Professor Williams came to AUP in 2013 after completing his doctoral studies at the University of London Institute in Paris and teaching at Université Paris-Est (Université Gustave Eiffel). His research focuses primarily on the contemporary novel and with his work, in particular, exploring the poetics, narrative technique and provocations of the French writer Michel Houellebecq. Professor Williams is also Director of the Learning Commons and Director of Faculty Development at AUP. He was awarded the AUP Board of Trustees award for Innovation in Instructional Design at graduation in 2018 and 2020. He shared the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award with all of his Faculty colleagues and together with Dr Ruth Corran (Computer Science, Mathematics & Science) was awarded the 2022 Award for Innovation in Interdisciplinary Studies. In 2022 he was presented with the Undergraduate Student Council Faculty Recognition Award.
In addition to his ongoing work on Houellebecq and contemporary French writing, Professor Williams’ research concerns American and British literature of the same period, the cultural resonances between French and English language writing, and European detective fiction, particularly the work of néo-polar writers Thierry Jonquet and Jean-Patrick Manchette. He has also published on the relationships between writing, extremity and intoxication and is increasingly interested in the complex relationships between writing, reading, teaching, thinking and technology. As well as literary fiction, Professor Williams is interested in contemporary cinema, TV series, visual art, French pop, experimental music and noise.
Professor Williams has, with Dr Carole Sweeney (Goldsmiths University London), co-edited a special issue of the scholarly journal Modern and Contemporary France on Michel Houellebecq. With Dr Anna-Louise Milne (University of London Institute in Paris), he has co-edited Contemporary Fiction in French, collection of essays examining contemporary writing in French for Cambridge University Press. His book on Houellebecq, Pathos, poetry and politics in Michel Houellebecq's fiction was published in 2019 with Rodopi/Brill. He has recently completed scholarly articles on Houellebecq and terrorism, Houellebecq's supposed 'plagiarism' and how the cultural logic of information management manifests in Houellebecq's literary style. Professor Williams is presently working on his next book, an interdisciplinary project tentatively titled French Weird.
Professor Williams’ journalism and literary criticism regularly appears in publications including the Times Literary Supplement, where he is Consultant Editor for French and Francophone literatures and contributes regularly to the podcast. He has written for the New Statesman, the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Quietus. He also writes for his website, linked above, and tweets at @russwilliams_uk.
‘“Doing a Houellebecq” in the age of screens: trolling, selfies and textual bricolage’, Romance Studies, forthcoming 2022
‘The writer and the terrorist: on Michel Houellebecq’, Textual Practice, 34:9, 2020, 1599-1622, DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2020.1808302
‘The Franco-American Novel’, in Russell Williams and Anna-Louise Milne (eds), Contemporary Fiction in French (Cambridge University Press, January 2021)
'La vie littéraire inconnue de Michel Houellebecq', in Agathe Novak-Lechevalier (ed), Cahier Houellebecq (Paris: Editions de l'Herne, 2017)
“Sales talk”, review of Boniments by François Bégaudeau, The Times Literary Supplement, July 14, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/boniments-francois-begaudeau-book-review-russell-williams/
“Cityscapes”, review of Paris, Boulevard Voltaire by Michèle Audin, The Times Literary Supplement, July 7, 2023 https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/cityscapes/
“Blue movie”, review of Quelques mois dans ma vie by Michel Houellebecq, The Times Literary Supplement, June 2, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/quelques-mois-dans-ma-vie-michel-houellebecq-book-review-russell-williams/
“When a star was made”, review of Et la femme créa a la star, exhibition at the Petit Palais, The Times Literary Supplement, May 26, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/sarah-bernhardt-petit-palais-arts-review-russell-williams/
“House Arrest”, review of The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier (trans. by D. Levin-Becker), The Times Literary Supplement, March 10, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-birthday-party-laurent-mauvignier-book-review-russell-williams/
Review of Interventions 2020 by Michel Houellebecq (trans by A. Brown), French Studies, December 27, 2022, https://academic.oup.com/fs/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/fs/knac273/6965437
Michel Houellebecq, contemporary French fiction, detective fiction, the néo-polar, the Franco-American novel, Thierry Jonquet, Jean-Patrick Manchette, French popular culture