I reviewed Conor McPherson's The Brightening Air at the Gate Theatre for The Irish Times last night. As in his earlier work, there is plenty of engaging offbeat small talk, but the various nods to the supernatural never coalesce into a genuinely haunting spectacle. www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...

The Brightening Air review: Kate Gilmore gives a standout performance in Conor McPherson’s play

The supernatural lurks during a strained family reunion, but never coalesces into a haunting spectacle

irishtimes.com

Eamon Maher has written a splendid essay about The Irish Proust for the Dublin Review of Books: "The Irish Proust is a gem, having unearthed previously unknown links – or crossings, to use the noun employed in the title – between France and Ireland." drb.ie/article/prou...

Traces of Proust can be found in McGahern’s 'Memoir', which highlights the unreliability of memory, something that forcibly struck McGahern when he consulted his sisters about certain experiences they remembered differently from him. Eamon Maher on Proust's Irish connections. drb.ie/article/prou...

I am pleased to announce the publication of the paperback edition of Hustlers in the Ivory: Press and Modernism from Mallarmé to Proust -- currently shortlisted for the @frenchstudies.bsky.social 2025 R. Gapper Prize. Now available from @livunipress.bsky.social at the approachable price of £27.99.

The Irish Proust is the subject of this week's Talking History podcast on @newstalkfm.bsky.social, with Patrick Geoghegan. @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social @tcddublin.bsky.social @uksdn.bsky.social www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

Proust & His Irish Connections | Newstalk

We discuss the life and work of Marcel Proust and explore his connections with Ireland. Featuring...

newstalk.com

Praise for The Irish Proust in today's Irish Times: 'The Irish Proust is what Proust would call a “livre de chevet” – a book to keep on a nightstand, to be read slowly and thoughtfully as a strange but enthralling exploration of the unexpected origins of modernism in Ireland.'

Shortlisted 🎉| 'Hustlers in the Ivory Tower: Press and Modernism from Mallarmé to Proust' by Max McGuinness has been shortlisted for the R. Gapper Book Prize 2025. Congratulations, Max! Learn more about the book here ⬇️ bit.ly/3TQzWJN

I wrote about The Irish Proust for @lithub.com.web.brid.gy @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social @uksdn.bsky.social lithub.com/an-enduring-...

An Enduring Source of Inspiration: In Search of Proust’s Legacy in Ireland

Ireland remained neutral during the Second World War and drew up plans to resist possible attack by Nazi Germany or Britain. The authorities were also preoccupied by a different kind of foreign inv…

lithub.com

Praise for The Irish Proust in The Sunday Independent: "Com­pel­ling study of the ‘Irish­ness’ of a French mod­ern­ist" "A bravura piece of ana­lysis" "The Irish Proust explores these influences with impress­ive range and intel­li­gence." @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social

The Irish Proust had an extremely jolly launch last Thursday at the Hôtel de Breteuil, which has housed the Irish Embassy since the 1950s. It was built by Henri de Breteuil, who inspired one of Proust's characters, Hannibal de Bréauté. @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social @tcddublin.bsky.social

My co-editor, Michael Cronin, and I are pleased to announce the publication of The Irish Proust: Cultural Crossings from Beckett to McGahern with @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. @uksdn.bsky.social @tcddublin.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/uk/irish-pro...

The Irish Proust

This collection of essays is the first book devoted to exploring Marcel Proust's influence on Irish literature and Irish themes within his work. Featuring contr…

bloomsbury.com

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Liverpool University Press's summer sale is on till 20 July, which means that my (reassuringly?) expensive book is vastly less expensive! Use the discount code 27SUMMER at checkout to get 50% off Hustlers in the Ivory Tower. @livunipress.bsky.social

Hustlers in the Ivory Tower: Press and Modernism from Mallarmé to Proust | Home

Ebook available to libraries as part of

liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

Maya Kulukundis and I recently went in search of the unmarked, dilapidated grave of Proust’s lover Alfred Agostinelli in Nice, and found it after an hour of pacing the cemetery rows. He drowned nearby in the Baie des Anges at the age of 25 after his plane crashed on 30 May 1914.

I will be speaking this weekend at the Dalkey Book Festival on panels about Dostoevsky (on Saturday, June 14th at 12:30pm) and Proust (on Sunday, June 15th at 3.30pm). We will be doing our best to win the All-Ireland Summarize Proust contest. Tickets available at the links below.

I will be speaking on Zoom this Friday, May 2nd with Colin Foss at 14:30 EST/19:30 UK about my book Hustlers in the Ivory Tower as part of the Nineteenth-Century French Studies Unbound series. All welcome! Register here: southalabama.zoom.us/meeting/regi... @ncfs.bsky.social @livunipress.bsky.social

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: NCFS Unbound 5: Episode 5 (rescheduled) Max McGuinness with Colin Foss. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: NCFS Unbound 5: Episode 5 (rescheduled) Max McGuinness with Colin Foss. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

southalabama.zoom.us

The Irish Proust is now in production @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social ⁩ Coming to (some) good bookshops this October. #MarcelProust #SamuelBeckett #OscarWilde #ElizabethBowen #MaryDevenportO'Neill #JohnMcGahern #BrendanBehan

"Knowledge Economy" www.irishtimes.com/ireland/educ...

Crisis in academia: ‘I love research, but I don’t see any security or stability in it’

Lack of funding, precarious work and intense competition mean the once-revered job of lecturing has become less attractive as a viable long-term career

irishtimes.com

Marianne Faithfull was the last heroine of Sixties subversion. She remained loyal to Baudelairean bohemianism (where others settled into temperature-controlled environments). On lui a donné sa boue et elle en a fait de l’or. 1/

I wrote about how Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Apollinaire, and Proust wrestled with the rise of the press for @aeon.co, concluding with a call to reimagine the codex for the digital era. The essay draws on my recent book for @livunipress.bsky.social, Hustlers in the Ivory Tower: aeon.co/essays/the-f...

The French modernists loathed and loved the mass media of their day | Aeon Essays

How French modernists from Proust to Mallarmé were alarmed and inspired by the voracious dynamism of the newspaper world

aeon.co