Russell Williams

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

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...

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

Images of Baudelaire’s muse Jeanne Duval revealed for first time

@thetls.bsky.social @mariascott.bsky.social

www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Graphic to promote the journal 'French Studies': Navy blue text reads ‘Publishing articles and reviews spanning all areas of the subject, including language and linguistics, literature, thought and the history of ideas, and cultural studies’. Journal cover for French Studies sits to the right of the text. The cover is a warm cream with a rich red uppercase font for the journal's title. A red line sits under the title and under that the table of contents is listed in a small black font. The Liverpool University Press logo sits in the left corner, it features a dark red minimalist swoosh which represents the Liver Bird, text underneath reads Liverpool University Press founded 1899. The Society for French Studies logo sits alongside. The logo is made up of a coral-coloured circle, a blue square, and a gold triangle which overlap to create a purple colour. In the background sits a soft lilac graphic with light grey lines running in different directions.

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.

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...

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...

Shout out to the people who still have their Christmas decorations up

I might wait a few years before responding

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

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...

Today I had a reply to a letter I sent 26 years ago

The bald truth When I was nineteen, I met a man who seemed very old to me, in a cafe in Trastevere, Rome. He asked me what I did in life. I was a theatre student and grandly told him I was a playwright. I had at tha...

Over the moon to have Deborah Levy making her début writing in @thetls.bsky.social with a rereading of Eugène Ionesco in the issue out now.

A great way to end the year. See you in 2026

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

The bald truth When I was nineteen, I met a man who seemed very old to me, in a cafe in Trastevere, Rome. He asked me what I did in life. I was a theatre student and grandly told him I was a playwright. I had at tha...

Over the moon to have Deborah Levy making her début writing in @thetls.bsky.social with a rereading of Eugène Ionesco in the issue out now.

A great way to end the year. See you in 2026

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

For anyone interested in this 🎯 mention of French critic #RolandBarthes, I wrote this for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social about the Barthes-Garlic&Pearls connection, and the ‘stealth bomber of Frenchness’ that - dixit @suzanneraine.bsky.social - is the 4-colour BiC pen.
@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social

A wonderful review appeared on our Garlic&Pearls website in time for Christmas - a lovely gift from a long-standing and ever-perceptive friend of our 🇫🇷🇬🇧 podcast.

4 Screenshots from the movie "Psycho" (1960): First, a tense conversation between a woman and a man in a dimly lit room, with a lamp casting shadows and a mirror reflecting their images. Second, a man in a suit stands in a room with taxidermy birds, his expression serious against a backdrop of curtains. Third, a shadowy figure raises a knife under a shower, the silhouette visible through falling water. Fourth, a woman in the shower reaches out with a desperate expression, water streaming down her face.

Dec 12th 1959 - Marion Crane checked into the Bates Motel.

📽️📅 Psycho (1960)

Including @sebemina.bsky.social on Jacqueline Feldman, Peter Salmon on 100 years of Gilles Deleuze

David Bellos, renowned scholar of French fiction and ‘totally brilliant translator,’ dies at age 80 His work grappled with the tricky nature of interpreting between languages and embraced the potential of language itself to help us understand the human condition.

A statement about David Bellos just issued by his department: www.princeton.edu/news/2025/11...

Well, as you know, we are proud of reviewing books in the original language before translation and, as Louise says, Wittkop is having a bit of a moment in France.

"I was talking about the Green Man, but he wasn’t having it."

And very delighted to be there! Subscribers can read the full piece, but as with practically all Wittkop's writing, don't say we didn't warn you ...

Boualem Sansal gracié : l’écrivain a quitté l’Algérie et est «en route» pour l’Allemagne

Boualem Sansal gracié : l’écrivain a quitté l’Algérie et est «en route» pour l’Allemagne

Lire ⬇️

Necrophilia, poisoning and murder: a transgressive French novelist We are on the set of Bouillon de Culture, a late-night cultural chat show hosted on French TV by the public intellectual Bernard Pivot, genial and

"Slightly deaf, she leans in and out, and pivots to her fellow interviewees with ferocious energy, enthusiasm and, at times, disdain"

Delighted to have @louiserl.bsky.social on Gabrielle Wittkop in the new issue of @thetls.bsky.social

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

Looking forward to presenting virtually at the
@hauntedfutures.bsky.social
conference this week.

Just recorded my presentation on Hellier and Broken Veil.

Might make it available after, will see how I feel.

The US-China confrontation; beliefs vs facts; Tennyson, science and catastrophe; Iris Murdoch’s poetry; Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein; a history of shamanism – and much more.

The new TLS is out now: www.the-tls.com/issues/curr...

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-...