Carolyne Larrington

@profcarolyne.bsky.social

2.4K followers 340 following 180 posts

medievalist, medievalism-is, lover of things Norse and northern. #author

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Carolyne Larrington is an emeritus research fellow in English Literature of St John's College at the University of Oxford.

Source: Wikipedia

History 39%

Philosophy 24%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 12h

Europe is the epicentre of Epstein fallout. Meanwhile, in the US - nothing. The rule of law there is clearly breaking down, as authoritarianism proceeds the way it always does.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Norway police investigate diplomat over Jeffrey Epstein links

Mona Juul and her husband Terje Rød-Larsen - who played a vital role in the Oslo Accords - are being investigated for

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Nik Gunn @nikgunn.bsky.social · 14h

New post!

I take an in-depth look at Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, alongside forays into Victorian translations by William Morris and the brilliantly named Athanasius Diedrich Wackerbarth.

This is based on an undergraduate lecture I gave at Oxford in 2020.

nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/02/09/o...

A copy of The Translations of Seamus Heaney on a wooden surface.

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Nick Brooke @moonbroth.bsky.social · 3d

newsthump.com/2026/02/06/g...

Grima Wormtongue’s links to Saruman the White ‘didn’t raise alarms’ during vetting process

Grima Wormtongue being a tool of the will of Saruman of Isengard was overlooked in the haste to appoint him as main advisor to King Theoden of Rohan, according to reports today.

newsthump.com

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Kári Tulinius @kattullus.bsky.social · 3d

it tells you something about the depth of feeling in Europe when you compare the reception that the US delegation got from the olympics opening ceremony crowd, to that the French got, who arrived just after, and you keep in mind that the French have invaded Italy multiple, multiple times

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

DLA Marbach @dlamarbach.bsky.social · 6d

Ich wünschte, es wäre nicht zu meiner Zeit geschehen. Wie J.R.R. Tolkiens ›Herr der Ringe‹ heute Mut machen kann. Der Auftakt zu der deutschlandweiten Veranstaltungsreihe ›Selbstverteidigung, literarisch‹ findet am 10.2. (19 Uhr) @dnb-aktuelles.bsky.social statt: www.dla-marbach.de/presse/press...

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Carolyne Larrington

Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 8d

From yesterday's Irish Times.

The Lie, Mary O'Malley

The lie that a protester shot dead by ICE
in Minneapolis was a terrorist, the lie
that killers set loose on their own cities
are victims, the lie that a poem is a gun.

A poem is not a gun, though a poem
from the pen of Akhmatova or Neruda
or Mandelstam, not one of whom ever
to my knowledge fired a shot, might

in certain conjugations of the stars
lodge in the heart and spread out
across mountains and borders
across languages and the sea and you

can’t shoot it down, or lock it up
or alter its pixels. It is played
on the hollowed reeds of dead bones.
A poem like that is a bomb.

Mary O’Malley’s most recent collection, The Shark Nursery (Carcanet), was winner of the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2025

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Carolyne Larrington

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 8d

My books cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com

Panel 1:
A cartoon worm appears out of a book, shocking the reader and saying
"Greetings, booklover! I'm Wormy! Your virtual Reading companion!"

Panel 2:
Wormy continues "This is an enhanced Book! There's so much more to it than boring old words!"
The reader says "I like the words."

Panel 3:
Wormy "Of course! I've promoted you to 'bibliophile' and added you to the 'hi-brow lit chat' group. You have 33 welcome messages!"
Reader "I just want to read!"

Panel 4:
Wormy "Ok! I've set your status to 'monk-ish devotion?. You have earned 85 commitment stars and are now in the silver league!"
Reader "Umm... How do I get into the gold league?"

Panel 5:
Caption "And so..."

Wormy is saying "Congratulations! You won a (top networker' Trophy and 165 Community coins! Do you want to purchase membership of the 'diamond league Private library?"
The reader has put the book aside and shouts excitedly "Yes! Yes!!"

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington, Judith Jesch

The Vikingology Podcast @vikingologypodcast.bsky.social · 16d

Lovely chat with @profcarolyne.bsky.social about stories, myths, dragons, and more!

vikingology.substack.com/p/myth-and-b...

Larrington

Watch now | Myth and belief in the Viking Age and beyond

vikingology.substack.com

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Nik Gunn @nikgunn.bsky.social · 27d

New post!

Part two of my series on philology and translation. I look at the challenges of translating even a few lines of an Old English text.

Does "wyrd bið ful aræd!" mean "fate is fully determined!", "shit happens!", or something else entirely?

nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/01/13/b...

Between Philology and Desire, Part 2. On the challenge of translation. The backdrop is a woodland path.

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Judith Jesch @judithjesch.bsky.social · 28d

I did a podcast with @goingmedieval.bsky.social shows.acast.com/gone-medieva...

The Sagas of the Earls of Orkney | Gone Medieval

shows.acast.com

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Transformationen des Populären @sfb1472.uni-siegen.de · Jan 8

Als Output einer unserer Cooperative Research Groups ist zum Start ins neue Jahr der von @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Hans Rudolf Velten und @heyouonline.bsky.social hrsg. Band „Popularising the Middle Ages in Modern Fantasy. Neomedievalism, Video Games, and Vikings“ bei D.S. Brewer erschienen.

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Adam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · Jan 3

Since he isn’t, now’s as good a time as any:

Tom Lehrer - Send the Marines

YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel

m.youtube.com

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Nivenus @nivenus.bsky.social · Dec 27

From Facebook

Four panel comic on how to be a goth girl

(Put on makeup, then armor, learn proto-Germanic, sack Rome)

Reposted by Judith Jesch

Carolyne Larrington @profcarolyne.bsky.social · Dec 19

If you feel you don't know enought about Richard Cleasby who was the guiding spirit behind the first Old Norse-English dictionary, my new biographical article has just been published in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography -- along with other lexicographers
@oxfordacademic.bsky.social

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Paul Robichaud 🪨🐐 @pjrobichaud.bsky.social · Dec 19

My book on Pan and his journey through myth, story, art, music and pagan spirituality is available in paperback from Reaktion Books or through your favourite bookseller.

Pan | Reaktion Books

Part-goat, part-man, Pan bridges the divide between the human and animal worlds. In exquisite prose, Paul Robichaud explores how Pan has been imagined in mythology, art, literature, music, spiritualit...

reaktionbooks.co.uk

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington, Judith Jesch

Natalie Hopwood @nrhopwood.bsky.social · Dec 11

For those Old Norse and Viking lovers, the Norse in the North conference has made it to Bluesky! As we’re finalizing the CFP for 2026 at Leeds, please follow @norseinthenorth.bsky.social for updates!
#oldnorse #medievalsky #postgraduate #conference #medieval

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington, Ailsa Cameron, Mark Robinson

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · Dec 6

I live in Wales and today received my Join Us letter from Reform UK, complete with SAE which I posted back to them, immediately, empty. If every other person in Wales did this, Reform would spend over £1.5 million on postage. Not sorry. Join me Cymru.

Reposted by Mark Bray, Lesley A. Hall, Carolyne Larrington , and 1 more Mark Bray, Lesley A. Hall, Carolyne Larrington, Katrina Navickas

Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · Dec 6

Universities: investing millions so students ”develop literacy in the language of AI”

Also universities: defunding the humanities so students are illiterate in ordinary languages

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington, Sara M. Butler, Kathleen Kennedy , and 2 more Carolyne Larrington, Sara M. Butler, Kathleen Kennedy, Judith Jesch, Aidan O’Sullivan

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · Dec 5

Attention creative medievalists! Eleanor Barraclough & I are co-editing a special issue of Public Humanities entitled CREATING THE MEDIEVAL NOW! See the cfp for details: essays of 2,000-3,000 words due 1 May 2026. (Amazing artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social). 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Carolyne Larrington @profcarolyne.bsky.social · Dec 4

Call for papers for a special issue of Humanities journal, edited by Professor Bartłomiej Błaszkiewicz. Here are the details:
www.mdpi.com/journal/huma...

www.mdpi.com

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · Dec 3

Consider the following before adopting a Manticore for your family

A Manticore with the caption "I am not a toy. I am not a pet. I am not a Christmas present. I am a 400 year commitment."

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

James Dempster @cocktaillion.bsky.social · Dec 3

Up here in Elgin we have a real witch on a new estate.

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Peter Campbell, Carolyne Larrington , and 3 more Shannon Vallor, Peter Campbell, Carolyne Larrington, David Murakami Wood, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Peter Jacobs

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Nov 25

OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates on.ft.com/4ij0yh8

OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates

A burning platform

on.ft.com

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · Nov 24

Goodnight.
🖼️ Tove Jansson

A black and white illustration from the Moomins.The illustration is of a wooded landscape at night with bats in flight and low misty clouds. Moomintroll, Snufkin and Sniff are walking through the wooded area looking a little scared.

Reposted by Carolyne Larrington

Mark Rees @reviewwales.bsky.social · Nov 24

It’s that time again - the M. R. James ghost story Christmas countdown! 👻
There are 31 days until Santa arrives, so if you read one* story a day, you’ll finish the Collected Ghost Stories in time to get merry.
Like a haunted advent calendar! ❄️
#Christmas #GhostStories

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