This week’s The TLS, featuring Gary Sheffield on post-World War Two relations; Andrew Stark on Americans and greatness; Keith Miller on The Phoenician Scheme; Marie Darrieussecq on Shane Haddad; Russell Williams (@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social) on magic; Libby Purves on female friendships – and much more

« Shane Haddad is a descendant of Flaubert and Duras and she recounts moments of intimacy with hesitancy, never preaching morality, but rather fluttering between nonchalant panic and sudden, joyous surprise » Marie Darrieussecq in this week’s The TLS the-tls.co.uk/literature/fic…

« To be human, she suggests, is to live always in the country of others » Delighted to read Dr Adina Stroia on the final volume of Leila Slimani’s autobiographical trilogy in this week’s The TLS the-tls.co.uk/literature/fic…

'Aspiring magicians are encouraged to write, not least because “the gods of magic ... are also the gods of writing, language and communication”.' Russell Williams (Russell Williams (@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social)) on a practical and literary guide to modern magic the-tls.com/politics-socie…

This week’s TLS, featuring James Marcus and Douglas Field on Mark Twain; Edward Luttwak on ‘Zbig’; Jane Caplan on tattoos; Mia Levitin on dinner-party novels; Bryan Karetnyk on Stalin and memory; Seb Falk on flight; Irina Dumitrescu on Christina of Markyate – and much more

Russell Williams on Erik Satie, Ian Penman and Les Dawson in this week’s The TLS the-tls.com/arts/music/eri…

"‘Embryons desséchés’ should be played ‘like a nightingale with a toothache’." Russell Williams (Russell Williams (@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social)) on the playful, melancholic genius of Erik Satie the-tls.com/arts/music/eri…

Now I have a cover to share, I can gleefully announce that AFTER YOU WERE, I AM will be published in the US by McSweeney's on September 16. (I will be doing a three-week US tour shortly afterwards. Dates and venues coming soon ...)

"A model of archival research and historical analysis of the things that can be known" Christopher L Miller on Miranda Spieler's Slaves in Paris in this week's The TLS AUP the-tls.com/history/modern…

"Once, left-wing academics assumed that they were looking to the future, which they usually regarded with optimism. Now there is a melancholy tone" Richard Vinen on Didier Eribon and Nicolas Renahy in this week's The TLS the-tls.com/history/twenti…

"WWhat do Wedgwood tea sets, plumed tricorn hats and French revolutionary paper money have in common?" Biancamaria Fontana on The Revolutionary Self by Lynn Hunt in this week's The TLS the-tls.com/philosophy/his…

We are pleased to announce the CFP for next year's annual conference which will take place at the University of Leicester. The deadline for submissions is 19 September 2025. For more information see the link below: sfs.ac.uk/conferences/20…

I wrote something for the The TLS about the most famous wind in France - the mistral - and an excellent little book that tries to tell a "windswept" history of modern France. the-tls.com/world/travel/t…