Common Sense

For centuries, people have shared their thoughts, emotions, longings by letter. The letters in this book are such an approach, driven by desperation and a smouldering desire for change. Away from rationality and goal-directedness, in an urge towards freedom and the basic relations of which life consists. With the ageing woman’s hardly visible position in our culture as the point of departure, the sender writes letters to a life-companion, to a female friend and to an unknown you-figure. She is constantly driven by a wish to think clear thoughts, to listen to the intensity and seriousness of everything and to make good decisions. Even if this runs contrary to all available common sense.

Throughout her whole life, Wencke Mühleisen has stood out as an active contributor to the social debate, both as a performance artist and as a researcher into gender and media. She is an intrepid advocate of human fellowship, personal development and the freedom to shape one’s own roles.