Writing this was a journey (I moved countries twice during the process), but I'm very proud of it, and very, very grateful to all those who helped make it possible.

If accounts of 20th century literature which play up atomization and individualism don't mesh with what you see when you read, this might be up your street.

Psychic Connection and the Twentieth-Century British Novel Psychic Connection and the Twentieth-Century British Novel

I'm super pleased to announce that my book, Psychic Connection and the Twentieth-Century British Novel is out in paperback with Edinburgh University Press next month!

The paperback is already very reasonably priced (if I do say so myself), but the code PAPER30 will get you 30% off.

Had a version of the teeth-falling-out dream where my h-index was crumbling in front of my eyes. Send help

Looking at Tesla stock slide as a daily treat

6/ / While I was in Moscow, going under the radar was part of survival. It’s hard to unlearn. Not sure a Bluesky thread on an account I seldom use does much, but suffice it to say, I am proud of my contribution.

5/ The great majority of students were great, many much braver than me. Many of those are doing great work themselves now, either inside or outside Russia. I'm glad to have been told by a number of them that my work made a difference in their development.

4/ I didn't do that. I had to mask a lot of what I did to make it happen, write course programmes which didn’t tell the true story. Still I had to fight off official complaints from a certain fraction of students that I was teaching ‘conspiracy theories.’ Thankfully a tiny minority.

3/ I could be modest, but it’s unhelpful. Literary study in Russia is about enforcing an authorized culture, a corpus of great men with great ideas to parrot. I was recruited on the expectation that I would be an ornament, teaching a similarly superficial, decorative overview of English literature.

2/ In Moscow (among other things) I taught queer literary theory, post-colonial theory, a straight up class on critical thinking. I should be glad I made it to 2022 without serious pain falling on me. But of course I regret I’ll likely never do anything as directly impactful again.

🧵 Today, as you may have noticed, marks three years since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For me, it is three years since I fled Russia with my life in a single suitcase. I'm only now getting to grips with how to tell my story.

I always feel great sorrow for the bits of cheese too close to the rind which I don't manage to eat

Too real in Anora that when she says 'Привет, Меня Зовут Ани' they tell her her Russian is amazing; when she says complex things fluently they tell her her Russian is awful

I don't think I've ever related to anything described as 'relatable'

Close up of deer with his tongue out

Might pivot this account to 100% derpy deer content

Obligatory cat opening