Josh Mcloughlin
drjoshmcloughlin.bsky.social
Josh Mcloughlin
@drjoshmcloughlin.bsky.social
Writer, editor and scholar ⁍ PhD in early modern literature from UCL ⁍ Words: The Fence, New Statesman, Prospect, The Times, Engelsberg Ideas, The London Magazine &c ⁍ Editor: New Critique ⁍ London via Merseyside
Reposted by Josh Mcloughlin
From Taxi Driver to Shoplifters, cinema peels back the postcard propaganda to reveal the truth about our cities.

Me, for @dmovies.bsky.social :

dmovies.org/2025/02/25/b...
Beyond the urban mask: 10 dirty movies that shred urban stereotypes
James Mcloughlin digs through the history of cinema and discusses the films that reveal the dirty facets of world cities such as London, Rio, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Naples, Liverpool, and more!
dmovies.org
February 25, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Another great piece by @jamesamcloughlin.bsky.social - the first in a new series analysing the opening acts of screenplays, building on Jim’s excellent First Pages series
Setting the stage for a battle between faith and desperation.

Jimmy McGovern's masterclass in setting up a six-parter...

My latest:

open.substack.com/pub/thelines...
First Acts: Broken - Episode 1
A battle between faith and desperation gets underway
open.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Josh Mcloughlin
For centuries, ars moriendi depicted death, suicide—and what comes after. As MPs consider legalising assisted dying, they would be wise to look back at a long tradition, writes @drjoshmcloughlin.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...
The art of death
For centuries, ars moriendi depicted death, suicide—and what comes after. As MPs consider legalising assisted dying, they would be wise to look back a...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
January 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I really loved writing this for @Engelsbergideas.bsky.social
on chorography, feat. Ptolemy, Ranulf Higden, William Camden, Spenser, Shakespeare, John Stow, William Blake, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Nicolas Bouvier, Paul Devereux, Iain Sinclair, Mark Cocker & more engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-l...
The lost art of chorography
Chorography is one of English literature’s most eccentric and mercurial forms, mixing antiquarianism, history, poetry, and geography into a patriotic paean to the land and its people.
engelsbergideas.com
January 16, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Josh Mcloughlin
For centuries, ars moriendi depicted death, suicide—and what comes after. As MPs consider legalising assisted dying, they would be wise to look back at a long tradition, writes @drjoshmcloughlin.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...
The art of death
For centuries, ars moriendi depicted death, suicide—and what comes after. As MPs consider legalising assisted dying, they would be wise to look back a...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
January 12, 2025 at 4:36 PM
For @prospectmagazine.co.uk’s Good Death series, I wrote about ars moriendi, the art of death & assisted dying, feat. Plato, Henry Suso, the Black Death, Hamlet, Keats, Burke, Hume, Tagore, Derrida, physician associates, a privatised NHS & for-profit dying www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/a-good...
The art of death
For centuries, ars moriendi depicted death, suicide—and what comes after. As MPs consider legalising assisted dying, they would be wise to look back a...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
January 2, 2025 at 6:57 PM
2024 round up so I don't forget everything and can tell my Nana what I've been doing over Christmas dinner, feat:
- Becoming a Dr
- Pieces for @thefence.bsky.social, @engelsbergideas.bsky.social, @prospectmagazine.co.uk, Perspective Magazine, Whitehot Magazine, and MediaCat Magazine
December 23, 2024 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Josh Mcloughlin
We're currently on 1,702 new subscribers for the year. Help us summit Mount Sub:

the-fence.com/shop/
December 13, 2024 at 3:49 PM
It’s John Milton’s birthday.
For @engelsbergideas.bsky.social, I wrote about Paradise Lost's 'boundless Continent' of blank verse, Milton's beef with 'jingling', English prosody, Campion v Daniel, Dryden rewriting Milton, & Marvell's Dryden diss

engelsbergideas.com/essays/parad...
Poetry, prose and the battle for Paradise Lost
When first published, John Milton's Paradise Lost ignited criticism and controversy for its lack of rhyming poetry and it became part of a battle for the soul of English literature in the 17th century...
engelsbergideas.com
December 9, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Long shot but does anyone here like books? Or libraries? How about IMAGINARY books and libraries? For @engelsbergideas.bsky.social, I wrote about lost and invented libraries, the Bible, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, Marlowe, Shakespeare and Donne, Borges, Márquez, Harry Potter and Star Wars
The curious history of imaginary libraries
Just as potent as the libraries that once existed are the libraries that never did. The imaginary library has never ceased to enthral poets, prelates, politicians and pranksters.
engelsbergideas.com
December 4, 2024 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Josh Mcloughlin

One of the best articles we've ever published, in which @roisinlanigan.bsky.social examines her own marriage, and the myth of the 'chic young divorcée'.

www.the-fence.com/the-chic-you...
The Chic Young Divorcée
Personal essays can often be undignified.
www.the-fence.com
November 27, 2024 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Josh Mcloughlin
Gangster films that rein in spectacle and opt for stillness can build menace and leave a lasting impact.

Me on Takeshi Kitano and the ‘Cinema of Presence’

#film #writing #takeshi

open.substack.com/pub/thelines...
The Cinema of Presence
Stillness Reigns in the Films of Beat Takeshi
open.substack.com
November 25, 2024 at 8:13 AM
I agree audiobooks ‘count’ as a way of consuming texts but listening ≠ reading. Reading drama ≠ ‘hearing’ a play (as they said in Shakespeare’s time). I’m not saying one is better than the other, just that they’re completely different ways of experiencing and engaging with texts and language.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
November 23, 2024 at 10:24 AM