Christopher Tayler
@mansfieldvonrank.bsky.social
Writer and editor. New York Review of Books, Harper's, London Review of Books, Financial Times, Guardian etc. Robert Silvers Prize for Literary Criticism 2025.
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A man has been found guilty of writing a stream of consciousness novel. He is about to start a 4 year sentence.
November 12, 2025 at 10:15 PM
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Was going to apply for this £180k tutoring gig, but I am lacking in royal household experience, and suspect I would fail the "must have been raised in a socially appropriate background" test too.
October 23, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Was going to apply for this £180k tutoring gig, but I am lacking in royal household experience, and suspect I would fail the "must have been raised in a socially appropriate background" test too.
Andrew Weatherall's "Massive Mellow Mix," on a third-generation cassette copy with the side order the wrong way round.
a poll idea that just popped into my head: since we've collectively been doing 90's nostalgia for awhile as a culture, what's your secret/stealth best 90's album? not something necessarily widely super critically beloved but is nonetheless great and defining for you?
October 16, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Andrew Weatherall's "Massive Mellow Mix," on a third-generation cassette copy with the side order the wrong way round.
Reposted by Christopher Tayler
“There’s an insistent analogy in Tokarczuk’s work...between the arbitrarily constructed qualities of gender roles and the arbitrarily constructed qualities of nation-states.” —Christopher Tayler
In the Fourth Person | Christopher Tayler
In 1896 the French writer Alfred Jarry gave a speech introducing his play Ubu Roi, a pioneering work of avant-garde provocation, at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre
buff.ly
October 15, 2025 at 12:28 PM
“There’s an insistent analogy in Tokarczuk’s work...between the arbitrarily constructed qualities of gender roles and the arbitrarily constructed qualities of nation-states.” —Christopher Tayler
The good old alien from Alien shouldn't be seen in direct lighting, become someone's pal, answer whistled commands, or have ambiguity vis à vis its intelligence & sentience resolved.
October 15, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The good old alien from Alien shouldn't be seen in direct lighting, become someone's pal, answer whistled commands, or have ambiguity vis à vis its intelligence & sentience resolved.
It's not actually mad to spend five minutes thinking about alternative words because something tells you that you want one syllable more or fewer in that position in a non-poetic sentence.
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 14, 2025 at 2:50 PM
It's not actually mad to spend five minutes thinking about alternative words because something tells you that you want one syllable more or fewer in that position in a non-poetic sentence.
Reposted by Christopher Tayler
'Packs a serious emotional punch.' Daily Telegraph
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, now shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is only £1.49 on Kindle today 🚗
www.amazon.co.uk/Rest-Our-Liv...
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, now shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is only £1.49 on Kindle today 🚗
www.amazon.co.uk/Rest-Our-Liv...
October 14, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'Packs a serious emotional punch.' Daily Telegraph
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, now shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is only £1.49 on Kindle today 🚗
www.amazon.co.uk/Rest-Our-Liv...
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, now shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is only £1.49 on Kindle today 🚗
www.amazon.co.uk/Rest-Our-Liv...
Reposted by Christopher Tayler
“Tokarczuk’s body of work is animated by the idea that being trapped in a single consciousness—one’s own—is a somewhat desolate condition.” —Christopher Tayler
In the Fourth Person | Christopher Tayler
In 1896 the French writer Alfred Jarry gave a speech introducing his play Ubu Roi, a pioneering work of avant-garde provocation, at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre
buff.ly
October 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
“Tokarczuk’s body of work is animated by the idea that being trapped in a single consciousness—one’s own—is a somewhat desolate condition.” —Christopher Tayler
Reposted by Christopher Tayler
Christopher Tayler on Olga Tokarczuk
In the Fourth Person | Christopher Tayler
In 1896 the French writer Alfred Jarry gave a speech introducing his play Ubu Roi, a pioneering work of avant-garde provocation, at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre
buff.ly
October 11, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Christopher Tayler on Olga Tokarczuk
Just started Spring Torrents by Turgenev and the opening meet-cute involves reviving a beautiful girl's stricken brother by scrubbing him with a hairbrush. Then a doctor appears and says "Ah you used the hairbrush technique - good thinking," and that's all we learn about this approach to first aid.
October 8, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Just started Spring Torrents by Turgenev and the opening meet-cute involves reviving a beautiful girl's stricken brother by scrubbing him with a hairbrush. Then a doctor appears and says "Ah you used the hairbrush technique - good thinking," and that's all we learn about this approach to first aid.
People say Tolstoy didn't have a sense of humour but come on
October 7, 2025 at 8:46 AM
People say Tolstoy didn't have a sense of humour but come on
I wrote about Olga Tokarczuk, Alfred Jarry, borders, mushrooms and more.
In the Fourth Person | Christopher Tayler
In 1896 the French writer Alfred Jarry gave a speech introducing his play Ubu Roi, a pioneering work of avant-garde provocation, at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre
www.nybooks.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I wrote about Olga Tokarczuk, Alfred Jarry, borders, mushrooms and more.
Reposted by Christopher Tayler
Our 10/23 issue is now online, with @jacobweisberg.bsky.social on deep fake news, Elaine Blair on feministskaya istoriya, Andrew Katzenstein on Pynchon, Suzanne Schneider on Hayek’s bastards, Jay Neugeboren on the working homeless, Ariel Dorfman on Pinochet’s Nazi, and more.
October 23, 2025 Issue
Table of Contents
buff.ly
October 2, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Our 10/23 issue is now online, with @jacobweisberg.bsky.social on deep fake news, Elaine Blair on feministskaya istoriya, Andrew Katzenstein on Pynchon, Suzanne Schneider on Hayek’s bastards, Jay Neugeboren on the working homeless, Ariel Dorfman on Pinochet’s Nazi, and more.
We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
October 1, 2025 at 8:11 AM
We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Wrote about the new Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan and fiction’s problem with climate change
In the acclaimed author’s new novel, What We Can Know, Britain has sunk beneath the waves – but literature remains buoyant
📕 Christopher Tayler
In the acclaimed author’s new novel, What We Can Know, Britain has sunk beneath the waves – but literature remains buoyant
📕 Christopher Tayler
Ian McEwan and fiction’s problem with climate change
In the acclaimed author’s new novel, What We Can Know, Britain has sunk beneath the waves – but literature remains buoyant
www.newstatesman.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Wrote about the new Ian McEwan
I know there's a lot going on but it seems crazy to me these killings aren't getting more attention
Getting Away with Murder | David Cole
During his first presidential campaign Donald Trump famously claimed that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose
www.nybooks.com
September 23, 2025 at 9:11 PM
I know there's a lot going on but it seems crazy to me these killings aren't getting more attention
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women; also Gentleman's Relish.
What’s the most Tory-coded thing you actively love?
Me: Essex. Elgar. Country pubs.
Me: Essex. Elgar. Country pubs.
September 23, 2025 at 10:24 AM
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women; also Gentleman's Relish.
Confirmed my age by singing the answer to "What can fill the Watford Gap?"
July 25, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Confirmed my age by singing the answer to "What can fill the Watford Gap?"
Good to see that even in hyper-radicalised Telegraph, "Belgians being funny foreigners" still outweighs "we are desperately offended by any criticism of imperialism."
June 23, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Good to see that even in hyper-radicalised Telegraph, "Belgians being funny foreigners" still outweighs "we are desperately offended by any criticism of imperialism."
Time to read Manon Lescaut I guess
May 8, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Time to read Manon Lescaut I guess
Judging by the BBC liveblog the Sycamore Gap tree-felling trial is the KLF "Chill Out" of criminal trials
April 29, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Judging by the BBC liveblog the Sycamore Gap tree-felling trial is the KLF "Chill Out" of criminal trials
If I had any money I would invest it in this. Amazing returns, like clockwork, with almost no risk! They're a bit cagey about how it works but I guess that only to be expected.
April 4, 2025 at 1:55 PM
If I had any money I would invest it in this. Amazing returns, like clockwork, with almost no risk! They're a bit cagey about how it works but I guess that only to be expected.
"I'm the editor who invented the 'I'm the X. Topic sentence' headline format. Here's why I'm spending the rest of my life apologising."
March 28, 2025 at 8:41 AM
"I'm the editor who invented the 'I'm the X. Topic sentence' headline format. Here's why I'm spending the rest of my life apologising."
Someone said to me "Do yourself a favour and read Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte." I took her advice and now I'm saying to anyone who'll listen, "Do yourself a favour and read Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte" - it's really good.
March 27, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Someone said to me "Do yourself a favour and read Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte." I took her advice and now I'm saying to anyone who'll listen, "Do yourself a favour and read Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte" - it's really good.