does anyone know how to get into humanities phds in this academic climate? my applications are not going well and with this being my fourth cycle i'm feeling a slight tiny little bit demoralised. I thought publications might save me, but it seems not to lol. Is there any saving grace at this point?

Hello friends, is there anyone who could set me up with a pdf of "Yeats's Birds: Recognising the Animal" by Kelly Sullivan? It was published in Modernist Cultures but due to a bunch of circumstances I don't have access at the moment and am in dire need of this paper

just virtually attended a brilliant lecture on the prevalence of eugenics in academia by @rebeccasear.bsky.social! Have really missed my little lectures so this was an absolute pleasure

does anyone know how to get into humanities phds in this academic climate? my applications are not going well and with this being my fourth cycle i'm feeling a slight tiny little bit demoralised. I thought publications might save me, but it seems not to lol. Is there any saving grace at this point?

moved into my new place in amsterdam!!! :)

still thinking abt the dutch UK correspondent talking about andrew being sent to norfolk and describing norfolk as "the siberia of england"

submitted my final applications for the time being!!! (like - of the Big Batch of Open Applications; I'll now just see whichever random calls emerge on the internet)

Read Conan Doyle's The Lost World yesterday and it's so so good??? really funny in particular like !!!!! Would love to dive further into the whole use of scientific evidence in it and its academic commentary

applying to Exeter for a PhD and for some reason they don't have a CV upload button... should I attach it anyway? They don't mention the existence of CVs anywhere on the page lol, not even a "don't upload your CV if we don't ask for it."

fully still riding this high because I might well not get funding, but at least there's a whole entire university willing to take me on!!!!!! as a phd student!!!!!!!! (in philosophy no less!!!!!!!!!!!) really needed this lol

It’s going to sound quaint, but the best way to resist an AI takeover of the humanities is to assign physical books, sit around, read them, and argue about ideas. Academic has become such a competitive arena, that we ourselves are trained to look for the winning angle, instead of the best education.

just got a phd rejection and acceptance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! back to back within 15 minutes. I really recommend the palate cleanser of an acceptance, even if I have no funding yet lol. (whoo!! Leeds!!!!!!!!)

Started this and it's SO good so far

got a new place to stay in amsterdam!!!!!

I read Baudrillard's essays on 9/11 a few days ago and I'm still so completely mind-blown by them; it just feels so very real and at the same time like such a deeply strange bunch of essays. I think it's an INSANE move to write these essays so close to the actual event lmfao but so interesting!!!!

wrote 3 completely different research proposals in addition to completely different american application materials but I think I'm getting an end in sight!!!

Love modernism? Like knowing stuff? *Really hate* knowing stuff? Like talking about weird shit? Then consider joining mine and @annakarlien.bsky.social’s panel at the 2026 MSA/BAMS conference on Weird Modernisms! If you're interested in presenting with us, please shoot either of us a message!

@jocularfowl.bsky.social and I are proposing a "weird epistemologies" panel for the @modernistudies.bsky.social Weird Modernisms conference! We're looking for an addition to our panel though, so if you're interested please shoot either of us a message!

lmaoo just got C1 on the speaking part of my english test please address me in dutch from now on xx

why are so many current-day eugenicists professors in ethics 💀💀💀💀

Nick Gaskill and I are organising a panel on Whitehead, focused on Science & the Modern World, for the MSA/BAMS conference in 2026, and are looking for an additional contributor. Email me by 25 November on [email protected] if you’re interested! #WeirdModernisms #BAMS2026 #MSA2026

whenever i try to carefully read fiction i always get like max 10 pages in because i'm constantly over-analysing every sentence - does anyone struggle with this and know how to middle between close reading and still getting through a text?

!!!!!

[clears throat]...I have another book coming out in the near future if you'd like to read a bit about LYRIC LOGIC, there are some very generous blurbs over at @columbiaup.bsky.social (my thanks to Marjorie Levinson, Oren Izenberg, Theo Davis, Nan Z. Da, and also @philipleventhal.bsky.social)

does anyone know anywhere the new AHRC phd funding scheme is explained? I just can't find it and don't get it whatsoever

Do I know anyone/have any mutuals who’ve successfully applied for an ERC Starting Grant in anything vaguely literary or DH-related?

wrapping up my time in the UK by sitting in a pub, drinking cider, eating chips with salt and vinegar, and thinking about the "grace and decorum" guy from come dine with me -- at least nobody can say I didn't go hard on "local culture" lmao

my graduate visa just got rejected -- bc of a short diss extension on mental health grounds (5 days on top of the regular 5 days extension) my results have been delayed by 4 MONTHS, which is too late to be eligible for visa. Cambridge's office says they can't do anything abt it??

sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/our-work/res... saw this, immediately thought up a phd proposal idea, and then realised that because of equity you can no longer apply as a student?? what is equal about that 😭😭

Oh great, now Duolingo is reading my papers

you know what -- if i'm forced to return to the netherlands it'll save me enough rent that I can just buy myself these editions at least as emotional compensation for my SufferingTM

just cancelled the room i was about to let bc of my visa issues :((((

jcla.in/journal-of-c... Really excited to share my new article on Wittgenstein's Tractatus, translatory practices, and silence! A happy way of wrapping up my dissertation work and MPhil at @eflcam.bsky.social :) With many thanks to Byron Byrne-Taylor's editorial work!

They're here. The first complete US edition of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage in almost 50 years. Many thanks to designer Louise Aspinall for her work in making these books beautiful. Copies will be available from @asterismbooks.bsky.social (asterismbooks.com/product/pilg...) by 1 August.

now that i've slept for a week i'm so stoked to slowly start working on some papers again!!!

i like pound as someone who used to exist and doesn't anymore but i am 100% sure being around him for more than 5 minutes would just bring to mind chris fleming's wildly unlikeable guy song

why is my entire first chapter an extended metaphor?? why do i never just go for something comprehensible and sensible???

just saw human bones in the library??? !!! and now weirdly re-energised to finally get work done lmao

i'm so bad at close reading poetry - probably bc i don't think i'd done it literally ever before this year 🙃

#modwrite trying to get my dissertation edited (:

if anyone has advice how to get through the final week of my mphil diss please throw it my way - everything i think and write feels stupid (and feedback was v negative) and i need to do really well bc it's my only and final shot at getting into the phd i want but idk if i can do it

i love my work and i hate my work so much

This gyre is looking awfully wide

still thinking of john steinbeck's unpublished werewolf novel

oh this is so very sad; thank you for all your wisdom, Helen.

when i submit my diss i'm so gonna read a 700+ page stephen king book

the rain has come!!!

mysterious......... maybe bigfoots rely on black bears for their meals?

me, this morning in therapy: “so have you ever read anything by the philosopher ludwig wittgenstein?”

Please sign and share widely - Liverpool Hope is one of *the* centres for cultural Disability Studies research. This threat is a threat to the field itself and to its important commitment to challenging societal prejudices and advocating for social justice through cultural analysis.