The Power of Poetry with things falling apart and anarchy let loose, it was only poetry, he found, which had any use, so he reached for his copy of The Complete Works of Yeats and bludgeoned the President of the United States Brian Bilston
Here’s a short poem about the power of poetry to change the world.
Cover of The Corpse in Modern Irish Literature, showing a water colour of mourners carrying a coffin towards a ruined church, with a man looking on in the foreground and two windswept, rather Beckettian trees in the background.
Out in February from @livunipress.bsky.social: The Corpse in Modern Irish Literature. The book started as a lockdown tweet. Delighted that it’s finally done! With Bridget English and @drreznicek.bsky.social
It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.
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A thread of how to say “nobody asked you” from around the world, starting with this one…
A Lithuanian way of telling someone to mind their own business is ne tavo kiaulės, ne tavo pupos. It means “not your pigs, not your beans.”
A great event towards the end of Jan - m'learned colleague Daniel Gordon, who recently took voluntary redundancy from academia, is going to reflect on how that feels and what it's like. Since many academics are going to be in that position, important. 👇
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-univers...
My article on letters left by Austen’s grave has been published @theconversation.com Thanks to @annalouwalker.bsky.social for her help.
theconversation.com/why-jane-aus...
I'm excited to share my piece in Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, which examines OpenAI's claims about ChatGPT's creative writing skills, Big Tech's weaponisation of grief and nostalgia, and the collapse of the academic humanities. lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...
yet another way that the war on academic knowledge is a war on the past & a violent thinning out of historical experience — you’re taking years & often decades of slow-building expertise (& the investments that made it possible) and just tossing it in the bin
Win win.
I just registered my name & book details with the appropriate law firm.
Check if your book/article/paper is on the list here:
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
If it is, go here:
www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
Precarious contracts keep getting shorter. Until recently short-term associate lecturer contracts were for 10 months. Now UCL advertises for 7 months. What does it say about our field, about how we treat the new generation of scholars? www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNW277/a...
Famine confirmed for first time in Gaza.
Famine confirmed for first time in Gaza
FAO, UNICEF, WFP & WHO reiterate call for immediate ceasefire & unhindered humanitarian access to curb deaths from hunger & malnutrition.
Do you have opinions about book covers? (I know you do. ;-))
Could you please spare a few minutes to help our @stirlingpublishing.bsky.social student @oliviagw.bsky.social with her dissertation research by answering her survey?
(Please share, too!)
The business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says the racist protesters intimidating asylum seekers in Epping are "upset for legitimate reasons.”
I don't remember any Labour frontbencher saying the same about people protesting the genocide in Gaza. On the contrary, they've criminalised peaceful dissent.
The internet archive / wayback machine is an invaluable free resource. It's one of the few enactments of the utopian 1990s vision of the internet and will be a key point of resistance against AI, rising anti-intellectualism, and fascist cultural vandalism. Help them if you can afford it
Front cover of The Edinburgh Companion to the Brontës and the Arts
First page of Melissa Fegan’s chapter ‘The Brontës and the “national art” of Ireland’
The arrival of this beautiful Edinburgh Companion to The Brontës and the Arts is a lovely way to celebrate the end of 2024 - congrats to editors Deborah Wynne and Amber Regis
I see @seamas.bsky.social got in early with his assessment of AI yesterday.
www.thegist.ie/the-gist-3/
An image setting out the February first time stay offer, as outlined in the plain text below. T&Cs are: T&Cs: The offer can be used for one visit per guest. The offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other discounts. To be eligible, this must be your first overnight stay at the Library. There is no limit on the length of your booking as long as it falls within the above dates. Offer valid for February 2025. A deposit payment of one night’s accommodation must be made at the time of booking. Offer is subject to availability.
Save and stay for the first time in February 2025!
You can book directly on www.gladstoneslibrary.org - just click the button on the top right. 🛏️ 📚
Because some damn fool asked, here's a thread about Baxter.
This was taken on the day I brought home Baxter and threw away all hope of an easy life.
Look at him. Absolutely irresistible.
And that's how they get you, the utter bastards