Una McIlvenna (Lecturer in Early Modern Literature in the School of English) recently published the article ‘French kissing to lesbian orgies: the origins of the myth of the debauched French court’ for the online international magazine The Conversation. Since its publication earlier this month it has been viewed over 50,000 times and translated into French. The article poses the question where the ‘stereotype of the French court as debauched and dangerous’ came from and considers the historical origins of this enduring myth. You can read Una’s article on The Conversation’s Arts and Culture section.
Following the success of the article, Una was interviewed for the Irish national radio station Newstalk, on their daily afternoon show Moncrieff. You can listen to the podcast here: http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Moncrieff/Highlights_from_Moncrieff/150847/The_origins_of_French_Debauchery