Preparing a book on Rimbaud, hence Charleville. Rimbaud and Verlaine used to visit Bouillon and stay in the Hôtel des Ardennes. My great-grandmother and her mother were chambermaids there. It can't be ruled out that my g-g-gm changed their sheets.
Patrick McGuinness
@padrig.bsky.social
Endotic traveller. Recent books: Blood Feather 2023; Ghost Stations 2025. FRSL. Prof French & Comp Lit, Oxford. Rep'd Peter Straus RCW.
Raoul Vaneigem, lifelong heretic and heretophile(?), a thinker and scholar, poet of revolt & ex situationist comrade (then not) of Guy Debord. His Traité de savoir vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations was an inspiration in 68 and remains thrilling to read. www.liberation.fr/idees-et-deb...
Mort de Raoul Vaneigem, philosophe libertaire et inspirateur de Mai 68
Le penseur belge, mort cette semaine à 92 ans, fut aux côtés de Guy Debord l’une des figures du situationnisme, ce mouvement de contestation radicale du capitalisme et de la «société du spectacle», in...
liberation.fr
⚫ Le penseur belge Raoul Vaneigem, mort cette semaine à 92 ans, fut aux côtés de Guy Debord l’une des figures du situationnisme, ce mouvement de contestation radicale du capitalisme et de la «société du spectacle», inspirateur de Mai 68. ➡️ https://l.liberation.fr/Vc3
Another satisfied tourist leaves a review. Bouillon, Rue Saint Nicolas.
Every regular becomes a ghost in their local. Unless the local itself becomes the ghost. I used to come here and dislodge my grandfather Eugène from the bench by the window. And have been dislodged in my turn, and now finally. Café du Centre, Bouillon, 193?-2026.
A lot of what's wrong with the people who run universities can be summarised in the word 'hub', notably, as here, replacing the word 'library' (or llyfrgell as here).
Robert Graves’s house in Deià, Mallorca. His desk, his Aga, his jams (by now probably explosive) and my face in his shaving mirror while he recites 'The Face in thr Mirror' in that mirror on the screen beside me.
A bit late to this. Once again, Stefan Collini's great article for @lrb.co.uk tells the truth about the REF. I'm wondering how we across subjects and universities can start to mobilise in this direction...
Do you like Hipster Marx 😎 Or are you, like Robbie Williams, loving Engels instead? 😃
Honoured and excited to be a judge, with such fantastic fellow judges. Currently making some shelf-space...
The Booker Prizes@thebookerprizes.com · last mo.We’re delighted to reveal the judging panel for the Bukhman International Booker Prize 2027. Katie Kitamura will act as Chair and will be joined Patrick McGuinness, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Olga Ravn and Tessa Thompson. Find out more: thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...
Heatwave advice Belgian style: plenty of salt on those chips.
The Oxford Union, always been a wankers' nursery. Now the rest of the city pays its nappy fees. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Oxford Union should pay for Tommy Robinson policing, says council
Tommy Robinson is due to take part in a debate at the historic union on Wednesday.
bbc.co.uk
Cardiff was once a great university, and U of Wales once a visionary university system. This is grim, the senior management and bosses at Cardiff are (rich) vandals, and the Cardiff uni in Kazakhstan stuff is like a David Lodge novel @nation.cymru nation.cymru/news/what-it...
What it's like working in a university hit by budget cuts and job losses
Martin Shipton A Cardiff University lecturer has written a bleak account of working in an institution diminished by financial cuts and job losses. In a piece first published by voice.cymru, the worker...
nation.cymru
A pair of empty boots, rain and a rail replacement bus. Sunday, distilled
Sea-sculpted tree that looks like an animal skeleton, and proof that, however remote you are, however far from towns and houses and cars, the universal upturned shopping trolley will find you.
⏰ 5 days remaining to apply for this year's summer school. Only a few places left for select languages remaining!
Oxford Translates@oxfordtranslates.bsky.social · 3mo agoThere are only 10 days left (deadline 25th May) to apply for this year's Oxford Translates Literary Translation Summer School. Only a few places on select workshops left! For more information, check out our website and our online (very simple) application form: www.seh.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtransl...
'Stuck in the hole it was meant to fix'. The Starmer metaphor lorry: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Lorry gets stuck in hole it was sent to fix in Somerset
Lorry left at near 45-degree angle after ground gave way on road near Walton
theguardian.com
To treat this and other cases as mere faulty vetting is disingenuous and lets Reform off the hook of being challenged for who and what they are. metro.co.uk/2026/05/09/r...
Reform councillor said 'Nigerians should be melted down to fill in pot holes'
metro.co.uk
A fine and thoughtful poet who lovedpoetry and shared that love widely in all her writings, and wrote and read with huge range. Very sorry to hear.
The Poetry Society@poetrysociety.org.uk · 3mo agoSorry to hear of the death of Carol Rumens, who has passed away aged 81 www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
I wrote about what it's like to read the poetry of J.H. Prynne
In Darkness by Day
Reading J.H. Prynne (1936-2026)
someflowerssoon.substack.com