers of doing critical scholarship there and all.
Well…
Well…
October 7, 2025 at 10:11 AM
It’s unsettling to work at an institution that is this dedicated to global collaborative and critical knowledge work and feel the contraction nearly everywhere, in small and big ways.
Reposted by András Kiséry
And while I am pro-open-source-AI, I have to admit that individually customized language models are not going to, um, *increase* the coherence of the fabric of reality.
September 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM
And while I am pro-open-source-AI, I have to admit that individually customized language models are not going to, um, *increase* the coherence of the fabric of reality.
Reposted by András Kiséry
My latest (50th!) weekly round-up of reading and listening recommendations, taking in colonialism and conflict in the Middle East, professional football, and the relationship between American film and politics. 🧵
#menasky #polisky #filmsky #skystorians🗃️ #envhist #litsky
#menasky #polisky #filmsky #skystorians🗃️ #envhist #litsky
Stop, Look, and Listen #50
A round-up of what I have been reading and listening to this past week.
academicbubble.substack.com
September 20, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by András Kiséry
Ich habe mir kurz die Mühe gemacht die jüngere Geschichte der politischen Morde in den USA anzuschauen. Zwischen 2005 und 2025 gab es 371 solcher Morde. 93% davon wurden von Tätern mit einem rechten oder rechtsextremen Motiv verübt. Quelle: Anti Defamation League.
September 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Ich habe mir kurz die Mühe gemacht die jüngere Geschichte der politischen Morde in den USA anzuschauen. Zwischen 2005 und 2025 gab es 371 solcher Morde. 93% davon wurden von Tätern mit einem rechten oder rechtsextremen Motiv verübt. Quelle: Anti Defamation League.
Reposted by András Kiséry
“Oneiric technology” is the perfect distinction for describing everything from nanotech to ‘AI’. These are not technologies of the actual world, of physics and math and biology, but technologies of dream-stuff, of imagined sciences, materials, and logics that do not inhabit our real world
In this piece for Aeon, I argue that, while nanotechnology is now a very real and mature field, a popular early vision of it was an example of what I am calling an "oneiric technology": a fantasy of the sort that Silicon Valley loves.
aeon.co/essays/no-su...
aeon.co/essays/no-su...
No suffering, no death, no limits: the nanobots pipe dream | Aeon Essays
Thirty years ago, nanotech was about to change everything. Let’s not get tricked again by Silicon Valley’s magical thinking
aeon.co
September 2, 2025 at 3:46 PM
“Oneiric technology” is the perfect distinction for describing everything from nanotech to ‘AI’. These are not technologies of the actual world, of physics and math and biology, but technologies of dream-stuff, of imagined sciences, materials, and logics that do not inhabit our real world
I am not sure what on earth the saturated field of JA biography may have been doing if not looking at her in the context of her society, family, friends…?
“The Austen biography space is fairly saturated and covered. But there’s still a lot more we can learn by seeing her in context: that is, by seeing Austen in relation to her society, her family, her friends.”
www.publicbooks.org/weird-but-fa...
www.publicbooks.org/weird-but-fa...
September 2, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I am not sure what on earth the saturated field of JA biography may have been doing if not looking at her in the context of her society, family, friends…?
Reposted by András Kiséry
"Blocking Sci-Hub and Libgen thus acts as a mechanism of capital accumulation at the expense of India’s academic commons — reinforcing class hierarchies."
indianexpress.com/article/opin...
indianexpress.com/article/opin...
HC’s ban on Sci-Hub goes against the interests of the marginalised
Its order serves a class function. It fortifies subscription models that private publishers exploit, whilst public budgets shrink
indianexpress.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:52 AM
"Blocking Sci-Hub and Libgen thus acts as a mechanism of capital accumulation at the expense of India’s academic commons — reinforcing class hierarchies."
indianexpress.com/article/opin...
indianexpress.com/article/opin...
Reposted by András Kiséry
Just seen this - a find with all sorts of elegant implications for Nashe. Bravo, Joseph Black. Lovely to see TN, who projects an air of brilliant improv, rechecking sources and writing corrections in his neatest handwriting.
www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...
www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...
Thomas Nashe's Almond for a Parrat (1590), corrected by the author | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
August 23, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Just seen this - a find with all sorts of elegant implications for Nashe. Bravo, Joseph Black. Lovely to see TN, who projects an air of brilliant improv, rechecking sources and writing corrections in his neatest handwriting.
www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...
www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...
Reposted by András Kiséry
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
Reposted by András Kiséry
<<stage whisper>>
It was never about jobs.
It was never about jobs.
Yes! Humanities majors get jobs!
Which is quite separate from humanities *departments* getting funding. We're under-funded for ideological reasons, alongside mistaken cultural assumptions about employability.
But our majors get jobs! At a high rate! History is a *good* major, so is Classics!
Which is quite separate from humanities *departments* getting funding. We're under-funded for ideological reasons, alongside mistaken cultural assumptions about employability.
But our majors get jobs! At a high rate! History is a *good* major, so is Classics!
August 8, 2025 at 8:19 PM
<<stage whisper>>
It was never about jobs.
It was never about jobs.
Reposted by András Kiséry
It's starting to get physically painful for me to watch a technology that could have been produced ethically and with an incredible command of a specific skill set that's useful to people but instead became a tech bro talking point be sold to us as the catch-all technological savior.
August 7, 2025 at 10:39 PM
It's starting to get physically painful for me to watch a technology that could have been produced ethically and with an incredible command of a specific skill set that's useful to people but instead became a tech bro talking point be sold to us as the catch-all technological savior.