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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · Sep 10

NOTHING will prepare you for this 45-second story arc. From "I'm just doing this because I love the flag, it's totally grassroots, and I'm not part of anything political"... to who actually gave him the flags the night before.

Anyone who believes it is an innocent movement needs to see this.

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Sep 10

"Humanities Theory" by Amanda Anderson & Simon During, is now available as an ebook (bit.ly/4m6XGUU) and out in hardback and paperback on 7th Oct (UK) / 7th Jan (US).This is the first book in a new OUP series, Literature & Politics, ed by Janice Ho, Benjamin Kohlmann, and me: bit.ly/4ntmW9c.

Humanities Theory

Abstract. Humanities Theory offers a new framework for understanding the place of the humanities in the culture at large and as a transdisciplinary project

academic.oup.com

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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · Sep 9

"The message to ministers is to pay attention to such connections. Economic growth and higher education policies need to be joined up."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Attempts to make the UK a less welcoming destination are part of an alarming rightward lurch on immigration..."

The Guardian view on university finances: stop chipping away at a crumbling system | Editorial

Editorial: Economic and academic activity are bound up together. Charging international students more for less will not fix deep-seated problems

www.theguardian.com

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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · Sep 6

I've not seen this image of H G Wells before: an unpublished sketch by David Low from 1924.

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Sep 7

I particularly like Low’s illustrations for the Stalin-Wells talk pamphlet. Wells, Keynes and Shaw conversing while sitting on Stalin’s massive head…

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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · Sep 3

A huge moment -- Melvyn Bragg steps down from In Our Time after over a quarter of a century. What a programme and what a legacy! Just a model for how to make great, clever, engaging radio, and a twenty-seven-year experiment that proves there's a huge global audience for smart, scholarly programming.

Melvyn Bragg decides to step down from presenting In Our Time

After 26 years on the programme, the legendary presenter bids farewell to the series

www.bbc.co.uk

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Aug 31

Great piece, this.

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Aug 30

‘David Graeber upends the familiar history of the species in which primitive societies were egalitarian and the agricultural revolution brought a new order of class and domination. He wanted to show that life wasn’t really like that.’

@leninology.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Richard Seymour · Baseline Communism: David Graeber’s Innovations

Graeber seems to have had most fun as an outsider, a movement anthropologist wending his way among anticapitalist...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Aug 15

Amazing! Can’t wait to read

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University of East Anglia (UEA) @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social · Aug 14

A campus for all seasons 💙
It's A-Level Results Day and we're open from 8am-8pm to answer your queries about Clearing: 01603 294952

Here's everything you need to know👇

#ALevelResults

Sunset casting a long shadow of a person standing between modern buildings.

Two hands holding ice cream cones with coloruful sprinkles in front of the University of East Anglia building on a sunny day with a crowd in the background.

Sunset view featuring a vibrant sky behind the silhouette of a modern urban skyline with multiple buildings and a pedestrian bridge.

A sunny day on a university campus with people walking on a grassy area leading to modern buildings, including one with a unique, curved structure at the University of East Anglia

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Aug 13

Yes I put two typos in the title: it’s very hot. 🥵

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Juan Meneses | Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination @dissentum.bsky.social · Aug 13

Another great one! 👇 I know Benjamin and he's a stellar scholar!

Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Aug 13

Cover reveal! “The People in British Literature: Belonging, Exclusion, Democracy”, ed. by Benjamin Kohlmann and me, out this December from CUP.

The cover image is a black and white photograph of a protest led by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Trafalgar Square.

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Aug 13

Some more details: www.cambridge.org/core/books/p...

'The People' and British Literature

Cambridge Core - English Literature: General Interest - 'The People' and British Literature

www.cambridge.org

Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Aug 13

Cover reveal! “The People in British Literature: Belonging, Exclusion, Democracy”, ed. by Benjamin Kohlmann and me, out this December from CUP.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · Aug 12

Further to this @thetls.bsky.social essay about Una Marson's early work as a publisher, the full run of Marson's 1920s/1930s magazine, The Cosmopolitan, is now freely available on the Digital Library of the Caribbean (@dlocaribbean.bsky.social): www.dloc.com/AA00114844/0...

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jedesty.bsky.social @jedesty.bsky.social · Aug 11

Excited for this new OUP series on Literature & Politics! Paired authors tackling vital terms and topics of the day, starting with Amanda Anderson and @simoncd.bsky.social on *Humanities Theory*. Next up Doug Mao and @duncanbell.bsky.social on *Utopia*.

global.oup.com/academic/con...

global.oup.com

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Aug 11

Ah thank you! It was such an interesting and inspiring project to be involved in.

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Jul 31

Declamations! is a short documentary that developed out of my @britishacademy.bsky.social mid-career fellowship on the politics of choral speaking. It documents a series of performances in Norwich, written by UEA students, inspired by Jack Lindsay's 1930s Mass Declamations. youtu.be/IY085tFQ7SM?...

Declamations!

YouTube video by Jarman Lab

youtu.be

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Jul 21

syllabus time, teaming up for the herculean efforts of reinventing writing assignments. here, some prompts for required weekly low stakes 250-500 word reflections/ process pieces that have proven relatively conducive to real writing in lit class. please share any similar suggestions in thread.

Describe something you learned from lecture this week that you didn’t know just from doing the readings.

Connect something you learned in 209 this week to something you are learning in another of your classes this semester.

If Monday and Wednesday assigned readings were from two different texts, make connections between the two. Do they share themes? Forms? Tone? Historical context? Do you find them equally interesting?

Look at the very first paragraph of one of our texts and discuss how the opening lays the groundwork for the rest of the work. Quote specific lines, phrases, or images.

Using quotes from a text, persuade someone (friend or foe, your grandma or your senator) to change their mind about something important.

Compose a 5 song playlist to accompany an assigned reading from this week, and write a few sentences for each song, explaining your choices.

Describe an idea you had in response to the readings/lecture/discussions for our class this week- any idea, about literature, or the world, or yourself. How might you pursue this idea, in your studies or elsewhere?

Choose a passage (no more than 10 lines) from the readings this week and rewrite it, changing at least one of the literary aspects such as: person (change from first to third-person or vice versa), tense (change from past to present etc), focalizing character (i.e. write it from a different character's perspective), style (adjectives, diction, description, tone). Then write 2-3 sentences about the effect of your changes.

Compose a yelp review to strangers, or a letter to a specific person, or a booktok style video, recommending a novel/poem/play from this week’s reading.

Write a letter to someone who has questioned your choice of majoring or minoring in English, explaining why you value what you’re learning. Include quotes / ideas from this week’s readings.

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Modernist Studies Association (MSA) @moderniststudies.bsky.social · Aug 7

In 2026, the MSA Conference will look a bit different-- weird, even! That's because we're having a joint conference with BAMS @modernistudies.bsky.social in Loughborough, UK from July 1- 4, 2026. The CFP will be out soon! But in the meantime, please save the date.

Tarot card image of the empress with a crown of stars. Text reads Weird Modernisms BAMS/ MSA 1- 4 July 2026 Loughborough University, UK

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Mary Mullen @marymullen.bsky.social · Aug 6

Did you publish your first book in Victorian studies in 2024? If so, submit it for consideration for the Rudikoff Prize. More information here: nvsa.org/rudikoff-pri...

Rudikoff Prize

The Sonya Rudikoff Award for the best first book in Victorian Studies was established by the Robert Gutman family in honor of Mr. Gutman’s late wife. Sonya Rudikoff was an active member of th…

nvsa.org

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Matthew Leggatt @matthewleggatt.bsky.social · Aug 6

Please help me share the CFP for this Literature Compass Special Issue dedicated to the work of Simon J James and covering key Victorian and Edwardian writers like H. G. Wells, George Gissing, Dickens, Wilde, George Du Maurier, and Conan-Doyle on behalf of Hadas Elber-Aviram.

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Jul 31

The street shows were supported by Jack Lindsay's daughter Helen, directed by Simon Floyd of the Common Lot, and m'colleague Steve Waters was dramaturg. The film was directed by Bartek Dziadosz of the Derek Jarman Lab - I hope you enjoy!

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Jul 31

Declamations! is a short documentary that developed out of my @britishacademy.bsky.social mid-career fellowship on the politics of choral speaking. It documents a series of performances in Norwich, written by UEA students, inspired by Jack Lindsay's 1930s Mass Declamations. youtu.be/IY085tFQ7SM?...

Declamations!

YouTube video by Jarman Lab

youtu.be

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Jul 31

Looks brilliant- can’t wait to read!

Jack El-Hai @jackelhai.bsky.social · Jul 31

"A remarkable neighborhood."

Today's forthcoming-book pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to author @tricksterprince.bsky.social & @manchesterup.bsky.social!

Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe

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Matthew Taunton @matthewtaunton.bsky.social · Jul 31

The replies to this are interesting about the power (and perils) of bluesky for writers (including academics). We write in a moment of media fragmentation, lacking clear rules about what to do (on- and offline), to engage readers in the topics that interest us. Many wise, encouraging thoughts here!

Laura McGrath @lbmcgrath.bsky.social · Jul 31

Is there *any* evidence that presence on bsky contributes in any way to book sales? I’ll take anecdotes! Who here has bought a book bc they heard about it on bsky *alone*? Because I’m ready to bounce.

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