Colm McAuliffe

Dr Colm McAuliffe

First Book Fellow 2025-26

Rupture and Rapture: French Theory in Britain

Rupture and Rapture: French Theory in Britain is a monograph which traces the reception of French theory - a constellation of philosophical, political, and psychoanalytical thinkers, among them Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva - in Britain during the late twentieth century. Its premise is that French theory's reception in Britain owed a great deal to institutions and individuals operating at least one remove from academia, among them the New Left Review, the British Film Institute, Screen journal, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the popular music press.

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Areas of interest

French Theory Popular Music Music Film Literary Theory Archives

Cohort

FBF2

Biography

Colm McAuliffe is a writer, curator and academic from Co. Cork, Ireland. His PhD researched the reception and circulation of French theory in popular music, film institutions and literary and political journals in late twentieth century Britain and he is currently re-writing this as a book for University of Minnesota Press. He has also collaborated with artists, musicians and filmmakers, particularly on the award winning Make Film History project which opened up the archives from the BBC, BFI, Irish Film Archive, and Northern Ireland Screen for creative reuse by emerging filmmakers and artists, producing over 100 films during 2020-2022.

Biographical details correct as of 20.05.25