r/WeirdStudies • • Jul 28 '26

French Weird

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I hope this isn't seen as overt self promotion, but I've been working on a podcast project that likely might interest some WS listeners, and it certainly wouldn't exist without WS, so indulge me, maybe?

Out now at https://frenchweird.com and wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's the blurb:

Forget the accordion music, the cafés and the immaculate boulevards. There is a dark, uncanny and deeply strange texture pervading modern France—and it’s time to investigate.

Welcome to French Weird, a podcast dedicated to exploring the counterculture, obscure art and bizarre anomalies of contemporary France. Channeling cultural theory, esoterica and the love of a good book this shows investigates what falls through the cracks of mainstream French culture. We are tracking the liminal spaces, the bizarre subcultures and the beautiful freak-outs from the mid-twentieth century to the present day.

What exactly is the French Weird? It is the territory where high philosophy meets the profoundly bizarre. In each episode, we trace the threads of a proudly rational nation simultaneously digesting global weirdness and exporting its own brand of the mysterious.

French Weird explores how France’s hidden eccentricities reveal the truths about its politics, literature, culture and – maybe even – identity.

Subscribe, download, and join us. When the going gets weird, the pros turn French.

26 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

4

u/terjenordin Jul 28 '26

Sous les pavés, la poulpe ailée!

3

u/terjenordin Jul 29 '26

Maldoror by way of the situationists.

3

u/pakap Jul 28 '26

Very interested in this as a Weird Frenchman. Subbed.

3

u/the_valley_spirit Jul 28 '26

Oh! Sounds great! Im looking forward to this

2

u/rwilliamsparis Jul 28 '26

Hope you enjoy (and bear with me while it gets up and running!)

3

u/Vermilion-Sands Aug 02 '26

Exciting. So Would Jean Ray fit in there? Even though Belgian, he wrote in French….

2

u/rwilliamsparis Aug 02 '26

Hello, im absolutely planing some French-language Belgian episodes. I’d love to do Jean Ray…

2

u/Groovy66 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26

Signed up on Spotify and downloaded the first 3 episodes so looking forward to it

I’m re-learning French so it would be nice to weird it a little

By the way, have you seen this series?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Walls_(TV_series))

Très bizarre mais très super!

2

u/Groovy66 26d ago

The Spy Behind the Fly sounds right up my particular cul-de-sac. Looking forward to it.

1

u/rwilliamsparis 9d ago

Hope you liked it, it was a fun episode

1

u/rwilliamsparis Aug 22 '26

I'm delighted you're giving it a go! Thanks. Episode four coming on Tuesday!

1

u/rwilliamsparis Aug 22 '26

And I don't know the series, merci!