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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I reviewed Blindboy's theatrical debut last night at the @abbeytheatre.bsky.social for the @irishtimes.com. It's a show of two halves -- plenty of thoughtful comic jizz before the interval. Animals then turns into a loose (plastic) baggy monster. www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...

irishtimes.com

Animals review: Blindboy’s full-scale theatrical debut is a bit of a loose baggy monster

Dublin Theatre Festival 2026: Abbey production has a thoughtful, accomplished first half, but then it loses focus and coherence

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

For the @irishtimes.com, I reviewed Cyclone, ANU's latest dive into Dublin arcana about Billy Warren, an immigrant boxer who became a local character during the first half of the 20c. There are some balletic boxing sequences, but the script lacks muscle. www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...

irishtimes.com

Cyclone review: Who was the real Billy Warren? Was he an IRA gunrunner? The picture is still hazy

Dublin Theatre Festival 2026: Anu’s portrait of the boxer has only a patchy historical record to draw on. It might benefit from more dramatic licence

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

For the @irishtimes.com, I reviewed Radio Bette, a quirky adaptation of All About Eve, which opened the @dublintheatrefest.bsky.social last night at the Gaiety. Featuring a standout performance from Chloe Claudel, the play is even more about Eve than the film. www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...

irishtimes.com

Radio Bette, minus Ruth Negga, opens Dublin Theatre Festival with deadpan drollery

Dublin Theatre Festival 2026: As Bette Davis in All About Eve, Marcus Amaglo has an air of imperious dignity while also bringing out the ageing star’s vulnerability

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Proust n'a jamais été censuré sous Vichy, ni en URSS. Bien que ses livres aient été brûlés dans l'Allemagne nazie, rien n'indique qu'ils y aient été formellement interdits. Or, dans le monde démocratique, il y a eu une exception à cette tolérance quelque peu surprenante: l'Irlande.

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I reviewed Conor McPherson's The Brightening Air at the Gate Theatre for The Irish Times last night. As in his earlier work, there is plenty of engaging offbeat small talk, but the various nods to the supernatural never coalesce into a genuinely haunting spectacle. www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...

irishtimes.com

The Brightening Air review: Kate Gilmore gives a standout performance in Conor McPherson’s play

The supernatural lurks during a strained family reunion, but never coalesces into a haunting spectacle

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Eamon Maher has written a splendid essay about The Irish Proust for the Dublin Review of Books: "The Irish Proust is a gem, having unearthed previously unknown links – or crossings, to use the noun employed in the title – between France and Ireland." drb.ie/article/prou...

drb.ie

Proustian Thoughts from Ireland - Dublin Review of Books %

Proustian Thoughts from Ireland - % Dublin Review of Books

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Reposted by Max McGuinness

Dublin Review of Books @dubreviewofbooks.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Traces of Proust can be found in McGahern’s 'Memoir', which highlights the unreliability of memory, something that forcibly struck McGahern when he consulted his sisters about certain experiences they remembered differently from him. Eamon Maher on Proust's Irish connections. drb.ie/article/prou...

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

I am pleased to announce the publication of the paperback edition of Hustlers in the Ivory: Press and Modernism from Mallarmé to Proust -- currently shortlisted for the @frenchstudies.bsky.social 2025 R. Gapper Prize. Now available from @livunipress.bsky.social at the approachable price of £27.99.

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Praise for The Irish Proust in today's Irish Times: 'The Irish Proust is what Proust would call a “livre de chevet” – a book to keep on a nightstand, to be read slowly and thoughtfully as a strange but enthralling exploration of the unexpected origins of modernism in Ireland.'

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Liverpool University Press @livunipress.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Shortlisted 🎉| 'Hustlers in the Ivory Tower: Press and Modernism from Mallarmé to Proust' by Max McGuinness has been shortlisted for the R. Gapper Book Prize 2025. Congratulations, Max! Learn more about the book here ⬇️ bit.ly/3TQzWJN

Promotional graphic announcing that 'Hustlers in the Ivory Tower: Press and Modernism from Mallarmé to Proust' by Max McGuinness is a 2025 finalist for the R. Gapper Book Prize.

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Praise for The Irish Proust in The Sunday Independent: "Compelling study of the ‘Irishness’ of a French modernist" "A bravura piece of analysis" "The Irish Proust explores these influences with impressive range and intelligence." @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

The Irish Proust had an extremely jolly launch last Thursday at the Hôtel de Breteuil, which has housed the Irish Embassy since the 1950s. It was built by Henri de Breteuil, who inspired one of Proust's characters, Hannibal de Bréauté. @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social @tcddublin.bsky.social

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Liverpool University Press's summer sale is on till 20 July, which means that my (reassuringly?) expensive book is vastly less expensive! Use the discount code 27SUMMER at checkout to get 50% off Hustlers in the Ivory Tower. @livunipress.bsky.social

liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

Hustlers in the Ivory Tower: Press and Modernism from Mallarmé to Proust | Home

Ebook available to libraries as part of

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Maya Kulukundis and I recently went in search of the unmarked, dilapidated grave of Proust’s lover Alfred Agostinelli in Nice, and found it after an hour of pacing the cemetery rows. He drowned nearby in the Baie des Anges at the age of 25 after his plane crashed on 30 May 1914.

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

I will be speaking this weekend at the Dalkey Book Festival on panels about Dostoevsky (on Saturday, June 14th at 12:30pm) and Proust (on Sunday, June 15th at 3.30pm). We will be doing our best to win the All-Ireland Summarize Proust contest. Tickets available at the links below.

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

The Irish Proust is now in production @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social ⁩ Coming to (some) good bookshops this October. #MarcelProust #SamuelBeckett #OscarWilde #ElizabethBowen #MaryDevenportO'Neill #JohnMcGahern #BrendanBehan

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Marianne Faithfull was the last heroine of Sixties subversion. She remained loyal to Baudelairean bohemianism (where others settled into temperature-controlled environments). On lui a donné sa boue et elle en a fait de l’or. 1/

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Max McGuinness @maxmcguinness.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I wrote about how Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Apollinaire, and Proust wrestled with the rise of the press for @aeon.co, concluding with a call to reimagine the codex for the digital era. The essay draws on my recent book for @livunipress.bsky.social, Hustlers in the Ivory Tower: aeon.co/essays/the-f...

aeon.co

The French modernists loathed and loved the mass media of their day | Aeon Essays

How French modernists from Proust to Mallarmé were alarmed and inspired by the voracious dynamism of the newspaper world

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