Michelle A. Taylor
@michelletaylor.bsky.social
The lazy laughing Jenny of the bard | fellow at Magdalene, Cam; once Emory FCHI & St Hilda’s, Ox | essays in The New Yorker, FT Mag, The Point, The Nation, &c. | modernism & coterie, w/ a taste for the archive
https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/user/taylor
https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/user/taylor
Pinned
Zachary Leader’s book on Richard Ellmann’s landmark work on James Joyce asks whether a biographer can be considered an artist.
Who Writes the Biographer's Biography?
Zachary Leader's book on Richard Ellmann's landmark work on James Joyce asks whether a biographer can be considered an artist.
www.thenation.com
Spent some time with Zachary Leader’s biography of Richard Ellmann, thinking about modernism and biography’s complicated allure
Wrote a bite-sized review of the new Lockwood, which continues to reveal new treasures to me each time I read it
Will There Ever Be Another You — Patricia Lockwood’s autofictional protagonist returns on.ft.com/3VhKgdX
Will There Ever Be Another You — Patricia Lockwood’s autofictional protagonist returns
The novel picks up where ‘No One Is Talking About This’ left off before exploring a life-altering experience of Covid
on.ft.com
September 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Wrote a bite-sized review of the new Lockwood, which continues to reveal new treasures to me each time I read it
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
If anyone (@thebaffler.com @nplusonemag.com @publicbooks.bsky.social) might be interested in an article
offering an ideological post-mortem of almost four decades of The Best American Poetry anthology as a conservative publishing project, I'm yr guy.
offering an ideological post-mortem of almost four decades of The Best American Poetry anthology as a conservative publishing project, I'm yr guy.
For thirty-eight years, The Best American Poetry series showcased the nation’s most influential and vital poetry. The 2025 landmark edition marks a poignant farewell to series editor David Lehman—and to the enduring power of poetry.
Available now. https://bit.ly/3I2kwyZ
Available now. https://bit.ly/3I2kwyZ
September 6, 2025 at 6:23 PM
If anyone (@thebaffler.com @nplusonemag.com @publicbooks.bsky.social) might be interested in an article
offering an ideological post-mortem of almost four decades of The Best American Poetry anthology as a conservative publishing project, I'm yr guy.
offering an ideological post-mortem of almost four decades of The Best American Poetry anthology as a conservative publishing project, I'm yr guy.
ICYMI, I wrote about modernism and the allure of biography for The Nation, through Zachary Leader's new biography of Richard Ellmann, Ellmann's majestic biography of James Joyce, and some Virginia Woolf, because I can't help myself.
Zachary Leader’s book on Richard Ellmann’s landmark work on James Joyce asks whether a biographer can be considered an artist.
Who Writes the Biographer's Biography?
Zachary Leader's book on Richard Ellmann's landmark work on James Joyce asks whether a biographer can be considered an artist.
www.thenation.com
September 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
ICYMI, I wrote about modernism and the allure of biography for The Nation, through Zachary Leader's new biography of Richard Ellmann, Ellmann's majestic biography of James Joyce, and some Virginia Woolf, because I can't help myself.
Spent some time with Zachary Leader’s biography of Richard Ellmann, thinking about modernism and biography’s complicated allure
Zachary Leader’s book on Richard Ellmann’s landmark work on James Joyce asks whether a biographer can be considered an artist.
Who Writes the Biographer's Biography?
Zachary Leader's book on Richard Ellmann's landmark work on James Joyce asks whether a biographer can be considered an artist.
www.thenation.com
September 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Spent some time with Zachary Leader’s biography of Richard Ellmann, thinking about modernism and biography’s complicated allure
another foray into this blue zone. anyway I’m kicking around Chicago for a few weeks, if any of you live in the supposedly windy city
August 26, 2025 at 1:54 AM
another foray into this blue zone. anyway I’m kicking around Chicago for a few weeks, if any of you live in the supposedly windy city
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
What was I supposed to do, judge the president on every other thing he has done?
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she feels “cheated” after she won a concession in the tax and spending bill to protect wind and solar projects, only to see the Trump administration issue orders that she said seem designed to quash such projects.
Sen. Murkowski, feeling ‘cheated’ by Trump actions against wind and solar, says she’ll go to bat for Alaska projects
Murkowski won a concession in the Big, Beautiful Bill to protect tax credits for 12 months for wind and solar. But she said a recent presidential order and Interior directive undercut those plans.
www.adn.com
July 19, 2025 at 4:02 PM
What was I supposed to do, judge the president on every other thing he has done?
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
Deleting the apps so I can meet someone the old-fashioned way (given the same bed at a coastal inn)
Deleting the apps so I can meet someone the old-fashioned way (adopted as a foundling by a landowning family on a remote Yorkshire moor)
July 14, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Deleting the apps so I can meet someone the old-fashioned way (given the same bed at a coastal inn)
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
Anytime someone you know mentions using ChatGPT or any other genAI, say "you know, I read this article about how incredibly bad for the environment genAI is" and refer them to this article.
Google’s emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green | Increase influenced by datacentre growth, with estimated power required by 2026 equalling that of Japan’s | www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Google’s emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green
Increase influenced by datacentre growth, with estimated power required by 2026 equalling that of Japan’s
www.theguardian.com
June 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Anytime someone you know mentions using ChatGPT or any other genAI, say "you know, I read this article about how incredibly bad for the environment genAI is" and refer them to this article.
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
I guess you could say the people who thought Andrew Cuomo ran a better campaign than Zohran Mamdani were sequestered in echo chambers and out of touch with what people offline wanted out of a candidate
June 25, 2025 at 4:13 AM
I guess you could say the people who thought Andrew Cuomo ran a better campaign than Zohran Mamdani were sequestered in echo chambers and out of touch with what people offline wanted out of a candidate
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
This gyre is looking awfully wide
June 22, 2025 at 2:25 AM
This gyre is looking awfully wide
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
so far the greatest contribution made by (purported) AI is quickly identifying (so many) people, who get paid to read and write, who have lost (or never had) respect for reading and writing
This article is going to turn me into the Joker. Literary style is not a puzzle you solve to get a little information treat 😩😩😩
June 22, 2025 at 2:42 PM
so far the greatest contribution made by (purported) AI is quickly identifying (so many) people, who get paid to read and write, who have lost (or never had) respect for reading and writing
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
In an act of unspeakable arrogance former BP oil executive Lord Browne of Madingley, as he is styled, is running to be Chancellor of Cambridge. It really adds insult to injury given the extraordinary damage the 'Browne Review' inflicted on higher education in Britain, the humanities in particular.
docs.google.com
June 21, 2025 at 8:53 AM
In an act of unspeakable arrogance former BP oil executive Lord Browne of Madingley, as he is styled, is running to be Chancellor of Cambridge. It really adds insult to injury given the extraordinary damage the 'Browne Review' inflicted on higher education in Britain, the humanities in particular.
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
one step closer to the day when i can finally stop explaining uk abortion law to people who go, “but abortion is legal in britain, isn’t it?” 🎉
June 17, 2025 at 8:22 PM
one step closer to the day when i can finally stop explaining uk abortion law to people who go, “but abortion is legal in britain, isn’t it?” 🎉
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
I still can't get past the idea that people in America are now supposed to accept that this is a valid form of law enforcement and just assume it's fine when random dudes in groups with face-coverings, no ID, no warrant, & no uniform grab people off the street and force them into unmarked vehicles
Not an original point but worth saying again - there is not a single element in this picture that identifies any of these folks as law enforcement agents. No badges, no uniforms, no vests. Out of context it just looks like a bunch of random guys are kidnapping a mayoral candidate.
Breaking News: Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller who is running for mayor, was detained by ICE agents at an immigration court as he tried to escort a migrant out of the courthouse to prevent his arrest. nyti.ms/4jWkANE
June 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I still can't get past the idea that people in America are now supposed to accept that this is a valid form of law enforcement and just assume it's fine when random dudes in groups with face-coverings, no ID, no warrant, & no uniform grab people off the street and force them into unmarked vehicles
I didn’t know Simon but he was always a warm and encouraging presence on Twitter; he felt like a good colleague from afar. My thoughts are with everyone who’s missing him today.
Absolutely heartbroken to learn that Professor Simon James has passed away after a short illness. Simon was a stalwart union rep in the English Department, and a personal friend to many of us in the branch. We'll miss his humour, his passion, and his dedication to making things better for people.
June 15, 2025 at 4:44 PM
I didn’t know Simon but he was always a warm and encouraging presence on Twitter; he felt like a good colleague from afar. My thoughts are with everyone who’s missing him today.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?
of love's austere and lonely offices?
June 15, 2025 at 2:55 PM
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?
of love's austere and lonely offices?
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
I just like to post these data from time to time to puncture the mythological aura of mid 20th c protests. They were less popular than pretty much any 21st c mass action & people criticizing them used the same lines. Protest is about people coming together, shaping narratives, & building power.
June 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I just like to post these data from time to time to puncture the mythological aura of mid 20th c protests. They were less popular than pretty much any 21st c mass action & people criticizing them used the same lines. Protest is about people coming together, shaping narratives, & building power.
what are your cool BL lunch recs and Islington evening recs?
June 11, 2025 at 8:42 PM
what are your cool BL lunch recs and Islington evening recs?
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
Worth noting today that the entire budget of the NEH is about $200M.
According to acting DOD Comptroller Bryn McDonnell it'll cost $134M for the deployment of the Guard to Los Angeles.
June 10, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Worth noting today that the entire budget of the NEH is about $200M.
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
Today is the day the NEH has been fully dismantled in all but name.
June 10, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Today is the day the NEH has been fully dismantled in all but name.
A real privilege to hear @nicksturm.bsky.social open Notley's poetry up the way he does, with all his characteristic devotion & unpretentious brilliance, & to think (and feel) with Nick about the languages of public & private grief, grief owned and grief shared. I'm so glad this podcast is back.
I talked with Nick Sturm (@nicksturm.bsky.social) about the brilliant Alice Notley, who died just three weeks ago, and her poem “At Night the States.”
“making life, not explaining anything”
I missed having these conversations.
open.spotify.com/episode/6fLF...
“making life, not explaining anything”
I missed having these conversations.
open.spotify.com/episode/6fLF...
Nick Sturm on Alice Notley ("At Night the States")
Close Readings · Episode
open.spotify.com
June 9, 2025 at 8:22 PM
A real privilege to hear @nicksturm.bsky.social open Notley's poetry up the way he does, with all his characteristic devotion & unpretentious brilliance, & to think (and feel) with Nick about the languages of public & private grief, grief owned and grief shared. I'm so glad this podcast is back.
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
This is 10-12 tenure-track assistant professors’ salaries at many places. A whole academic program’s worth of money, pissed away, In Times of Austerity, on rent-a-cops going after students who dared speak. Nobody behind this should have a career.
The University of Michigan spent $800,000 hiring private investigators--one of whom FAKED A DISABILITY--to surveil anti-genocide protesting students. I'm speechless.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
June 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
This is 10-12 tenure-track assistant professors’ salaries at many places. A whole academic program’s worth of money, pissed away, In Times of Austerity, on rent-a-cops going after students who dared speak. Nobody behind this should have a career.
Reposted by Michelle A. Taylor
this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake
June 5, 2025 at 8:22 PM
this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake
On my way to Edinburgh to interlope among the Beckettians! Here’s hoping they’re nice to an ignoramus comme moi-même.
June 4, 2025 at 1:30 PM
On my way to Edinburgh to interlope among the Beckettians! Here’s hoping they’re nice to an ignoramus comme moi-même.