iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 12h

I'm really enjoying Gibbon's footnotes in Decline and Fall. My favourite so far is this banger about 'camelopardalis'* (aka the giraffe): 'The tallest, the most gentle, and the most useless of the large quadrupeds.' 🦒 Ouch. *Q: Why don't we use the Latin? It's so brilliantly apt because ungainly.

051

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Just out of #SenseAndSensibility. Stick to novels, kids; film adaptations just break your heart 😞

010

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Saving this withering put-down from Austen for my next meeting: 'Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.' — Sense and Sensibility, vol. 2, ch.14

092

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Dr Charlotte Parsonson-Young @charlie-l-y.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

On Saturday 10th October @cromwellorg.bsky.social is holding our annual Study Day, this year in Worcester on the theme of 'Ending the Civil Wars'. All welcome, and tickets are available for both in-person or online attendance. Registration closes 2nd October. #earlymodern #britishcivilwars

01511

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 18/09/2026

As universities are cutting English degree programmes, Colin Burrow isn't the only one asking ‘what’s the point of literary criticism?’ But he has several answers, and in this episode he joins @moonjets.bsky.social to discuss them. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

What’s the point of literary criticism?

Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 18 September · 37min

0116

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

✏️ Mark your diaries! Next month @cemskcl.bsky.social, Kerry Apps, Hannah Dawson, Catharine MacLeod, & ME will be talking about Restoration women, their libertinism, their consumerism, & their contact with the expanding world. Book here & spread the word 🌍 kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/world...

kingsearlymodern.co.uk

Worldly Women at the Court of Charles II: Exile, Excess, and the Expanding World — CEMS KCL Blog

Join CEMS for a conversion on women and the Restoration, featuring Dr. Annalisa Nicholson, Dr. Kerry Apps, Dr. Hannah Dawson, and Catherine MacLeod.

33521

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

becimay @becimay.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My TLS piece on the Exeter cuts ✨

314152

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Stephen Watkins reviews Shakespeare’s Globe’s 2025 production of Troilus and Cressida, directed by Owen Horsley 🎭: www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/tro... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998132 📷: Helen Murray

044

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Starting Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. See you all in 2031 or so! (Unless, you know, we decline and fall ourselves before then...)

010

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Fortuitous cross-over in my reading? I recently finished Martin Amis's Money, in which John Self gets badly caught out by his date: 'Silently but irrefutably I farted in the cab back to her duplex.' Evidently, he'd have benefited from borrowing Rabelais's copy of

Arts honestè fartandi in societate [The Art of Farting Politely in Public], a book in Pantagruel's library. From Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, book 2, chapter 7.

030

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Simon Kővesi @kovesi.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Colin Burrow, defining literary criticism, brilliantly, in the LRB: @lrb.co.uk

In the LRB, Colin Burrow writes:

But to return to the point of it all. Literary criticism is primarily about learning to read very complex creations and situations carefully. That requires a willingness to think and rethink, to take a thought and run with it until it either ceases to be viable or (ideally) generates its own internal impetus. It requires accepting that sometimes you get it wrong and that sometimes other people get it wrong. It makes you pull together a whole range of messy human bits and pieces, from autobiography to philology to counting lines and underlining letters and seeing almost invisible patterns, through histories of individuals and of peoples. All of this can go towards understanding the way a poem might cohere or interestingly not cohere. You’ve got to be bold sometimes in pushing a point and sometimes you’ve got to be humble about things you can’t see or haven’t seen. There’s a dash of politics, or more than a dash if you want that, and there could be a dash of religion too, if that’s your thing. But there has to be a great measure of self-awareness, about where you stand or sit or the corners into which you have been pushed by where you come from. Literary criticism is a supremely occasional skill, where you have to be bold enough to operate where there aren’t any clear rules and make up your own, and decide for yourself what you think, and maybe set that beside what other cleverer people have thought. Someone else might come along and see it differently, but if you’ve made them argue with you then you’ve done something worthwhile. If that doesn’t have a point to it, just in itself, then probably living doesn’t have a point to it either, because making ad hoc judgments on the basis of a mosaic of information and misinformation about people and about what you should say on a particular occasion, even a difficult one, is what we all need to do every day. Literary criticism is like the mess of life, an exercise in tact and understanding.

23120

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Apropos of nothing really: my god, I miss teaching😞.

250

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Catching up with mon cher ami this weekend. It's been a while.

A copy of François Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, translated by Thomas Urquhart and Pierre Le Motteux.

130

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

RILCH at LJMU @rilch-ljmu.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

#CfP: “Stuart Drama” conference, 6-9 July 2027, @ljmuofficial.bsky.social. Abstracts by 2 October 2026 #Skystorians #EarlyModernEvents stuartdrama.com

Text: “Stuart Drama”, surrounded by a host of seventeenth-century playwrights.

02318

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Real back-to-school feel, as we return to #choir rehearsals this week at #Colchester #Choral Society. This season, we have fantastic programmes of #Britten, #Bach and more. Do join us if you're able: info and tickets available at colchesterchoralsociety.co.uk/concerts/

Concert programme information for Colchester Choral Society's 2026/27 season, starting with a Benjamin Britten anniversary concert on 14 November at St Botolph's Church at 7.30pm.

010

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Had a great day visiting Benjamin Britten's house (The Red House) and concert hall (Snape Maltings) in Aldeburgh, Suffolk today. The exhibition at the house was particularly good: highly recommended for know-alls and know-nothings alike. The weather was suitably atmospheric - Grime-y - too...

020

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

‘Even prestigious Russell Group institutions like Exeter are not safe: it has recently announced hundreds of job cuts that fall disproportionately on the humanities, with English set to lose 25 percent of its staff.’ Isabel Armstrong excellent on the value of English tribunemag.co.uk/2026/08/savi...

tribunemag.co.uk

Saving English

The government’s drive for ‘vocational’ education is accelerating the death of the humanities, at a time when the study of literature is more vital than ever.

1137

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

This scrap fell out of my new/old Wagner. From the review of Jennie Tourel's performance as Carmen at the City Centre Opera Company, I date it to Feb 1944, which is corroborated by a reference to Operation Hailstorm (17-18 Feb 1944) on the reverse. Can anyone suggest which NY paper this is?

242

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Excited by this new arrival: Librettos of Wagner Operas (1938), parallel-text, with 'principal airs'. I know what I'm doing for the rest of the week! 🎼🎶🎭

Page of Tristan and Isolde, with musical motif.

020

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I remember our choir master, years ago, warning us in rehearsals that we'd fight against the Berlioz Requiem but that a moment would come when we'd all fall hook, line, and sinker for it. He was absolutely right. It was the Lacrimosa that did for me. Truly awesome. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms, 2026, Pappano Conducts Berlioz’s ‘Requiem’

Live at the BBC Proms: London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano.

100

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

UK HE is like the Cheshire Cat: slowly (actually, rapidly) disappearing, bit by bit, until, eventually, only the self-satisfied grin of a ProVC Dean of Better for Nothing will be left. What a tea-party that will be. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

030

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Will certainly give this a listen later. My dad used to play Jeff Wayne's 1978 version, with Richard Burton narrating, on long car journeys. It was terrifying, but oh so good: 'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one... but still they come!' 👽🛸

020

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Currently reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, which, I'm pretty sure isn't as old as everyone thinks, mainly because it was clearly written by Samuel Beckett.

A fragmented section from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

020

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Probably, on reflection, my favourite play. Can't wait!

010

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Restoration: Studies in Literature and Culture, 1660-1700 @restorationjournal.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Have you checked out the newest issue of Restoration yet? Restoration 49.2 is available open access on Project MUSE! muse.jhu.edu/issue/55568

muse.jhu.edu

Project MUSE - Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660-1700-Volume 49, Number 2, Fall 2025

077

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Really excellent, except this (hilarious, perfectly pitched) description of the feeble husband of the woman our protagonist is having an 'affair' with. Feels a little too... me 😬😅

An except for Black Bag: 'A Dryden scholar with a favourite crystal whisky tumbler, mild mannered and a little bewildered but get him started on academia in the twenty-first century and he'd start rattling.'

011

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Finally getting to Luke Kennard's #BlackBag, which is so brilliant already and I'm only a few chapters in.

Front cover of Luke Kennard's novel, Black Bag.

020

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Saw The Odyssey today, which I thought was brilliant in so many ways. Unlike everybody else on the planet, however, I won't be elaborating on a substack or in the national press.

040

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

A young vixen has taken to sleeping in our garden during the day. We have to be extra quiet in the kitchen; the slightest noise wakes her up and then she skedaddles. Cunning little vixen, she certainly is not, just very sweet. #wildlife

270

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 04/07/2026

‘Despite not securing the succession, despite being Catholic, Catherine managed to be perceived as an ideal consort. Royal wives were – and are – loved or loathed according to values that remain spectacularly unchanged.’ @alicehunt.bsky.social on Charles II’s wife. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Alice Hunt · Honourable Chains: Catherine of Braganza

Despite not securing the succession, despite being Catholic, Catherine, queen of Great Britain from 1662 until Charles...

0178

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Very excited to hear that our panel on Restoration and 18th-century adaptations of Shakespeare's early comedies has been accepted for ESRA next year in Bangor. 🤣 I'm joining Lisanna Calvi (Verona) and Filip Krajník (Masaryk) to talk about recurrence in adaptations of 'As You Like It' and Falstaff.

040

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 18/06/2026

You can read all pieces by and about Carlo Ginzburg from the 𝘓𝘙𝘉 archive here: www.lrb.co.uk/contributors...

lrb.co.uk

Carlo Ginzburg

085

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

My review of Deborah Payne's new book, 'The Business of the English Restoration Theatre' (2024) is out now in the latest issue of @restorationjournal.bsky.social! muse.jhu.edu/pub/298/arti...

011

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Lucas, along with George Lisle, was shot in Colchester's Castle Park on Fairfax's order, after surrendering in August 1648. There's a memorial on the site today. John Milton celebrated Fairfax's conduct of the siege, writing that 'Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings / Victory home...'

Memorial for the 1648 siege of Colchester, commemorating Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, shot by order of Sir Thomas Fairfax.

174

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

While nobody wants an academic Restorationist anymore (2 rejections this week, and counting), the late 17th-century has so much to offer us today. Enjoy this compilation of music, poetry, and prose relating to post-1660 England here! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 3 - Words and Music, Restoration England

Poetry, prose and play speeches from Charles II's England alongside music evoking the era.

031

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Alice Hunt @alicehunt.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Yes! So would I! Move over Tudors, it’s time for the 17th century now.

0133

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Next month (20 June), #Colchester Choral Society performs G&S's Iolanthe. I'm singing Strephon, a fairy from the waste up and mortal from the waste down. He's in love with a shepherdess, ward to a Lord. Parliament gets involved. It's a riot. Come along! colchesterchoralsociety.co.uk/etn/gilbert-...

Concert Poster of Colchester Choral Society's concert: Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe.

021

Reposted by Stephen Watkins

Guildhall Library @guildhalllibrary.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Drury Lane Theatre opened #onthisday in 1663 and the current building was built 1812. A Grade 1 listed building in Covent Garden hosting plays ever since. Interior view is from Rudolph Ackerman's 'Microcosm of London' 1808-11 (AN 20.1.5).

1125

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

A 'gift to scholars, students, and practitioners who wish to champion performance as a worthwhile research praxis in its own right'. Lovely review of Performing Restoration Shakespeare by Katie Adkison @richardschoch.bsky.social & @awinkler90.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1017/...

journals.uchicago.edu

Performing Restoration Shakespeare. Amanda Eubanks Winkler, Claude Fretz, and Richard Schoch, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. xxiv + 220 pp. £88. | Renaissance Quarterly: Vol 78, No ...

150

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

This is great. It's actually Charles I's mum-in-law, Marie, arriving in 1639. The original is from Histoire de l'entree de la reyne mere... dans la Grande-Bretaigne (1639). Apparently she was received with 'mille acclamations de joye & de contentement', which sounds nice. archive.org/details/lent...

140

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

How many of us have benefited from Pete's generous, insightful, and fulsome reviews over the years, both in our teaching and research? Incredible stuff. 👏

1113

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Happy @alcs.co.uk Day to all who celebrate! £130 for me this year. Unfortunately, this will have to go on fixing the oven, which has just broken, rather than something more fun... 😅

151

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

I've been looking forward to this for a long time. See you in 6(ish) hours... 🐉

060

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

'Shakespeare and the Restoration Repertory shows how Shakespeare contributed to one of the most vibrant and innovative chapters of English theatre culture not as an isolated entity, but as a productive part of a much more diverse repertory.' Nice review of my book 😊 hdl.handle.net/11222.digili...

hdl.handle.net

192

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Just picked this up from the library. Always enjoy @joemoransblog.bsky.social's stuff, and this is no exception. '[T]o have failed, to have plumbed the depths and know that one cannot fall further, is not so bad.' Fail better, indeed.

Book cover: Joe Moran'd 'If you should fail'

140

Stephen Watkins @drawcansir.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Back after a long break. I've been struggling to adjust to my new non-academic life and needed some time to figure out what that looks like for me. But I miss hearing about the fantastic stuff everyone's doing, despite the HE bin-fire. So I'm here again, and looking forward to (re)connecting 🙂

4180