Russell Williams
@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social
Associate Prof of Comparative Literature and English, The American University of Paris; French Editor, The Times Literary Supplement. Thinking about French Weird.
Think Houellebecq is just a depressive realist? France’s most famous living novelist is in fact obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, Wicca subplots, and 19th-century occultism. On the French Weird podcast we dive into the uncanny cosmic horror hiding at the heart of his books: tinyurl.com/2tsvfhbf
Think Houellebecq is just a depressive realist? France’s most famous living novelist is in fact obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, Wicca subplots, and 19th-century occultism. On the French Weird podcast we dive into the uncanny cosmic horror hiding at the heart of his books: tinyurl.com/2tsvfhbf
I’m delighted with the support French Weird has received so far: thanks! Much more to come, so please do follow/subscribe/rate/review/share: podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/f...
Out now. frenchweird.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Enjoying FRENCH WEIRD, an excellent new podcast from my pal @rwilliamsparis.bsky.social, interrogating the lesser explored underside of French culture that you'll not get from watching Emily In Paris. There's a first full episode here on Michel Houellebecq which is unmissable frenchweird.com 👈
Out now. frenchweird.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Did it come home? Did I miss the bit when it came home?
"At different moments of these journals, he describes his desire to howl in public at the intolerability of the world" Delighted to have @eugenebrennan.bsky.social on Dionys Mascolo in the latest @thetls.bsky.social, out this week. www.the-tls.com/politics-by-...
The journals of a revolutionary thinker who confronted nihilism
For a long time, Dionys Mascolo (1916–97) was known mainly as a secondary figure in relation to the more famous writers and intellectuals around him. He
the-tls.com
Enfermés dans nos appartements à tenter de se concentrer sur le télétravail alors que les hôpitaux manquent toujours de moyens et que les inégalités sociales sont exacerbées ➡️ Billet : https://l.liberation.fr/Kj2
L'historien Carlo Ginzburg est mort à 87 ans. Pionnier de la micro-histoire, il a fait de la rencontre avec l’inattendu le moteur de sa méthode et de son écriture. Pour (re)découvrir son parcours et sa pensée, écoutez l'entretien qu’il nous avait accordé en 2025. ➡️ https://l.franceculture.fr/cPy
"Sand, who died 150 years ago this year, was well aware of her own life as something she invented as a woman during a period of dramatic political and social change" Belinda Jack on George Sand in this week's @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/literature-b...
A scandalous life
Travelling through the Berry region of central France, a driver comes across a huge motorway sign – one of those brown panels that mostly advertise
the-tls.com
Stephen Romer compelling on the Pléaide edition of Louis Aragon's essays on literature in this week's @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/literature-b...
By the Left, march
Towards the end of Louis Aragon’s novel Aurélien (1944), the muse and anti-muse Bérénice remarks of her lover Paul Denis, “So you see, he has left me
the-tls.com
I enjoyed talking about the crisis at the Grasset publishing house with Alex and Lucy on the @thetls.bsky.social podcast this week shows.acast.com/af0e16de-9e4...
Strike! | The TLS Podcast
This week, Russell Williams on the French writers laying down their pens; and John-Paul Stonard hails a bravura production of Bertolt Brecht.
shows.acast.com
Call me out of touch, but I would have thought that even the Catholic Church would have stopped celebrating this rotter a few hundred years back. Spotted today in Orléans cathedral…
I enjoyed talking about the crisis at the Grasset publishing house with Alex and Lucy on the @thetls.bsky.social podcast this week shows.acast.com/af0e16de-9e4...
Strike! | The TLS Podcast
This week, Russell Williams on the French writers laying down their pens; and John-Paul Stonard hails a bravura production of Bertolt Brecht.
shows.acast.com
Very pleased indeed to have novelist Laurent Binet writing in this week’s @thetls.bsky.social on the crisis at the Grasset publishing house. www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...
Edited out
I first met Olivier Nora over fifteen years ago. He was a class act. As a young unknown writer, I was grateful that my manuscript had found its way to the desk of one of the most respected and most po...
the-tls.com
I'm on the @thetls.bsky.social podcast talking to Lucy and Alex about the crisis at the Grasset publishing house. I think it's published on Thursday
French authorities want to stop Kanye West from performing in Marseille after his string of antisemitic controversies in recent years. The interior minister is exploring “every possibility” to prevent it from going ahead, a ministry spokesperson told us.
French interior minister wants to stop Kanye West concert
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez is “very determined” to stop the June show in Marseille.
politico.eu
Mowing the lawn, pretending I’m Morrissey, flicking the mic cable
BROKEN VEIL II New series starts APRIL 15th EXCLUSIVELY for subscribers to the Broken Veil channel on Patreon. Patreon.com/brokenveil
Henriette Korthals Altes reviews @laurenelkin.bsky.social's recent translation of Simone De Beauvoir's The Image of Her in the latest issue of @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/literature-b...
Simone de Beauvoir’s novel of a mental breakdown
The first reviews of Simone De Beauvoir’s novel Les Belles images (1966) were dismissive. Some critics disliked its focus on the Parisian bourgeoisie and
the-tls.com
Images of Baudelaire’s muse Jeanne Duval revealed for first time @thetls.bsky.social @mariascott.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Images of Baudelaire’s muse Jeanne Duval revealed for first time
Photographs of the French poet’s mistress, who posed for Edouard Manet, have been found in the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris
thetimes.com
We are pleased to share that David Evans is the new General Editor of French Studies, succeeding Martin Crowley after seven years. We thank Martin for his leadership. An interview with Crowley & Evans in French Studies Bulletin is free to read this January➡️bit.ly/FS-Editor @frenchstudies.bsky.social
I'm very proud to have written this article about two newly identified photographs, or card portraits, of Baudelaire's long-term mistress, Jeanne Duval. The first (left, below) was discovered by American writer Summer Brennan, and published on her brilliant Substack A Writer's Notebook in 2021.
Russell Williams@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social · 7mo agoA special one in the latest @thetls.bsky.social In a compelling essay, @mariascott.bsky.social recounts her archival research, presents and validates two previously unknown photographs of Jeanne Duval, mistress and muse of Charles Baudelaire. Important work. www.the-tls.com/lives/biogra...
A special one in the latest @thetls.bsky.social In a compelling essay, @mariascott.bsky.social recounts her archival research, presents and validates two previously unknown photographs of Jeanne Duval, mistress and muse of Charles Baudelaire. Important work. www.the-tls.com/lives/biogra...
Portraits of the ‘Black Venus’
Last April, a surprising photograph (see near right) appeared on the Wikipedia page devoted to Jeanne Duval, the long-term mistress of Charles Baudelaire and the “Black Venus” who inspired some of the...
the-tls.com
Shout out to the people who still have their Christmas decorations up
A great way to kick off this year's French literature coverage in the @thetls.bsky.social: Marie Darrieussecq on the latest book by Emmanuel Carrère in the latest issue. www.the-tls.com/literature-b...
Mother was always right
It seems that Emmanuel Carrère is now thought to be France’s “greatest living writer”. France has always needed a greatest writer, and even if there are
the-tls.com
Today I had a reply to a letter I sent 26 years ago
