The Bartleby

With thanks to Matthias of Bleistift fame, I have learned of an exceptional website devoted to writing culture, The Bartleby. Upon first view, I was surprised by the mixture of interviews, travel, and literary content. The website is German/English bilingual, with a very attractive design.

After some browsing, I was wondering whether it was a publishing house or an international airline that had put together this amazing site. It was neither – I thought the quality and design of the site meant there must be a commercial basis, but I was wrong. There is no advertising or industrial affiliation – it is an amazing high level personal contribution.

As a Canadian, the latest article Artists on the go | See how Sophie Mutlu, illustrator, and Peter Zenkl, photographer, live and work in Yukon, Canada was of particular interest.

This young couple, after a VW motorbus ride from Mexico found themselves in a very remote part of northern Canada and chose to stay. An interesting thing is that very few remote communities of 25,000 are served by international flights – yet the Yukon capital of Whitehorse is served by a seasonal flight to Frankfurt! (You can read the comments for speculation about how this flight might be viable.)

There is even a YouTube video with 700K views on this unusual flight:

So I suspect there is a Germany to Yukon connection worthy of further exploration.

I like The Bartleby’s explorations of literary hotels and writing culture. It is most recommended!