Russell Williams

Ah, the cold brutality with which colleagues decline beautifully-worded Outlook invitations to the bookish event you have organised

The violence of the past In the dense world of Parisian publishing, rumours – even legends – emerge around certain books that can help to shape their success. Adèle Yon has

"In the world of Parisian publishing, rumours – even legends – emerge around certain books that help to shape their success. Adèle Yon has written one such book"

Marie Darrieussecq on Mon vrai nom est Elisabeth in the new
@thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/literature/f...

Patrick Hernandez : ‘"Je fais passer son premier casting à… Madonna !" Il y a quarante ans exactement sortait mon tube « Born to Be Alive ». La même année, je rencontre Madonna avant qu’elle devienne célèbre.

@stuartmaconie.bsky.social alas, it seems that Madonna never actually was part of Patrick Hernandez’s dance troupe, but they did share a flat!

www.parismatch.com/People/Patri...

It’s here: the newly refined and now fortnightly TLS.

www.the-tls.com/

History of the Hexagon At a moment when many are speculating about the future of North American hegemony, Emmanuel Macron continues to strive at positioning France as an

'Rich, readable... Jones is a compelling tour guide through time' Russell Williams in the TLS on Colin Jones's The Shortest History of France. Out now in hardback. @thetls.bsky.social @rwilliamsparis.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...

Playing outside

'More than one visitor will be caught off-guard by “Ballet des pauvres”, an assortment of clothes, tin trays and metal chains suspended from the ceiling, suddenly jerking into action.'

Russell Williams on playing outside

Playing outside This exhibition traces the story of three friends. The Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely was an innovator in kinetic art: his noisy machines alarmed and delighted the Paris art scene of the 1950s and 60s. ...

I wrote about Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hulten at the Grand Palais in this week's - the last before relaunch as a fortnightly -
@thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/arts/visual-...

💡 More than a French fry – Le Dictionnaire Roland Barthes dans The Times Literary Supplement ! merci à Neil Badmington pour cet article éclairant et d’avoir mis en avant ce projet colossal porté par Claude Coste aux éditions @honorechampion.bsky.social
#rolandbarthes #frenchtheory

I’m sure you’ll love it!

“The Group of the Rue Saint-Benoît” (Call for Papers) [version française après la version anglaise] The Group of the Rue Saint-Benoît: Rethinking Intellectual Practice Call for Papers – Deadline Extended 1 September Conference 9 January 2026  9-…

CFP: The Group of the Rue Saint-Benoît: Rethinking Intellectual Practice - Paris, 9 January 2026
atoposophie.wordpress.com/2025/03/19/t...

The global impact of Roland Barthes’s writing At the height of his fame, Roland Barthes worried that he was turning into “a French fry”. He was anxious about being transformed by others into a fixed

"The Dictionnaire Roland Barthes invites us to consider the relevance of the work it surveys. Its subject has been dead for nearly half a century, the high days of French theory a distant memory"

@barthesstudies.bsky.social (who else?) in the new @thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/philosophy/h...

Humour in Contemporary France | Home Controversy, Consensus and Contradictions

.@livunipress.bsky.social have a 50% off summer sale on until 20 July. Using code 27SUMMER means you can order my book Humour in Contemporary France for £12.49 plus P&P. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

Oh amazing. I just wrote about his Moon and Serpent book recently and was thinking of starting Promethea soon. Look forward to listening.

The mythology of the ‘career open to talents’ What do Wedgwood tea sets, plumed tricorn hats and French revolutionary paper money have in common? According to Lynn Hunt, author of The Revolutionary

"What do Wedgwood tea sets, plumed tricorn hats and French revolutionary paper money have in common?"

Biancamaria Fontana on The Revolutionary Self by Lynn Hunt in this week's @thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/philosophy/h...

Unmaking of the working class University sociology departments grew fast in the 1960s and 1970s. From Nanterre to Essex, those who lectured to the rebellious products of the postwar

"Once, left-wing academics assumed that they were looking to the future, which they usually regarded with optimism. Now there is a melancholy tone"

Richard Vinen on Didier Eribon and Nicolas Renahy in this week's @thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/history/twen...

The illusion of freedom It is chilling to read of people being seized, kidnapped and, under the cover of law, removed for easy disposal, even when the cases at hand took place

"A model of archival research and historical analysis of the things that can be known"

Christopher L Miller on Miranda Spieler's Slaves in Paris in this week's @thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/history/mode...

The Birthplace of Arthur Machen: Wales’s Master of the Macabre
A quick pilgrimage to the Caerleon home of Wales’s greatest horror writer and high priest of the uncanny. Pretty in pink — I’m sure the fair folk approve… and are watching.

Black Sabbath are the originators. Many thanks to Mary Anne Hobbs for giving me a platform to talk about metal, art, race, disability & Birmingham…

For @thetls.bsky.social this week I wrote about the French romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life and the long shadow of Richard Curtis.

Note to relevant people: I would happily receive more invitations to star-studded galas

Furniture music Erik Satie died in Saint-Joseph hospital in Paris on July 1, 1925. In the days before his death, friends including the composer Darius Milhaud and the painter Georges Braque had rallied round to his b...

I wrote about Erik Satie, Ian Penman and Les Dawson in this week’s @thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/arts/music/e...

Furniture music Erik Satie died in Saint-Joseph hospital in Paris on July 1, 1925. In the days before his death, friends including the composer Darius Milhaud and the painter Georges Braque had rallied round to his b...

I wrote about Erik Satie, Ian Penman and Les Dawson in this week’s @thetls.bsky.social

www.the-tls.com/arts/music/e...

Enjoy!

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, AGM

Yeah, sorry about that one. Was bored.

What French drone?

MOORE FFS

It is wonderful. Life affirming!

I asked Windsor Davies for a pen