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Get the latest from our columnists here. There is something for everyone, with topics ranging from French cinema to Lusophone culture, and from dead languages to the Sanremo Music Festival.
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Does Michel Houellebecq Still Matter? Part II: The H.P. Lovecraft biography
In this article, Geordie Cheetham looks at Houellebecq’s first published work, a biography of the American author H. P. Lovecraft. How does disgust with the modern world become a fitting object of literary study, when Houellebecq approvingly cites Lovecraft’s disdain for all forms of realism? And what does a corpse surrounded by shopping trolleys Nouvelles Galeries have to do with it?
Where Love Lies I: The West’s Affair with the Exotic.
We are told that love is a primal force: innate, ahistorical, transcendental and above society. But how can something be truly innate if it is a concept that exists within the act of telling? CLC Columnist Mila Edensor explores such intriguing questions in this excellent analysis of early modern Portuguese poetry. From the unrequited love of men in the late 1500s, to the ‘passport bro’ of today, Edensor skilfully explores what this obscure poetry can mean for us today.
Does Michel Houellebecq still matter? Part I: Setting the scene
In this intriguing column, CLC Columnist Geordie Cheetham expertly explores the man behind some of France’s most popular tales of anomie and despair: Michel Houellebecq.
Bas(qu)ing in difference: the Beauty of the Basque identity II: Pin(tx)ch me, a life changing food experience
In this entertaining excursion of an article, CLC columnist Freya John takes us on a culinary tour of Bilbao as she recounts her love affair with the ‘incredible, edible, small delights: pintxos.’
Bas(qu)ing in Difference: the Beauty of the Basque Identity I: The Enigma of Euskera
In the first instalment of her column, European columnist Freya John explores the mystery of Euskera, the language of the Basque Country. From its linguistic background, to its sociopolitical significance, John offers an insightful overview of this minor language.
The Berlin Bulletin 2: Going “Bezirk”
In this new installment of the Berlin Bulletin, European columnist Sophie Clare takes us on a tour of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. From stadiums, to Savignyplatz, parks and palaces, and even David Bowie’s regular haunt, she covers it all in this gentle tour of just one Berlin district.
Cairo Chronicles IV: The Desert Dichotomy
Living in Cairo during her year abroad, Staff Writer Daisy Wright has seen first-hand how the Egyptian state is attempting to reclaim the desert through the construction of dystopian satellite cities. In this column she explores what that means for the future of Egyptian society.
Germanistik II: In search of the female writer… along the shelves of the bookshop
Through her insightful comparison of Fontane’s Effie Briest with Gabriele Reuter’s Aus guter Familie, German columnist Maddie Hazelden traces both the shelves of a bookshop and the history of literature in this intriguing critique of German literary practices.
Beyond Brave Little Blighty II: The Truth
In the second instalment of her column, Sofia Johanson comments on two films that deal with the near-impossible task of publicising what was going on in the concentration camps during the war.
Berlin Bulletin I: Berlin off the Beaten Track
In the first instalment of her column Berlin Bulletin, German columnist Sophie Clare begins to share the hidden sides of Germany’s capital. In her exhilarating account, Sophie takes us on a tour of Berlin’s history through the exciting story of Formula E at the world-famous Tempelhof air field.
Beyond Brave Little Blighty I: Occupation
In her first instalment of her column ‘Beyond Brave Little Blighty’, REECA editor Sofia Johanson considers filmic representations of Nazi occupation in Eastern and Western Europe, through the lens of Dutch and Polish examples.
Cairo Chronicles III: Reflections on Ramadan
With the open eyes of someone living in a majority Muslim country for the first time in her life, Daisy Wright reflects on the way the holy month of Ramadan changes the city which she lives in.
Cairo Chronicles II: Egypt’s Environmentalism
In the second instalment of her column, written on her Year Abroad, Daisy Wright gives her take on the debate about environmentalism in the Egyptian context.
Germanistik: In search of the female writer… Part I: Through the endless corridors of the (Bonn) Universität
In this first article of her column, Germanistik: In search of the female writer, Maddie Hazelden critically explores the inequality in gender representation in the Germanistik curriculum at the University of Bonn.
Secrets of the Steppe VII: The Wild East
Eve Mayes returns to her Year Abroad column to educate us on some of the myths and truths that dominate Kazakh culture and identity.
What’s App in Italian Linguistics III - General extenders
In her third installment of ‘What’s App in Italian Linguistics’, Rebecca Gatti explores how simple Italian words have changed in meaning when used while texting
Exploring the Epics II - The Epic of Gilgamesh: new and ancient forms
In her second column on the epics, Hanna Simojoki shares a nuanced insight into the history and rediscovery of what is thought to be the world’s oldest literary masterpiece
Secrets of the Steppe VI: The Fine Art of McDonald’s
In her sixth instalment for the CLC, Eve Mayes tells us about the contemporary artist Alpysbai Kazgulov, who blends together past and present forms of Kazakh life in enthralling compositions. And, he let her interview him for her YAP!
Inside the Literary Salon I: the Female Voice of the French Renaissance
Columnist Martha Leggett discusses the legacy left by female-only salons in French literary culture.
Columns by Title and Category
- A Day in the Life
- Across Borders and Senses
- Bas(qu)ing in difference: the Beauty of the Basque identity
- Berlin Bulletin
- Between Wars, Between Identities
- Beyond Brave Little Blighty
- Bing and Bao - A Culinary Diary in Taipei
- Cairo Chronicles
- Continental Cambridge
- Deformation as Reformation
- Dialogues with the Dead
- Does Michel Houellebecq still matter?
- East Asia
- Egyptian Soul
- Epilogue to a Travel Blog
- Europe
- Exploring the Epics
- Film Across Borders
- Flâneur bops and flops
- French
- German
- Germanistik: In search of the female writer...
- Germanistik: In search of the female writer…
- Iberia
- Immersion
- Intimate Transgressions
- Italian
- La Femme Française
- Las ideas no se matan: reflexiones sobre la literatura latinoamericana
- Le Nouveau Raz-de-Marée
- Linguistics
- Lockdown alla Veneziana
- Los Niños de la Guerra
- Lusophone Considerations
- Middle East and Africa
- Modern Fiction in Translation
- More than Music
- Musings on Benjamin and Berlin
- Opinion
- Parisistible
- Perché Sanremo è Sanremo
- Portuguese
- Postcards from Vienna
- Representation in British Sign Language
- Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia
- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
- Secrets of the Steppe
- South America
- Spanish
- The French Dispatch