Nik Gunn
@nikgunn.bsky.social
Pinned
Nik Gunn
@nikgunn.bsky.social
· 16h
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...
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...
Reposted by Nik Gunn
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...
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...
February 9, 2026 at 7:16 PM
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...
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...
Reposted by Nik Gunn
“Does being in a landscape automatically imbue us with a greater understanding of it?
…
We all find our own way, and notice different things as we go.”
@markhailwood.bsky.social
manyheadedmonster.com/2026/02/10/i...
🗃️
…
We all find our own way, and notice different things as we go.”
@markhailwood.bsky.social
manyheadedmonster.com/2026/02/10/i...
🗃️
Is Walking Research? A Methodological Ramble
Mark HailwoodI needed to try something to get me writing again. Blessed with a period of research leave to resume work on my book – Everyday Life in the Seventeenth Century English Village &#…
manyheadedmonster.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:58 AM
“Does being in a landscape automatically imbue us with a greater understanding of it?
…
We all find our own way, and notice different things as we go.”
@markhailwood.bsky.social
manyheadedmonster.com/2026/02/10/i...
🗃️
…
We all find our own way, and notice different things as we go.”
@markhailwood.bsky.social
manyheadedmonster.com/2026/02/10/i...
🗃️
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...
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...
February 9, 2026 at 7:16 PM
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...
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...
If nothing else, this map at least partly explains why engagement about anything that isn't politics is so hard on here.
I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!
bluesky-map.theo.io
I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
bluesky-map.theo.io
I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
Bluesky Map
Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.
bluesky-map.theo.io
February 9, 2026 at 2:10 PM
If nothing else, this map at least partly explains why engagement about anything that isn't politics is so hard on here.
Reposted by Nik Gunn
I would never argue all self-publishing is bad, but I realized years ago that Amazon designed KDP for exactly this purpose: to incentivize people to adopt new tech to churn out more slop titles in a clear attack on the publishing industry with little regard for readers or even the writers themselves
“If I can generate a book in a day, and you need six months to write a book, who’s going to win the race?” God this is bleak
The New Fabio Is Claude
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:06 PM
I would never argue all self-publishing is bad, but I realized years ago that Amazon designed KDP for exactly this purpose: to incentivize people to adopt new tech to churn out more slop titles in a clear attack on the publishing industry with little regard for readers or even the writers themselves
Reposted by Nik Gunn
One of the key points I have presented to students is that they have to understand the difference between information & knowledge. Only then can they actually start analysing & making sense of things.
"Data in itself is not knowledge. Even the greatest concentration of data will not on its own bring us closer to getting to know the past. Concentrating data does not write history." I wrote this five years ago and it is more relevant then ever in the age of AI.
academic.oup.com/dsh/article-...
academic.oup.com/dsh/article-...
Facsimile narratives: Researching the past in the age of digital reproduction
Abstract. Taking a cue from the reflections and contributions made by manuscript, archival and historical studies, this paper proposes a new approach to th
academic.oup.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:51 PM
One of the key points I have presented to students is that they have to understand the difference between information & knowledge. Only then can they actually start analysing & making sense of things.
Reposted by Nik Gunn
Jeremy Noel-Tod on RF Langley, a writer I also knew a bit and whose writing has likewise had quite a deep effect on how I think about poetry. I put him on once at a literary festival in Bath, with Tom Raworth. Both poets were paid (in money). Read their poems, & pay the poets when you can.
On the fifteenth anniversary of his death, I wrote about one of my favourite poets, R.F. Langley, who I was lucky enough to know for ten years someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/we-speak-f...
We Speak From Out There
Remembering R.F. Langley, 1938-2011
someflowerssoon.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Jeremy Noel-Tod on RF Langley, a writer I also knew a bit and whose writing has likewise had quite a deep effect on how I think about poetry. I put him on once at a literary festival in Bath, with Tom Raworth. Both poets were paid (in money). Read their poems, & pay the poets when you can.
Reposted by Nik Gunn
Trilingualism in action: Latin book on herbs & their uses gets translation annotations of some head words to French & English
Things I learned: 'haus' (Middle French) is a (rare) plural form of 'allia' (Latin), aka 'garlec' (Middle English)
CCCC MS 438, f. 21v
parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...
Things I learned: 'haus' (Middle French) is a (rare) plural form of 'allia' (Latin), aka 'garlec' (Middle English)
CCCC MS 438, f. 21v
parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...
January 26, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Trilingualism in action: Latin book on herbs & their uses gets translation annotations of some head words to French & English
Things I learned: 'haus' (Middle French) is a (rare) plural form of 'allia' (Latin), aka 'garlec' (Middle English)
CCCC MS 438, f. 21v
parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...
Things I learned: 'haus' (Middle French) is a (rare) plural form of 'allia' (Latin), aka 'garlec' (Middle English)
CCCC MS 438, f. 21v
parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...
Reposted by Nik Gunn
On the fifteenth anniversary of his death, I wrote about one of my favourite poets, R.F. Langley, who I was lucky enough to know for ten years someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/we-speak-f...
We Speak From Out There
Remembering R.F. Langley, 1938-2011
someflowerssoon.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:08 AM
On the fifteenth anniversary of his death, I wrote about one of my favourite poets, R.F. Langley, who I was lucky enough to know for ten years someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/we-speak-f...
Reposted by Nik Gunn
work with me and @drdaveobrien.bsky.social as part of @creativepec.bsky.social! we're recruiting a postdoc to work on the arts, culture and heritage sectors using quantitative methods. please share, please feel free to email me directly with any Qs! jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Sheffiel...
Research Associate in Creative Industries (Quantitative)
Research Associate in Creative Industries (Quantitative)
jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk
January 23, 2026 at 10:25 AM
work with me and @drdaveobrien.bsky.social as part of @creativepec.bsky.social! we're recruiting a postdoc to work on the arts, culture and heritage sectors using quantitative methods. please share, please feel free to email me directly with any Qs! jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Sheffiel...
Reposted by Nik Gunn
Some Old Norse terms for the sea show perceptions of it as an alternate reality. Here are some favourites #medievalsky
The glistening world
The swan plain
The road of eels
The gull’s land
The whale country
The cold island rim
The trembling ground
The field of fish
The ship roads
The glistening world
The swan plain
The road of eels
The gull’s land
The whale country
The cold island rim
The trembling ground
The field of fish
The ship roads
January 24, 2026 at 7:16 AM
Some Old Norse terms for the sea show perceptions of it as an alternate reality. Here are some favourites #medievalsky
The glistening world
The swan plain
The road of eels
The gull’s land
The whale country
The cold island rim
The trembling ground
The field of fish
The ship roads
The glistening world
The swan plain
The road of eels
The gull’s land
The whale country
The cold island rim
The trembling ground
The field of fish
The ship roads
Reposted by Nik Gunn
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
January 21, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
Reposted by Nik Gunn
Inspired by a colleague saying she’d like a lesson on how to read a runic inscription, here’s a lesson!
open.substack.com/pub/jasminhi...
open.substack.com/pub/jasminhi...
January 21, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Inspired by a colleague saying she’d like a lesson on how to read a runic inscription, here’s a lesson!
open.substack.com/pub/jasminhi...
open.substack.com/pub/jasminhi...
Awful news. She leaves an amazing legacy for the field and her work on language and gender will remain a staple of reading lists on the topic a hundred years from now.
Desperately sad news about Deborah Cameron today. She was such a brilliant, incisive presence in the world of linguistics and particularly language and gender. Don't know what else to say but I'm sure there will be many tributes paid to her and her work in the days to come.
January 21, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Awful news. She leaves an amazing legacy for the field and her work on language and gender will remain a staple of reading lists on the topic a hundred years from now.
Reposted by Nik Gunn
I missed that the latest book in the series of critical companions I edit for Palgrave has already reached print, Joseph Rex Young on George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones: link.springer.com/book/10.1007... .
Feel free to pitch us on a potential project if you'd like to write one of your own!
Feel free to pitch us on a potential project if you'd like to write one of your own!
George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones
This book offers insightful analysis of A Game of Thrones, enhancing your understanding of its narrative tension and worldbuilding techniques.
link.springer.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:19 AM
I missed that the latest book in the series of critical companions I edit for Palgrave has already reached print, Joseph Rex Young on George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones: link.springer.com/book/10.1007... .
Feel free to pitch us on a potential project if you'd like to write one of your own!
Feel free to pitch us on a potential project if you'd like to write one of your own!
Reposted by Nik Gunn
I like the cow using a tool story, more international news should be about animals doing things imo
January 21, 2026 at 8:34 AM
I like the cow using a tool story, more international news should be about animals doing things imo
Reposted by Nik Gunn
An interesting volume discussing the work done on the writing tablets of Roman Tongeren (Belgium) available here: doi.org/10.1484/M.ST...
January 21, 2026 at 6:44 AM
An interesting volume discussing the work done on the writing tablets of Roman Tongeren (Belgium) available here: doi.org/10.1484/M.ST...
Reposted by Nik Gunn
It is even worse than it looks
The Old World Order is Dead
Unipolarity was given, not taken
open.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:19 PM
It is even worse than it looks
Reposted by Nik Gunn
The inkless doodles of Eadburg, an 8th-c. nun, discovered by new technology: now published by Jessica Hendy-Hodgkinson in EME doi.org/10.1111/emed... (Open access)
January 19, 2026 at 8:27 AM
The inkless doodles of Eadburg, an 8th-c. nun, discovered by new technology: now published by Jessica Hendy-Hodgkinson in EME doi.org/10.1111/emed... (Open access)
Reposted by Nik Gunn
neolithic guys get pissed if you tell them their cultures are organized by the type of pots and jewelry they made. "we called ourselves the blood hunters" "we conquered villages far beyond this horizon" sorry bud you're the western linear pottery culture now
January 17, 2026 at 2:52 PM
neolithic guys get pissed if you tell them their cultures are organized by the type of pots and jewelry they made. "we called ourselves the blood hunters" "we conquered villages far beyond this horizon" sorry bud you're the western linear pottery culture now
Reposted by Nik Gunn
Some good news, though, if anyone has mislaid medieval Britain.
January 15, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Some good news, though, if anyone has mislaid medieval Britain.
Reposted by Nik Gunn
A rich, thoughtful post about the fine difficulties of translating the Old English poem The Wanderer, including its most famous line. Perfect for a winter night! @nikgunn.bsky.social nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/01/13/b...
Between Philology and Desire, Part 2
On the challenge of translation Last summer, I read a piece by Brian Merchant on how modern AI technology has decimated translation jobs. It featured interviews with a number of translators and mak…
nikolasgunn.co.uk
January 15, 2026 at 8:26 PM
A rich, thoughtful post about the fine difficulties of translating the Old English poem The Wanderer, including its most famous line. Perfect for a winter night! @nikgunn.bsky.social nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/01/13/b...
Reposted by Nik Gunn
Too high to be paid off and too low to actually fund UKHE. Truly the worst of all possible worlds
The single biggest thing (in cost terms) I’ve changed my mind about is UK tuition fees. Dreadful system, need to scrap it.
This is clearly depressing and radicalising in a way a tax wouldn't have been.
January 15, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Too high to be paid off and too low to actually fund UKHE. Truly the worst of all possible worlds
Reposted by Nik Gunn
a lovely, defiant meditation
הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה
הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה
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...
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...
January 14, 2026 at 1:38 PM
a lovely, defiant meditation
הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה
הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה