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John Attridge

@johnattridge

Associate Professor of English at UNSW | Modernism, novels, specialisation, media, bildungsroman &c | Chair Australasian Modernist Studies Network

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Latest posts by John Attridge @johnattridge

Academics are sometimes seen as gatekeeping elitists. But the people who say this often don't even have PhDs

07.03.2026 07:59 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

You're right to push back on that. Murdering an elderly pawnbroker does raise ethical concerns. But the fact you are considering it suggests you might not be bound by the rules of conventional morality

05.03.2026 00:00 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Ever since I was a small boy I knew I wanted to complicate a dominant narrative in my field

27.02.2026 03:07 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This only works for brodernism

27.02.2026 02:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

An MFA will never prepare you to become a writer. To become a writer you must first be raised on the Yorkshire moors with your equally creative siblings, with whom you write a series of interconnected fantasy narratives

26.02.2026 22:13 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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26.02.2026 00:03 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

When Akira Kurosawa made Rashomon, he did not have the technology to tell the story from the perspective of an omniscient observer. Now, thanks to AI, we can see the narrative as it really happened

22.02.2026 23:10 πŸ‘ 44 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Great literature is universal. Campus novels for example invariably capture the essence of the human condition, especially when they are about the English department

21.02.2026 22:11 πŸ‘ 27 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Barbie is actually Frankenstein

19.02.2026 23:41 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Margot Robbie is actually working her way chronologically through the c19th Gothic Canon. Inanimate object comes to life (Frankenstein). Now Wuthering Heights. Next will be a gender swapped Picture of Dorian Gray

19.02.2026 22:28 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Happy for the successful athletes but precious metals symbolise humanity's fall into a world of toil and avarice. Far better in my view to reward winners with laurel wreaths, as in the pastoral golden age

19.02.2026 09:08 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It is not enough for a close reading of a work of literature to eschew biographical and contextual details. You should also avoid understanding the text or even reading it, in order to focus purely on its form

19.02.2026 00:24 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

For years I have been honing a completely new writing style based on rhetorical questions, em dashes and a high degree of obsequiousness. I think people are really going to like it

17.02.2026 22:03 πŸ‘ 75 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

At long last our Special Issue on 'The Modernist Face in/as World Literature' is now out in Journal of World Literature, edited by Anca Parvulescu (Washington University in St. Louis) and me!

Our Introduction is open access here: brill.com/view/journal...

15.02.2026 23:45 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Explaining the bourgeoisie to an American: imagine a burgher

16.02.2026 01:45 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Respect your "boundaries"? Bro maybe you should read up on a little concept called the pharmakon. Every limit depends on the possibility of transgression

13.02.2026 08:05 πŸ‘ 27 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Claude is actually short for Claude LΓ©vi-Strauss because its code depends on binary oppositions

13.02.2026 03:46 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Call for Papers: Toxic Modernism/Modernist Intoxication The Australasian Modernist Studies Network and Modernist Studies in Asia present: JOINT AMSN / MSIA CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 19-21, 2026 ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY Bradley Forum, Hawke Level 6, CCCW Organising…

The joint @AustModernist & MSIA Conference will be held in Adelaide on 19-21 November, on the theme "Toxic Modernism/Modernist Intoxication." Further details at the link below. Send us your abstracts! amsn.org.au/amsn-confere...

13.02.2026 02:40 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Incredible

12.02.2026 22:22 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I was the academic consultant on Wuthering Heights responsible for ensuring that the film was faithful to the book. I haven't read it myself but I think we did a great job

12.02.2026 05:13 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

It's great that coders are so productive now. Soon we will be living in a technological utopia *Google books search for Hamlet returns no hits*

08.02.2026 22:23 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Instead of just outright banning killer robots in the classroom, we should be having discussions about the *ethical use* of killer robots

05.02.2026 20:11 πŸ‘ 29 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Getting jump scared when the narrator says "dear reader"

04.02.2026 19:19 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Searching "if I may" in the Epstein files to find all the academics

03.02.2026 22:56 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Hearing that Matt Damon has interpreted "polytropos" to mean "complicated" rather than "man of twists and turns". Woke Hollywood strikes again

02.02.2026 00:19 πŸ‘ 28 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

"I identify with the main character" no. Characters are a fantasy propagated by big realism to distract you from the novel's form. Wake up

29.01.2026 00:29 πŸ‘ 29 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

(relatable lecturer voice) and in this scene it is simply not clocking to the wedding guest that the ancient mariner is standing on business

28.01.2026 04:47 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I have a very particular set of skills *close reads ransom note*

27.01.2026 08:28 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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I reviewed Kristin Grogan's brilliant new book _Stitch, Unstitch: Modernist Poetry and the World of Work_ for The Space Between
scalar.usc.edu/works/the-sp...

27.01.2026 02:46 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Ever since I started writing this application, I have been passionate about the prospect of being awarded a fellowship

24.01.2026 19:58 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0