Bernard T. Joy
@bernardtjoy.bsky.social
PhD from University of Glasgow. Literature, US culture/Southern US culture, William Faulkner, modernist studies, philosophy, visual art, genre fiction.
Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds you lay on,
but also those desires that glowed openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembled for you in the voices—
—Constantine P. Cavafy
not only the beds you lay on,
but also those desires that glowed openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembled for you in the voices—
—Constantine P. Cavafy
September 12, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds you lay on,
but also those desires that glowed openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembled for you in the voices—
—Constantine P. Cavafy
not only the beds you lay on,
but also those desires that glowed openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembled for you in the voices—
—Constantine P. Cavafy
Political violence is a kind of rot that sets in when those values by which we live together as cultures and as people die off. Sad beyond telling to see it in such clear ascendancy.
September 10, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Political violence is a kind of rot that sets in when those values by which we live together as cultures and as people die off. Sad beyond telling to see it in such clear ascendancy.
Was very happy to write this review for The Faulkner Journal.
On the excellent edited collection Digitizing Faulkner: Yoknapatawpha in the Twenty-First Century.
On the excellent edited collection Digitizing Faulkner: Yoknapatawpha in the Twenty-First Century.
September 6, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Was very happy to write this review for The Faulkner Journal.
On the excellent edited collection Digitizing Faulkner: Yoknapatawpha in the Twenty-First Century.
On the excellent edited collection Digitizing Faulkner: Yoknapatawpha in the Twenty-First Century.
Check out the mammoth, 5-hour discussion I had recently w/ Glen Rockney over at Rare Candy Podcast on Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow!
So much fun. So much covered.
Links to parts 1, 2, and 3:
open.spotify.com/episode/6fet...
open.spotify.com/episode/4roY...
open.spotify.com/episode/4GvS...
So much fun. So much covered.
Links to parts 1, 2, and 3:
open.spotify.com/episode/6fet...
open.spotify.com/episode/4roY...
open.spotify.com/episode/4GvS...
Gravity's Rainbow pt. 1 w/ Bernard T. Joy
open.spotify.com
August 18, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Check out the mammoth, 5-hour discussion I had recently w/ Glen Rockney over at Rare Candy Podcast on Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow!
So much fun. So much covered.
Links to parts 1, 2, and 3:
open.spotify.com/episode/6fet...
open.spotify.com/episode/4roY...
open.spotify.com/episode/4GvS...
So much fun. So much covered.
Links to parts 1, 2, and 3:
open.spotify.com/episode/6fet...
open.spotify.com/episode/4roY...
open.spotify.com/episode/4GvS...
It was my first day of my 13th year of teaching today.
Unlucky for some.
Unlucky for some.
August 14, 2025 at 8:16 PM
It was my first day of my 13th year of teaching today.
Unlucky for some.
Unlucky for some.
In just a few hours I'm starting my journey to Mississippi where I'll be speaking at the 51st annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, 'Faulkner's Bodies'.
I've been looking forward to this one. There is so much to say about Faulkner, phenomenology, and the body.
I've been looking forward to this one. There is so much to say about Faulkner, phenomenology, and the body.
July 17, 2025 at 9:38 PM
In just a few hours I'm starting my journey to Mississippi where I'll be speaking at the 51st annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, 'Faulkner's Bodies'.
I've been looking forward to this one. There is so much to say about Faulkner, phenomenology, and the body.
I've been looking forward to this one. There is so much to say about Faulkner, phenomenology, and the body.
Sometimes you just need to see the conference programme before you really start to get enthusiastic.
July 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Sometimes you just need to see the conference programme before you really start to get enthusiastic.
The thousand times that he had proved it meant nothing. Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it.
—Ernest Hemingway
—Ernest Hemingway
July 1, 2025 at 2:17 AM
The thousand times that he had proved it meant nothing. Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it.
—Ernest Hemingway
—Ernest Hemingway
You have to inject yourself with fantasy every day so you don't die of reality.
—Ray Bradbury
—Ray Bradbury
June 29, 2025 at 1:47 AM
You have to inject yourself with fantasy every day so you don't die of reality.
—Ray Bradbury
—Ray Bradbury
On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree
—W. S. Merwin
I would want to plant a tree
—W. S. Merwin
June 21, 2025 at 8:57 PM
On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree
—W. S. Merwin
I would want to plant a tree
—W. S. Merwin
An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.
—Aldous Huxley
—Aldous Huxley
June 16, 2025 at 8:23 AM
An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.
—Aldous Huxley
—Aldous Huxley
Me talking about Faulkner and Cézanne, in Boston last month. Courtesy of a friend of mine.
Good times!
Good times!
June 9, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Me talking about Faulkner and Cézanne, in Boston last month. Courtesy of a friend of mine.
Good times!
Good times!
Always a good night when you receive proofs from The Faulkner Journal.
May 29, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Always a good night when you receive proofs from The Faulkner Journal.
Come, come.
Even if you have broken your vow.
Even a thousand times.
—Rumi
Even if you have broken your vow.
Even a thousand times.
—Rumi
May 16, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Come, come.
Even if you have broken your vow.
Even a thousand times.
—Rumi
Even if you have broken your vow.
Even a thousand times.
—Rumi
Please join us via Zoom on May 10th and May 11th, 2025, for the 8th Faulkner Studies in the UK Colloquium celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Faulkner's early writing.
I will be speaking on Faulkner and Merleau-Ponty.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
I will be speaking on Faulkner and Merleau-Ponty.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
Under the Red, White, and Blue: Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and America
The 8th Faulkner Studies in the UK Colloquium celebrates the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Faulkner's early writing
www.eventbrite.co.uk
April 30, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Please join us via Zoom on May 10th and May 11th, 2025, for the 8th Faulkner Studies in the UK Colloquium celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Faulkner's early writing.
I will be speaking on Faulkner and Merleau-Ponty.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
I will be speaking on Faulkner and Merleau-Ponty.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
Art is not construction, artifice, meticulous relationship to a space and a world existing outside. It is truly the "inarticulate cry,” as Hermes Trismegistus said, "which seemed to be the voice of the light."
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty
March 29, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Art is not construction, artifice, meticulous relationship to a space and a world existing outside. It is truly the "inarticulate cry,” as Hermes Trismegistus said, "which seemed to be the voice of the light."
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Registration is now open for "Under the Red, White, and Blue: Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and America"!
Come along and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and listen to me chat about Faulkner and phenomenology.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
Come along and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and listen to me chat about Faulkner and phenomenology.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
March 25, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Registration is now open for "Under the Red, White, and Blue: Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and America"!
Come along and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and listen to me chat about Faulkner and phenomenology.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
Come along and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and listen to me chat about Faulkner and phenomenology.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/under-the-...
Any conference whatsoever (let alone the famous Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha!) that uses this image on their poster is okay in my book.
I think, judging by initial signs, we're all going to have a blast at the end of July!
I think, judging by initial signs, we're all going to have a blast at the end of July!
March 23, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Any conference whatsoever (let alone the famous Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha!) that uses this image on their poster is okay in my book.
I think, judging by initial signs, we're all going to have a blast at the end of July!
I think, judging by initial signs, we're all going to have a blast at the end of July!
I'm thrilled to learn that, in May, I'll be speaking at the 8th annual Faulkner Studies in the UK Colloquium "Under the Red, White, and Blue: Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and America"!
I will be talking about two of Faulkner's most memorable characters: Benjy Compson & Darl Bundren.
I will be talking about two of Faulkner's most memorable characters: Benjy Compson & Darl Bundren.
March 18, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I'm thrilled to learn that, in May, I'll be speaking at the 8th annual Faulkner Studies in the UK Colloquium "Under the Red, White, and Blue: Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and America"!
I will be talking about two of Faulkner's most memorable characters: Benjy Compson & Darl Bundren.
I will be talking about two of Faulkner's most memorable characters: Benjy Compson & Darl Bundren.
Wake up little butterfly—
it's late, we have miles
to go together.
—Matsuo Bashō
it's late, we have miles
to go together.
—Matsuo Bashō
March 15, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Wake up little butterfly—
it's late, we have miles
to go together.
—Matsuo Bashō
it's late, we have miles
to go together.
—Matsuo Bashō
The secret of success seems to be that it doesn't matter where you are now; it matters where you are by tomorrow.
Sadly, this does not also seem to be the secret of contentment.
Sadly, this does not also seem to be the secret of contentment.
March 12, 2025 at 11:33 PM
The secret of success seems to be that it doesn't matter where you are now; it matters where you are by tomorrow.
Sadly, this does not also seem to be the secret of contentment.
Sadly, this does not also seem to be the secret of contentment.
I am delighted to learn that I will be travelling to Mississippi in July to speak at 2025's Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha conference, "Faulkner's Bodies," on Merleau-Pontian embodiment and the truly outstanding novel Absalom, Absalom!
I can't wait!
I can't wait!
March 6, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I am delighted to learn that I will be travelling to Mississippi in July to speak at 2025's Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha conference, "Faulkner's Bodies," on Merleau-Pontian embodiment and the truly outstanding novel Absalom, Absalom!
I can't wait!
I can't wait!
A little silent prayer goes out to all those of you who write avidly and hard but who also have day jobs and find the writing magic only really ignites when it's already time to sleep for work.
May you be reincarnated as Marcel Proust.
May you be reincarnated as Marcel Proust.
March 5, 2025 at 11:52 PM
A little silent prayer goes out to all those of you who write avidly and hard but who also have day jobs and find the writing magic only really ignites when it's already time to sleep for work.
May you be reincarnated as Marcel Proust.
May you be reincarnated as Marcel Proust.
