Timothy C. Baker's Avatar

Timothy C. Baker

@timothycbaker.bsky.social

Lectures on Scottish and contemporary literature, writes about animals, tries to be hopeful. He/they. Currently trying to open a cinema in Aberdeen.

1,970 Followers  |  1,427 Following  |  504 Posts  |  Joined: 28.09.2023  |  1.643

Latest posts by timothycbaker.bsky.social on Bluesky

Already feeling emotional about this (and still desperately hoping that Glasgow demand is such that the gig is moved to any venue that's not SWG3), but also excited.

05.12.2025 11:09 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Book cover: Melissa Schuh, Literary Autobiography: Contemporary No Elises and their Self-Representations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)

Book cover: Melissa Schuh, Literary Autobiography: Contemporary No Elises and their Self-Representations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)

Flyer: Melissa Schuh
Literary Autobiography
Contemporary Novelists and their Self-Representations
-Explores the narrative strategies developed by novelists as they cross generic boundaries of �ction and non-fiction
-Presents case studies of works by canonical contemporary authors
-Develops de�nitions and concepts to analyse forms of autobiographical writing that �flaunt their �fictionality

Part of the book series:
Palgrave Studies in Life Writing

Get 20% off with this code: PALAUT

Flyer: Melissa Schuh Literary Autobiography Contemporary Novelists and their Self-Representations -Explores the narrative strategies developed by novelists as they cross generic boundaries of ction and non-fiction -Presents case studies of works by canonical contemporary authors -Develops denitions and concepts to analyse forms of autobiographical writing that flaunt their fictionality Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Life Writing Get 20% off with this code: PALAUT

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN LIFE WRITING
Series Editors: Clare Brant β€’ Max Saunders

"Melissa Schuh's Literary Autobiography offers a theoretically elegant and literarily sensitive rethinking of the fraught relationship between the novel and autobiography. Central to the book is the concept of performative contradiction, which Schuh develops as the defining aesthetic strategy of literary autobiographyβ€”a strategy that embraces fictionality not to undermine life writing, but to open it toward deeper questions of truth, identity, and narrative ethics. Schuh's analyses of Roth, Coetzee, and Grass persuasively show how these works form an aesthetic lineage that contemporary autofiction continues to draw from. This book will be indispensable for scholars across life writing studies, narratology, and literary ethics."
β€”Stefan Kjerkegaard, Aarhus University, Denmark
Why do novelists write about themselves? What modes do novelists use to manipulate representations of their personality? Why is it often late in their career that novelists write about their own lives? This book develops the concept of literary autobiography as a genre responding to a profound uncertainty about the knowability of the self, often negotiated through a particular concern with the writing life. Comprising a particular sub-genre and style of contemporary life writing, the autobiographies examined in this book foreground their formal
'literariness' through the explicit use of fictionality, disrupting established (auto) biographical tropes by employing narrative innovations associated with postmodern fiction and prefigured by modernist experimentation. Taken together, they exemplify an aesthetics of performative contradiction, in which novelistic strategies cast doubt on the veracity of the life represented. Exploring works by canonical and popular novelists - J.M. Coetzee, Philip Roth, GΓΌnter Grass, Elena Ferrante, and Karl Ove Knausgard - this book addresses the increasing novelisation of contemporary life w…

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN LIFE WRITING Series Editors: Clare Brant β€’ Max Saunders "Melissa Schuh's Literary Autobiography offers a theoretically elegant and literarily sensitive rethinking of the fraught relationship between the novel and autobiography. Central to the book is the concept of performative contradiction, which Schuh develops as the defining aesthetic strategy of literary autobiographyβ€”a strategy that embraces fictionality not to undermine life writing, but to open it toward deeper questions of truth, identity, and narrative ethics. Schuh's analyses of Roth, Coetzee, and Grass persuasively show how these works form an aesthetic lineage that contemporary autofiction continues to draw from. This book will be indispensable for scholars across life writing studies, narratology, and literary ethics." β€”Stefan Kjerkegaard, Aarhus University, Denmark Why do novelists write about themselves? What modes do novelists use to manipulate representations of their personality? Why is it often late in their career that novelists write about their own lives? This book develops the concept of literary autobiography as a genre responding to a profound uncertainty about the knowability of the self, often negotiated through a particular concern with the writing life. Comprising a particular sub-genre and style of contemporary life writing, the autobiographies examined in this book foreground their formal 'literariness' through the explicit use of fictionality, disrupting established (auto) biographical tropes by employing narrative innovations associated with postmodern fiction and prefigured by modernist experimentation. Taken together, they exemplify an aesthetics of performative contradiction, in which novelistic strategies cast doubt on the veracity of the life represented. Exploring works by canonical and popular novelists - J.M. Coetzee, Philip Roth, GΓΌnter Grass, Elena Ferrante, and Karl Ove Knausgard - this book addresses the increasing novelisation of contemporary life w…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, because my book is out now, fresh off the press!
Happy book birthday to β€œLiterary Autobiography: Contemporary Novelists and their Self-Representations” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) πŸ“•πŸŽ‰! doi.org/10.1007/978-... @hss.springernature.com

29.11.2025 23:22 β€” πŸ‘ 30    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 1

The Bonne Maman advent calendar is truly one of the great joys of winter. (Today, apricot with honey!) It is truly frivolous, but makes getting out of bed so much more appealing.

01.12.2025 09:08 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Greater bravery hath no man than to watch an episode of All Creatures Great and Small and only cry six times.

28.11.2025 23:27 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Fondly remembering 25 years ago, when I went to see The Delgados (with pre-album opener Interpol) in New York and had to my way back to the train station on Thanksgiving morning through the Macy's parade.

27.11.2025 12:50 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Superchunk - No Hope (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Merge Records on YouTube Superchunk - No Hope (Official Audio)

Superchunk's No Hope popped up on my MP3 player just as I set foot on campus this morning, and honestly, it's put me in a very good mood. www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9-C...

27.11.2025 09:08 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The Cambridge Companion to British Utopian Literature and Culture since 1945 | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

This is going to be pretty useful for all of you and your students! Available for pre-order now! www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

26.11.2025 13:32 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

"you'll be visited by three spirits"

the three spirits:

25.11.2025 21:24 β€” πŸ‘ 30    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3
Nan Shepherd and her friends Friday 21 November | 14:30-15:30 - Aberdeen Central Library, Aberdeen

Another plug for my BookWeek Scotland event on Friday, talking about Nan Shepherd's Aberdeen contemporaries and pals. (My name is Timothy Baker, not Barker, and it's Lyn, not Lynn, Irvine, but so it goes...) www.scottishbooktrust.com/book-week-sc...

18.11.2025 12:38 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy

These policies, where they aren't just reiterating ones which already exist in a differently worded form, are just plain idiotic.
They show not only a complete disregard for people's lives, or basic humanity, but also reality. 1/

www.gov.uk/government/p...

17.11.2025 16:44 β€” πŸ‘ 111    πŸ” 53    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 16

I probably won't bother seeing the Fennell Wuthering Heights, when there's a very good Andrea Arnold version right there, but darned if this soundtrack isn't shaping up to my album of 2026.

17.11.2025 17:58 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Today on my run an older couple were calling their dog, whose name seemed to be either β€˜Glasgow’ or β€˜Costco’, and either way, a choice.

15.11.2025 23:12 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

University of Vibes with Institutions of X, Y and Z 🫠

14.11.2025 22:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
How is the dispute at Dundee University affecting students? Students say they are feeling the effects across studios, classrooms and workshops.

These Dundee students do a great job articulating how university staff cuts impact student experience - every HE Senior Manager should read this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

13.11.2025 08:57 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It's perhaps a little clichΓ© to read James Baldwin's Another Country at twenty and have it change your life, but I did and it did. And I didn't reread it for ages and now am on my third read in three years, and there's so much troubling and difficult about it but it is just so much the making of me.

11.11.2025 20:50 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
TALK: Lifting the Veil on Ann Radcliffe's 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' - Professor Angela Wright We are delighted to welcome Professor Angela Wright for the final event as part of the Fear and Fascination Gothic Exhibition programme. This talk is a collaboration with the Centre for the Novel and ...

I’m excited to return to Aberdeen University, where I studied for my PhD a long time ago. I’ll be discussing Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho before the library’s wonderful exhibition Fear and Fascination closes.
www.abdn.ac.uk/collections/whats-on/22931

11.11.2025 13:01 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

I am halfway through Flashlight, and it is excellent; I also very much liked The Land in Winter. Here endeth my thoughts on the Booker.

10.11.2025 23:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I agree with the calls not to get complacent, but for the moment, I'm just really happy.

10.11.2025 17:56 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Book Week Scotland: Nan Shepherd and her friends | Aberdeen City Libraries In recent years, Nan Shepherd has often been imagined as a solitary walker and writer. This talk by Dr. Tim Baker looks at the importance of female friendship in her writing and life, placing She...

Aberdeen friends! I’m going to be talking about Aberdeen friends (Nan Shepherd and Agnes Mure Mackenzie, mainly) for Bookweek Scotland. Come if you can! aberdeencity.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spyd...

06.11.2025 08:07 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I bought Liadan NΓ­ Chuinn's Every One Still Here knowing nothing about it other than that everyone said it was amazing, and oh gosh, this is amazing.

04.11.2025 17:35 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes! I wonder if there is a word in German (or perhaps Welsh) which captures the feeling of watching episodes of Morse in the late afternoon?

01.11.2025 13:17 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

If anyone does a full taxonomy of emotions, I’d propose the very specific sadness soothed only by ITV crime dramas for the list. (Just started Unforgotten. It’s fine! Soothing!)

31.10.2025 23:34 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

And honestly, I’m kinda loving my β€˜seated gigs’ era. Sitting is nice!

30.10.2025 23:07 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It’s a wonder of a novel.

30.10.2025 23:06 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This week I saw Emma Pollock (tiny gig in Aberdeen) and Gillian Welch (big gig in Glasgow), and a) my music taste in my 20s was really excellent and I picked right, but b) it now feels weird to have a night without weeping/reliving the last 30 years at a gig.

30.10.2025 19:05 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Photo of a first edition of The Quarry Wood (in poor shape), showing a young woman in a long grey dress and a jaunty red cap bracing herself against the wind.

Photo of a first edition of The Quarry Wood (in poor shape), showing a young woman in a long grey dress and a jaunty red cap bracing herself against the wind.

I'm not going to buy a first US edition of The Quarry Wood, but I like this cover so much more than any of the paperback reprints.

27.10.2025 17:58 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Barker called me up one night and without preamble said "It's opinions, not onions. Not onions. This is Clive Barker. I've been trying to track down and stop this error in editions for decades. OPINIONS."

25.10.2025 18:26 β€” πŸ‘ 869    πŸ” 202    πŸ’¬ 22    πŸ“Œ 15

Okay, I’ve broken. Closing the flat window, for my toes is froze.

25.10.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I've no beef with your Pynchons and your Danielewskis, but Janice Galloway's The Trick is to Keep Breathing takes bigger risks than any of that crowd. Every time I read it I find it impossible and new.

24.10.2025 18:14 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

😍 Boston, you are beautiful. #NoKings

18.10.2025 17:22 β€” πŸ‘ 51524    πŸ” 12466    πŸ’¬ 1040    πŸ“Œ 871

@timothycbaker is following 20 prominent accounts