Alexander R. Phillips
@arphillips.bsky.social
Assistant professor of English at Ashoka University, read: rogue Germanist in India. Author: "Ecology and German Realism." Literature, ecocriticism, environmental humanities, C19. I cycle, I make beer, I think about books for money.
Pinned
Before Environmentalism: Nature and Industry in German Literature
Alexander Philips explores how authors such as Raabe and Stifter grappled with the environmental changes that industrialization bought about.
boydellandbrewer.com
Please read my book, "Ecology and German Realism," out now with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social. But if you're in a hurry, you can also read this.
#litwiss
boydellandbrewer.com/blog/german/...
#litwiss
boydellandbrewer.com/blog/german/...
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
Hey! I’m CEO of a company that has just raised $10 billion for an app that takes the hard work out of enjoying music. Did you know, some people waste hours each day listening to “tunes”. Our AI will listen to it for you and summarise it in a 15 second scream leaving you more time to add value.
December 4, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Hey! I’m CEO of a company that has just raised $10 billion for an app that takes the hard work out of enjoying music. Did you know, some people waste hours each day listening to “tunes”. Our AI will listen to it for you and summarise it in a 15 second scream leaving you more time to add value.
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
When there's road work on University Ave in San Diego, the streetcar tracks that were paved over in the 1950s are sometimes visible. Buses that operate on this segment today are some of the most frequently delayed in the system because of the traffic.
December 3, 2025 at 1:58 AM
When there's road work on University Ave in San Diego, the streetcar tracks that were paved over in the 1950s are sometimes visible. Buses that operate on this segment today are some of the most frequently delayed in the system because of the traffic.
More the lead up to telling people what I do: "Und wie sprichst du so gut Deutsch?"
What’s the worst question someone can ask after you tell them your profession? For linguists, it’s definitely “how many languages do you speak?”, but I’m curious what else is happening to the rest of y’all out there?!
December 2, 2025 at 3:13 AM
More the lead up to telling people what I do: "Und wie sprichst du so gut Deutsch?"
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
Home Alone could've had a very different ending if it was made more recently.
November 30, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Home Alone could've had a very different ending if it was made more recently.
Glad to know this exists! The Trinity Test episode is the single most astonishing hour of television I have ever seen.
Quantum mechanics unleashed the Trinity Test upon the American desert and the world. David Lynch's Trinity Test transmits that quantum state as the fabric of American cultural economy: I am dead yet I live. Timecodes Series Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 examines every minute of Lynch's masterpiece.
November 30, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Glad to know this exists! The Trinity Test episode is the single most astonishing hour of television I have ever seen.
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, it was raining
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, there was frost on my windows
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, it was dark
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, the sun was in my eyes
Also drivers: I never see anyone using that bike lane, let’s rip it out.
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, there was frost on my windows
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, it was dark
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, the sun was in my eyes
Also drivers: I never see anyone using that bike lane, let’s rip it out.
November 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, it was raining
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, there was frost on my windows
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, it was dark
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, the sun was in my eyes
Also drivers: I never see anyone using that bike lane, let’s rip it out.
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, there was frost on my windows
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, it was dark
Drivers: I couldn’t see you, the sun was in my eyes
Also drivers: I never see anyone using that bike lane, let’s rip it out.
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
"Ecology and German Realism:" In which I stage an ecomarxist rescue operation for a bunch of conservatives, anti-revolutionaries, and Otto von Bismarck fans.
boydellandbrewer.com/book/ecology...
boydellandbrewer.com/book/ecology...
November 27, 2025 at 4:53 AM
"Ecology and German Realism:" In which I stage an ecomarxist rescue operation for a bunch of conservatives, anti-revolutionaries, and Otto von Bismarck fans.
boydellandbrewer.com/book/ecology...
boydellandbrewer.com/book/ecology...
Immer wieder eine Kränkung, wenn ein Gerät mich duzt.
Vom Duzen und Siezen ist immer wieder die Rede. Dabei ist zu unterscheiden, wie man es selbst praktiziert und was man davon hält. Denn das ist nicht immer deckungsgleich. Wie mag es z. B. für die Beschäftigten bei Ikea sein, dass sie die Kundschaft duzen müssen? Oder beim Sport?
November 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Immer wieder eine Kränkung, wenn ein Gerät mich duzt.
November 24, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
Übersicht mit KI: Der erste Satz von Christian Krachts Roman Faserland lautet: "It was a dark and stormy night at Fisch-Gosch on Sylt".
November 24, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Übersicht mit KI: Der erste Satz von Christian Krachts Roman Faserland lautet: "It was a dark and stormy night at Fisch-Gosch on Sylt".
Even if this were in any way true, leftist thought is never less dangerous than when it it is presented in an elite university classroom.
Ah yes. Harvard Law School in the early 1990s, well known for its Communist professors.
November 23, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Even if this were in any way true, leftist thought is never less dangerous than when it it is presented in an elite university classroom.
Me, a college freshman: "I'll sign up for beginning German and see what happens. Maybe I'll take a literature class when and if I get there."
November 23, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Me, a college freshman: "I'll sign up for beginning German and see what happens. Maybe I'll take a literature class when and if I get there."
Post a book you love from the 80s. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
November 19, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Post a book you love from the 80s. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy.
November 16, 2025 at 5:47 AM
I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy.
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
please don't do this. MAGA hats are made from an acrylic blend, which will release toxic chemicals when set on fire, potentially harming you and downwind woodland creatures
November 16, 2025 at 1:37 AM
please don't do this. MAGA hats are made from an acrylic blend, which will release toxic chemicals when set on fire, potentially harming you and downwind woodland creatures
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
—I come to report a fair wind to him. But how fair? Fair for death and doom
November 16, 2025 at 1:47 AM
—I come to report a fair wind to him. But how fair? Fair for death and doom
I've been getting assignments in cursive, and you know what? The kids are alright.
i stopped writing in cursive as soon as my teachers stopped making me write in cursive, but i very much appreciate my students who still do so
November 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I've been getting assignments in cursive, and you know what? The kids are alright.
Reposted by Alexander R. Phillips
Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller
November 14,1946
November 14,1946
November 14, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller
November 14,1946
November 14,1946
Just one of the many ways in which cars have been turning otherwise lovely people into absolute sociopaths since 1886.
![4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiby6can6k76yzfmv2czxs4pu2l7zie7bqbrpswi7h3ifmiadkuqvu@jpeg)
November 15, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Just one of the many ways in which cars have been turning otherwise lovely people into absolute sociopaths since 1886.
Embracing this feeling is the key to not only finishing, but actually enjoying "Ulysses."
I am reading Ulysses by James Joyce and as it turns out I don't know how to read
November 15, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Embracing this feeling is the key to not only finishing, but actually enjoying "Ulysses."
Get rid of all that family and reproduction stuff, cut straight to the sublime.
Dr Frankenstein: "I believe I will start my story in childhood." Sea captain: *Tosses him into the ice.*
November 13, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Get rid of all that family and reproduction stuff, cut straight to the sublime.
Hivemind! Next term I'm teaching one of those "deep dive" courses into Marx's "Capital." Which translation should I go with? Stick with Fowkes (Penguin) or jump ship to Reitter (Princeton UP)?
November 12, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Hivemind! Next term I'm teaching one of those "deep dive" courses into Marx's "Capital." Which translation should I go with? Stick with Fowkes (Penguin) or jump ship to Reitter (Princeton UP)?
Not forgotten! And this is a genuinely good poem.
November 12, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Not forgotten! And this is a genuinely good poem.