Two Years of The Matterhorn! 🎉

Plus: a preview of Matterhorn U.

Dear Matterhorn Readers,

This is a short end-of-summer missive and a mini celebration of the two-year birthday of The Matterhorn. Thank you for being a subscriber and part of our community! How have your summers (or winters) been?

I’ve had a whirlwind couple of months moving from Basel to London, spending time in Istria (where we go nearly every year – here’s a post from last year), taking the train over to the Paris Olympics for a few days¹, and preparing for a new job that starts – eek – this week. Hopefully as you read this, our new apartment is fully unpacked!

I apologize for being less present or timely in the comments and, more generally, Substack space (for those of you who engage or write there). I imagine this will continue for a few weeks until I settle into things a bit more. Thanks for your patience and understanding!

At the same time, my mind has been tinkering with ideas for what’s next on The Matterhorn. Now that it’s been two full years since my first post on The Sea, I’ve had a chance to try out different components of the newsletter as well as publishing some of my fiction here. I’ve also been thinking about why I love writing here and corresponding with this community, and what the purpose of continuing in this space might be. Thanks for sticking with me as things evolve.

From the last days in Switzerland (for now)!

Snippets:

1. THE MATTERHORN — I thought about changing the name of my publication as I move from Switzerland (à la Toblerone debacle), perhaps also to something more like what it says on the tin. However, a) we have to keep a small residence in Switzerland for my husband’s job, so I think it’s legit b) I doubt the Swiss will be investigating my enormous business venture here c) I like the original quirky name! (You can read about it here and anecdotally here.)

2. AN INTERPRETER IN VIENNA — I’ve got 2 more podcasts in this series for you and 12 more installments of An Interpreter in Vienna. I’ll also be indie publishing² the novel as a paper and e-book with a free e-book for paid subscribers! Thanks for reading and for your feedback along the way.

3. SEASON 3 🎙 — Part of my summer was spent recording an 8-week trial for the next season of the podcast. Each episode is a bitesize exploration of a text through a conceptual lens.

   Stay tuned for the first preview episode in October!

4. FICTION — I’ve found it a little tricky to work on fiction this summer…my head is going through too much movement. However, I’ve spent some time working sporadically on two novellas that are brewing and am playing around with some autofiction. I’ve got some fresh ideas of what this might look like on The Matterhorn.

5. MATTERHORN U. — A few of you have commented on the way this newsletter has a kind of accessible academic quality, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Fiction writer

   Ben Wakeman
   compared the podcast to an MFA and, most recently, this came from
   Jules
   –

   “Subscribing to The Matterhorn is like being enrolled in the best, most fun university ever. Stimulating, mind-expanding, and a forum to share ideas.”

   Thank you! I want this to be a playground of mental gymnastics, prompts from the realm of research or literary criticism or artistic movements and more. I’m planning to bring short provocations and potentially interviews or collaborations of this interdisciplinary and international nature in 2025. I’m not sure yet if this will replace the podcast or stand alongside it.

   Here’s a tiny preview on my website. You can listen to my most popular podcast thus far on The Pharmakon here.

   

Finally, please connect if you are living in or traveling to London! I’d love to catch up in person. Be well and good luck with La Rentrée³ if you have one!

Best,

Cultural Differences at the (Permeable) Border

An Interpreter in Vienna | Introduction

1. I also got to see a couple of old friends and very briefly visit my favorite cafe!

Writing Spaces: La Palette

2. You can read more about indie publishing in this great interview with

Eleanor Anstruther

.

3. The French term for the ‘return’ to school and work after August spent at the sea or in the mountains, or simply relaxing at home.