Daniel Jenkin-Smith
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dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
Daniel Jenkin-Smith
@dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
280 followers 440 following 51 posts
Postdoctoral researcher - author of 'The Rise of Office Literature' (Bloomsbury, 2025) - co-host of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social

Il faut, comme disait Balzac, offrir une surface commerciale.
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Daniel Jenkin-Smith @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social · Mar 20
Publication day: 'The Rise of Office Literature' is out now! Every time I look inside I find something new to quibble with.

Thanks to the team at @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social for all their hard work!

Here it is in its natural element:
'The Rise of Office Literature' on a tea-stained desk alongside a broken monitor, some doodles, an antiquated hole-punch, and postcards with less-than-adhesive blu-tack.
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
In our final banned book episode, we celebrate (?) Christmas with the inappropriately summery (but sufficiently maudlin) 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1852).

Turns out, everything we knew about this book we learned from 'The King and I' and was therefore wildly incorrect!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Book cover of Uncle Tom's Cabin showing an illustration of a Black woman and Black child tending a garden next to the presumably titular cabin. Book cover of Uncle Tom's Cabin showing an illustration of a blonde girl in a white dress reading a book to a Black man in rags, while they both sit in a shack with a hammock, while a white woman looks on approvingly. Also, there is a dog. Book cover for Uncle Tom's Cabin showing an illustration of a bunch of white men standing around looking at a Black man in rags. One of the white men holds a whip. Super old-fashioned book cover for Uncle Tom's Cabin, showing a woman of ambiugous race talking to a Black man, while she points at something in the distance. They are standing in front of the presumably titular cabin, and also there is a whip and a pair of shackles hanging from the title letters of the book.
December 17, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
We come out all guns blazing for our Christmas episode, and the final instalment of our banned books series, with Harriet Beecher Stowe's Civil War-causing/-winning 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1852) - what's more, it's crammed with sizzling Quakers...

Out on Wednesday!
December 15, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
Happy (early) Thanksgiving, Shelfers! Don't pull a spear on or chuck a boulder at a relative. Not unless they *really* deserve it.

More importantly, Happy International Men's Day: no girls allowed in our episode on William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' (1954).

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Book cover of Lord of the Flies showing an illustrated up-close picture of Piggy's face (or just his eyes, nose, and forehead), specifically showing his cracked glasses. It's all in red and black and looks ominous as hell. Cover of Lord of the Flies, showing a terrified child's face with war paint on, seemingly peeping out of a spiky conch shell. It's illustrated and creepy. Illustrated cover of Lord of the Flies showing a conch shell pouring blood. Chill! Illustrated cover of Lord of the Flies, showing a backlit jungle setting against a setting sun, with a bunch of creepy looking silhouettes of boys, one of whom is holding a spear, standing next to a shack. A couple of boys in the hazy background appear to be doing war dances holding spears, and they're the creepiest of all!
November 19, 2025 at 10:21 AM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
'Rank-and-file Francophile' - can somebody do something with that, s'il vous plait?
November 17, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
It's human nature to be a snotty private schoolboy - or so William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' (1954) tells us - and we got into the spirit of this message with plenty of quibbling over pronunciation.

Episode out on Wednesday!

'One fly to rule them all, one fly to find them' etc.
November 17, 2025 at 9:14 AM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
'Deliver me from calamity; from muddy boots and whirlpools; deliver me lunch.'

Another album from my dear old dad - a retelling/reimagining/detournement of 'Dark Side of the Moon'. Feat. yours truly on heavily distorted concertina in the final track: hrsmokeandrewsmith.bandcamp.com/album/mortal...
Mortal Questions, by HR Smoke/Andrew Smith
14 track album
hrsmokeandrewsmith.bandcamp.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
Looking to compile the definitive collection of portrayals of tyrants in bikinis. So far I've just got Caligula in 'I, Claudius' (1976) and Louis XIII in 'The Devils' (1971).

Please get in touch if you have any others. Thanks.
November 5, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
Some of you guessed our clue correctly:

For International Men's Day (19 November), we will be release the most laddish book we've ever read on the show: William Golding's 1954 anti-colonialist schoolboy castaway narrative, 'Lord of the Flies'.

No girls allowed, and 'Sucks to your Auntie!'
Book cover of Lord of the Flies, showing a bunch of (presumably) masked naked stick-figure lads dancing around with spears, on a red background that's dotted with flames, and also there is a big snake there. Book cover for Lord of the Flies showing a chaotic drawing of a jungle with loads of tiny lads looking lost in between the plants. Book cover of Lord of the Flies, showing a boy's face peering out from a bush, or perhaps wearing a sort of headdress mask thing made of leaves. I don't precisely know what I'm looking at. There are also a bunch of flies on a tree trunk or something in the foreground by his jaw. Book cover for Lord of the Flies showing a Rubenesque young lad in a schoolboy's uniform, with a fuck-off great big fly behind and over him, looking like it's almost going to pick him up. There are a pair of shattered glasses separate from this image, below the book's title.
November 4, 2025 at 11:21 AM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
I had a great time at the 'Files, Forms, Fictions' symposium in Bonn last week. Excellent blend of bureaucracy chat, Adenauer anecdotes, and Bönnsch beer.

Thanks again to @alexandrairim.bsky.social and her colleagues for an excellent conference!
October 22, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
alexandrairim.bsky.social
Bureaucritics #5 is now online!

It brings along a busy stretch of new publications, from the just-printed to the just-planned, plus fresh calls for papers and events.
Back in Office
We’re back!
bureaucritics.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:39 AM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
Thanks again for having me on!
utopiaanddystopia.bsky.social Utopian and Dystopian Fictions Podcast @utopiaanddystopia.bsky.social · Sep 17
We all love bureaucracy, right? Here it is for your enjoyment... bureaucratic utopias and dystopias with Daniel Jenkin Smith. Please rate, subscribe, recommend, and all that other bureaucratic nonsense!
open.spotify.com/episode/3mD0...
Episode 15: Daniel Jenkin-Smith, Bureaucracy, Utopia, Dystopia
open.spotify.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
Hey, ya phonies! Enjoying back-to-school? Well, our (anti)hero sure isn't! Join us for JD Salinger's 1951 ode to teen angst, 'Catcher in the Rye'.

Let's all have Buckfast at Tiffany's, put on weird hats, and argue about who has it worse in winter: ducks or fish.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Book cover for Catcher in the Rye showing a young man in a red hunting hat walking between two cliffs, which have rye fields on top, but are also New York skyscrapers. Book cover for Catcher in the Rye showing a young man in a red hunting hat smoking a cigarette and the puffs of smoke turn into ducks flying away Book cover for Catcher in the Rye showing a red hunting hat with no one inside it. Book cover for Catcher in the Rye showing a psychotic looking red carousel horse hovering over a New York cityscape. You know this cover. This is the famous one. It's everywhere.
September 17, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
utopiaanddystopia.bsky.social
Episode 15 drops this afternoon, 1pm BST. It should be fun. An episode about bureaucratic utopias/dystopias featuring an interview with Daniel Jenkin Smith, author of The Rise of Office Literature and co-host of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social.
a man in a suit and tie stands in front of a sign that says the work is mysterious
ALT: a man in a suit and tie stands in front of a sign that says the work is mysterious
media.tenor.com
September 17, 2025 at 6:25 AM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
Looking forward to this - love the swish poster!
alexandrairim.bsky.social Alexandra Irimia @alexandrairim.bsky.social · Sep 16
The international #symposium Files, Forms, Fictions is turning into a real thing!

Browse through the full program and learn more about the event at filesformsfictions.com.

Thank you, @humboldt-foundation.de & @unibonn.bsky.social, for all your support!
#bureaucraticfiction #comparativeliterature
September 17, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
utopiaanddystopia.bsky.social
A week today we'll be putting out our next episode and you can listen to me chatting about bureaucratic dystopias (and utopias) with @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social 'fame'!... I use fame in scare quotes because I know he'd want me to!
September 10, 2025 at 6:41 AM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
If Dorothy didn't squash the Wicked Witch of the East, the legalistic Munchkins, still loyal to the Witch, would've subjected her and Toto to a Kafkaesque cycle of trials and appeals - all sung-through: 'The Bishop is in hock to the Lollipop Guild, but they're a front for the Lullaby League (etc.)'
September 9, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
criticalinquiry.bsky.social
"Jenkin-Smith brings to his readers’ attention authors and periodicals that literary histories have meanwhile discarded or longtime ignored."

Alexandra Irimia on Daniel Jenkin-Smith's The Rise of Office Literature, from @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social: criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/alexandra_ir...
August 29, 2025 at 7:53 PM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
Thanks for this lovely review of the book!
alexandrairim.bsky.social Alexandra Irimia @alexandrairim.bsky.social · Aug 30
Just published in Critical Inquiry: my review of @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social’s book "The Rise of Office Literature"—a most pleasant read that gave me a lot to think with.

Thanks for the review copy, @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social!

criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/alexandra_ir...
Critical Inquiry
A journal of Art, Culture and Politics, Published by the University of Chicago
criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu
September 1, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
Recorded, and released, during a heatwave, we discover in this episode that high temperatures can yield provocative new visions about literature and culture.

Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' (1953) - out tomorrow!
August 12, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
utopiaanddystopia.bsky.social
Just finished recording an interview with the super smart @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social fame on the relationship between bureaucracy and utopia/dystopia! Lots of great insight and a really fun chat. Looking forward to the episode making its appearance.
August 6, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
Loads of people guessed correctly! Our next very banned (and, ironically, often burned) book is Ray Bradbury's 1953 dystopia about the perils of anti-intellectualism, 'Fahrenheit 451'.

Tune in on 13 August for a lot of histrionics about technology!
Cover for Fahrenheit 451, showing a very shiny full-face fireman's helmet, reflecting the image of a burning book
August 4, 2025 at 8:43 AM
dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social
Physicists: we've got fission down, but will we ever perfect fusion chips?
July 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
ATTENTION ALL PERVS: our 69th episode, covering John Cleland's 1749 erotic novel 'Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' (AKA 'Fanny Hill'), is out now!

Expect strapping footmen, polite applause during orgies, and plenty of red-hot turtlebilling!

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...
July 16, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
Join us on Wednesday for our episode on John Cleland's seminal (heh) erotic work, 'Fanny Hill' (1748).
In addition to lots of strange euphemisms for body parts, be prepared to learn about some bizarre sex acts, like (the maybe less dirty than originally thought) 'turtlebilling'.
July 14, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Daniel Jenkin-Smith
smfmspodcast.bsky.social
Happy Pride, everyone! Today we look at Tennessee Williams's slutty 1947 play, 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.
We talk po'boys, suffer through a massive recording equipment failure, and Daniel reveals himself to be both the podcast's Brando AND a thriving gay man. 🌈
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Cover of Streetcar showing a still from the film, in which a shirtless Marlon Brandon has just made you horny Cover of Streetcar with an illustrated half-naked Stanley calls 'Hey Stella' up to Eunice's apartment. Slightly surreal and colour saturated cover of Streetcar, showing a sexed-up Blanche in a negligee brushing her hair behind a curtain, while men play poker a few feet away. It's all very 'Yoo hoo, boys!' Extremely '60s Mondrian-style colour squares with the words 'A Streetcar Named Desire' over the top. A production directed by Chris Coleman.
June 18, 2025 at 9:57 AM