糖心TV

Research

Contemporary French literature

I am the author of on the controversial French novelist Michel Houellebecq and have also published several articles and reviewed or examined countless academic articles, book manuscripts and doctoral theses on Houellebecq's work.

Building on this research, I am now developing work on 'toxic masculinity' in contemporary French literature with a particular focus on the generation of 1968, especially Philippe Sollers, Serge Doubrovsky and Gabriel Matzneff.

French cinema

I have published extensively on the cinema of the French New Wave, in particular , and the . I have also written repeatedly about Claire Denis and have an article currently in print on Denis's work with stars. My interest in film stars, film acting and the direction of actors is long-standing and on-going and I have recently written about the midlife roles of Juliette Binoche.

Masculinities

With from the University of Bristol, I am co-organising a research network dedicated to the study of masculinities in contemporary France. With colleagues from the UK, the USA and France, this project seeks to explore the changing articulations, representations and challenges of masculinity in French culture and society in the twenty-first century.

Neoliberalism and cultural critique

With Professor Oliver DavisLink opens in a new window, I am co-organising a day symposium dedicated to , its critique of France's pandemic response and its broader challenge to the tyranny of neoliberal consensus. This event is intended to feed into a broader project examining the specificity of the French critical response to neoliberalism, with particular focus on public health policy.

Teaching and supervision

I specialise in teaching French cinema and contemporary French literature.

I also teach final-year French translation classes.

I have supervised Masters and PhD-level work on both French cinema and contemporary French writing and am happy to receive expressions of interest for future projects in these areas. Current and past doctoral projects under my supervision have included: French horror cinema; single-parent families in French cinema; representation and critique of neoliberalism in contemporary French literature; violence and vulnerability in contemporary queer French fiction; the postcolonial and the post-industrial in contemporary French literature; the novels of Jean-Philippe Toussaint.

Publications

Books

• The Legacy of the New Wave in French Cinema, New York: Bloomsbury, 2019.

• Michel Houellebecq: Humanity and its Aftermath, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2013.
• Jacques Rivette, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009. Co-authored with Alison Smith.
• Jean-Luc Godard, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005.

Articles and book chapters

• 鈥�Manifeste conspirationniste, Parti imaginaire, Comit茅 invisible : A genealogy of radical critique in contemporary France,鈥� 33.2 (2025): 209-224.

• 'The Ageing, the Immature and the Ageless: Juliette Binoche's midlife roles since 2010,' 25.3 (2025: 234-252).

• 鈥榁anessa Springora, Gabriel Matzneff and the Problem of Consent鈥�, Nottingham French Studies 61.3 (2022): 240-55.

• 鈥楩rom Confusion to Conversion: Listening to the Narrative Voice of Michel Houellebecq鈥檚 Submission鈥�, Poetics Today 41:3 (2020): 347-367.

• 鈥樷�淟a Nouvelle Vague, elle t鈥檈mm---!鈥�: Louis Malle, Zazie dans le m茅tro and the French New Wave鈥�, Modern & Contemporary France 27.4 (2019): 493-503.

• 鈥楾he Forest for the Trees: Political Contexts for Godard鈥檚 Nature Imagery in Film socialisme and Adieu au langage鈥�, Studies in French Cinema 19.1 (2019): 55-68.

• 'The Banality of Monstrosity: On Michel Houellebecq's Soumission', Australian Journal of French Studies 55:2 (2018): 202-217.
• 'The rough and the smooth: Narrative, character and performance in Fingers (1978) and De battre mon coeur s'est arr锚t茅 (2005)', Studies in French Cinema 16.3 (2016).

• 鈥楥laire Denis鈥�, 鈥楩ilm鈥� and 鈥楢bbas Kiarostami鈥�, entries in The Nancy Dictionary, ed. by Peter Gratton and Marie-Eve Morin, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015.

• 'The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret: Jacques Rivette's Film Criticism for Arts', Film Criticism 39: 1 (2014), pp. 51-66.
• 鈥楽tillness and Slowness in the Work of Michel Houellebecq鈥�, Irish Journal of French Studies 14 (2014), pp. 1-22.
• 鈥楯ean-Luc Godard, Christophe Honor茅 and the Legacy of the New Wave in French Cinema鈥�, in Douglas Morrey, Christina Stojanova and Nicole C么t茅 (eds), The Legacies of Jean-Luc Godard (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2014), pp. 3-14.
• 'Le Creux de la vague: Authorship, Adaptation and Sexuality in Les Godelureaux (1961)', Modern & Contemporary France 21:4 (2013), pp. 419-34.
• 鈥楾o Describe a Labyrinth: Dialectics in Jacques Rivette鈥檚 Film Theory and Film Practice鈥�, Film-Philosophy 16:1 (2012), pp. 30-54.
• 鈥楴atural and Anti-Natural Evolution: Genetics and Schizophrenia in Maurice G. Dantec鈥檚 Babylon Babies鈥�, L鈥橢sprit cr茅ateur, 52: 2 (2012), pp. 114-26.
• 鈥楬ouellebecq, Genetics and Evolutionary Psychology鈥�, in Simon James and Nicholas Saul (eds), The Evolution of Literature: Legacies of Darwin in European Cultures (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011), pp. 227-38.

• 鈥楶erfect Crime, Absolute Evil: In the Vortex with Baudrillard and Dantec鈥�, Cultural Politics, 7:3 (2011), pp. 431-444.

• 鈥楾o Elicit and Elude: The Film Writing of Keith Reader鈥�, in Will Higbee and Sarah Leahy (eds), Studies in French Cinema: UK Perspectives 1985-2010 (Bristol: Intellect, 2011), pp. 191-201.

• 'Secrets and Lies, or How (Not) to Write about Jacques Rivette', Australian Journal of French Studies, 47, 2 (2010), pp. 121-32.

• 鈥楳ichel Houellebecq鈥�, entry in The Literary Encyclopedia, first published 17 May 2010, http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11864

• 'Sex and the Single Male: Houellebecq, Feminism and Hegemonic Masculinity', Yale French Studies, 116-117 (2009), pp. 141-52.

• 鈥楲istening and Touching, Looking and Thinking: The Dialogue in Philosophy and Film between Jean-Luc Nancy and Claire Denis鈥�, in Temenuga Trifonova (ed.), European Film Theory ( New York, London: Routledge, 2009), pp. 122-33.

• 鈥楺uiet Contradictions of Celebrity: Zinedine Zidane, image, sound, silence and fury鈥�, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 11, 3 (2008), pp. 303-322, article co-authored with Hugh Dauncey.

• 鈥極pen Wounds: Body and Image in Jean-Luc Nancy and Claire Denis鈥�, Film-Philosophy, 12, 1 (2008), 10-30.

• 鈥业苍迟谤辞诲耻肠迟颈辞苍鈥�, Special Issue: Claire Denis and Jean-Luc Nancy, Film-Philosophy, 12, 1 (2008), i-iv.

• 鈥楧r Schizo: Religion, reaction and Maurice G. Dantec鈥�, Journal of European Studies, 37, 3 (2007), 295-312.

• 鈥楽top the World, or What鈥檚 Queer about Michel Houellebecq?鈥�, in Queer Sexualities in French and Francophone Literature and Film, French Literature Series No. 34, New York: Rodopi, 2007.
• 鈥楢 bout de souffle (Jean-Luc Godard)鈥�, in Phil Powrie (ed.), The Cinema of France, London: Wallflower, 2006, pp. 91-9.
• 鈥樷�淭he Acorn Don鈥檛 Fall Far from the Tree鈥�: Genealogy and Eternal Return in Mystic River鈥�, Storytelling: A Critical Journal of Popular Narrative, 5, 1, Fall 2005, pp. 41-52.
• 鈥楾he Noise of Thoughts: The Turbulent (Sound-)Worlds of Jean-Luc Godard鈥�, Culture, Theory and Critique, 46, 1, April 2005, pp. 61-74.
• 鈥楢n Embarrassment of Riches: Godard and the Aesthetics of Expenditure in Le Rapport Darty鈥�, in Patrick Crowley and Paul Hegarty (eds.), Formless: Ways In and Out of Form, Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang, 2005, pp. 229-237.
• 鈥楾extures of Terror: Claire Denis鈥檚 Trouble Every Day鈥�, Belphegor: Litt茅rature populaire et culture m茅diatique, 3, 2, April 2004,
• 鈥楳ichel Houellebecq and the International Sexual Economy鈥�, Portal: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 1, 1, 2004,
• 鈥楬istory of Resistance/Resistance of History: Godard鈥檚 脡loge de l鈥檃mour鈥�, Studies in French Cinema, 3, 2, 2003, pp. 121-130.
• 鈥楾ricks and Risks: Herv茅 Guibert鈥檚 尝鈥橧苍肠辞驳苍颈迟辞, or the Dynamics of Contagion鈥�, in Lucille Cairns (ed.), Gay and Lesbian Cultures in France, Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang, 2002, pp. 247-255.
• 鈥楽ida-topies: provocative communities in Guy Hocquenghem鈥檚 脠惫别 and Vincent Borel鈥檚 Un ruban noir鈥�, French Cultural Studies, 9, 3, 27, October 1998, pp. 385-398.

Review articles

• Review of A Companion to Jean-Luc Godard (Tom Conley and T. Jefferson Kline, eds.), Movie 6 (2015), http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/film/movie/contents/morrey_book_review.pdf
• Review of Michel Houellebecq: Author of Our Times by John McCann, H-France, 11, 20 (2011),
• 鈥楤odies that Matter: Vivian Sobchack鈥檚 Carnal Thoughts鈥�, Film-Philosophy, 10, 2, 2006.

Qualifications

BA, MA, PhD (糖心TV)