Hello, travellers and world observers!
Have you had the experience but missed the meaning?
That’s the question that haunts me and the English Republic of Letters.1
Join me, Jeffrey Streeter, a recovering cultural bureaucrat, as I use literature, language and culture as a lens to work out what a life of travel and learning about other countries adds up to.
I’ve lived and worked all around the world, finding out about and sharing culture, language and education with people from different countries and cities, thanks to my work with the British Council.
My writing is an invitation to see the world through a literary lens while twisting and turning through the streets of Mexico City, Kyoto or Istanbul.
What you'll need to pack
There's no sense in being slowed down by suitcases, travel cheques or bars of soap. All you need in this new Republic is a passport! (Otherwise known as a free subscription.)
Your upcoming itinerary
Each week you'll receive a dispatch from around the world of literature and art, with lots of what we call real life thrown in, too.
You can expect to:
find out what happened when I introduced Kurt Vonnegut to a huge audience of his fans;
join the thrill of my pursuit of Chinese poetry in Shanghai;
enjoy the beautiful plum blossom season in Japan;
or spend time on the beach with Pablo Neruda.
In the original Republic of Letters, “Glory and immortality [we]re sought above all things”.
You may not experience those things in this one, but I hope that here you’ll find inspiration in great literature from around the world and the cultures that have produced it.
Let’s learn together. And share.
Supporter Sidebar: A special edition of ERL
The English Republic of Letters is sponsored by travellers like you.
While my weekly essays will always remain free and accessible to all readers, each month I publish a special edition of ERL as a token of appreciation for my supporters’ financial generosity.
The Supporter Sidebar is a shorter, reflective, ever-evolving, and community-focused essay that deep dives into a specific theme within ERL. Once a month, the Supporter Sidebar may:
Explore footnotes and insights that didn’t make the final cut in a specific ERL essay—sometimes the best ideas are the ones left behind!
Participate in community-based examinations through thought-provoking questions about literature, culture, travel, and memoir-based reflections.
Join a collective conversation to explore and expand on ideas together.
If you’d like to support the work of ERL and join us in our next Supporter Sidebar, you can do so by subscribing here at a special introductory price of £20 for the first year.
1 It’s not a test, but some of you may have picked up on the paraphrase of a line from ‘Dry Salvages’ by TS Eliot - see section II. Start as you mean to go on, my mother used to say.
