Tracing the historical role of Latin in French culture and education, today significantly diminished, Hannah Fairburn emphasises its ongoing relevance and importance for students and wider society in contemporary France.

What does it mean to be à la mode in Paris? How do the Parisians always appear so effortlessly chic? In this ode to the simple things in life, staff writer Chiara Lewis explores the timeless beauty of the French capital.

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?

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.

Accompanied by an English translation, Nadia Sorabji Stewart offers an intriguing interview with co-curator of the Nicolas de Staël exhibition at the Paris Musée d’art moderne. Providing an introduction to the world of de Staël and insights into curatorial practices, this probing interview is not to be missed.