issue 45|end of the year note

A new year will begin in a few days, and in this passage of time that we all experience in our own ways, I am taking you with me from Amsterdam to Brussels, from home to home (what both cities are to me, in different ways).

In this short escapade, I will attempt to translate a few words by Marguerite Yourcenar from her novel L’oeuvre au noir (translated to English by Grace Frick as The Abyss) which I have recently come across to as I was flaneusing in Brussels, finding myself in a quiet, cold and sunny Parc d’Egmont: 

Je ne cesserai jamais de m'émerveiller que cette chair soutenue par ses vertèbres, ce tronc joint à la tête par l'isthme du cou et disposant autour de lui symétriquement ses membres, contiennent et peut-être produisent un esprit qui tire parti de mes yeux pour voir et de mes mouvements pour palper... J'en sais les limites, et que le temps lui manquera pour aller plus loin, et la force, si par hasard lui était accordé le temps. Mais il est, et, en ce moment, il est Celui qui Est.

Never will I cease to marvel that this flesh, held upright by its vertebrae, and this trunk, joined to the head by the narrow isthmus of the neck and symmetrically extended into limbs, contain—and perhaps give rise to—a mind that uses my eyes to see and my movements to explore what can be touched… I know its limits: that it will lack the time to go further, and the strength, even if by chance it were granted the time. And yet it is; at this moment, it is the One Who Is. (my translation)

I wish you a smooth passage from one year to another. May 2026 give us all the will and ability to care, to feel, to think, to love, to remain vigilant while never losing our capacity to dream and to imagine beyond what we are being shown. 

PS: to the most devoted readers among you; no, you did not miss issue 44, I had mistakenly numbered it 43 :-)

A FEW THINGS THAT MAKE ME THINK AND FEEL…

• Filmmaker Raoul Peck is back with an astonishing and powerful documentary: Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5. Through fragments from his own diaries and letters, we hear George Orwell (voiced by actor Damian Lewis) reflecting on his life, from his formative years in a society divided by class, his involvement in the Spanish Civil War, to his time on the Scottish island of Jura, where he wrote 1984 shortly before his death. Orwell’s personal memories are illustrated by clips from film adaptations of Animal Farm and 1984. The material forms the foundation for a wealth of visuals that track global developments in history until today, an era defined by deepfakes, resurgent authoritarianism, and contemporary Newspeak. It’s a scary but necessary watch, and is currently on show in cinemas in The Netherlands. Here’s the trailer. 

• One of my favourite comics artists, Alison Bechdel (creator of the Bechdel Test) has written another brilliant book: SPENT: a Comic Novel (2025). In this auto-fiction (she brilliantly fictionalises her own biography) she takes us on a reflection about late-stage capitalism, the world of publishing and TV, and creativity, but also friendship, love and, goats (in this version of herself, Bechdel runs a pigmy goat sanctuary). If you have not read Alison Bechdel’s work yet, I invite you to dive into her other graphic novels: Fun Home (2006), Are you My Mother (2012), The Secret to Superhuman Strength (2021), and of course her now classic series of strips Dykes to Watch Out For (1983-2008).

• I have recently come across the Irish band Fontaines D.C. and have loved listening to their albums Skinty Fia (2022) and A Hero’s Death (2020), especially their song “I Love You”, which is a poignant and powerful love/hate letter to their home country of Ireland. The song “Starbuster” from their last album Romance (2024) is also one that made it to my On Repeat list. I love how political they are, and the energy of their music is just great. In 2022, the band did a Tiny Desk concert on NPR, you can watch it on YouTube.

ABOUT + SUPPORT

Canan Marasligil (she/they) is a writer, literary translator and artist based in Amsterdam. She established the attention span website and its newsletter to publish their work independently: making the time to reflect, analyse and imagine.

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