Money happens; @moneyontheleft.bsky.social editorial collective; credit @wherecreditsdue.bsky.social; Past Chair @modernistudies.bsky.social; researching literature, money, and trust; he/him; https://linktr.ee/robhawkesMotL
Rob Hawkes
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“money is no object; money happens”
If you haven’t read this essay on why paternity testing Olivia Rodrigo’s new music misses the point completely, what are you doing? It’s Sunday! Read it now!
We are honored to present the first English translation of Jean-Michel Servet's essay, "The Barter Myth & the Conceptual Foundations of Economic Modernity." While Graeber's DEBT popularized the critique of the myth of barter, Servet's essay originated that critique & did so in a more capacious way.
If you haven’t read this yet, fix that as soon as possible: it’s a beautifully crafted response to a great album. And if you teach literature, you might want to consider using the second and third paragraphs as an example of how close reading works.
"To the extent that this [barter origin] myth is accepted, the logic of bilateral exchange can function as the universal matrix of human relations, causing the myriad possibilities for coordinating economic life to recede from view."
moneyontheleft.org/2026/06/20/t...
Read cool shit.
The "barter myth," as Jakob Feinig explains in his introduction to this translation, "allows value to be conceived as prior to monetary institutions, creating the conditions for modern theories of value grounded in labor, utility, or scarcity."
moneyontheleft.org/2026/06/20/t...
Check out Vol 1, No 1 of Money on the Left: History, Theory, Practice
moneyontheleft.org/motl-history...
"[T]he barter myth is a theoretical coup de force against prior, openly political, conceptions of social life."
moneyontheleft.org/2026/06/20/t...
That one time he let the cat out of the bag.
By Rob Hawkes Last year, I gave a talk on literature, money, and trust in George Gissing’s New Grub Street (1891) which the MotL Editorial Collective kindly shared as a podcast. Gissing’s novel tel…
I Think You’re What’s Wrong With Me: On Influence, Absorption, and Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love’
✨New!✨
moneyontheleft.org/2026/06/20/t...
@feinig.bsky.social translates & introduces an early essay by Jean-Michel Servet. This work inspired Graeber's critical popularization of the "myth of barter." Yet Servet's project goes further by also affirming money’s pro-social powers.
Please share! 🙌
✨New!✨
moneyontheleft.org/2026/06/20/t...
@feinig.bsky.social translates & introduces an early essay by Jean-Michel Servet. This work inspired Graeber's critical popularization of the "myth of barter." Yet Servet's project goes further by also affirming money’s pro-social powers.
Please share! 🙌
Why the Robert Smith feature on "what's wrong with me" isn’t just a guest spot. An essay on how Olivia Rodrigo subverts the typical anxiety of influence.
Why the Robert Smith feature on "what's wrong with me" isn’t just a guest spot. An essay on how Olivia Rodrigo subverts the typical anxiety of influence.
