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Staff research interests

Our staff have a wide range of research interests; they are able to offer supervision for potential MPhil/PhD students in the following areas:

African literature

  • Mpalive Msiska: African literature; cultural identity; popular culture; post-colonial life-writing, theory and literature; reception theory; Wole Soyinka

American literature

  • Joseph Brooker: Modern and contemporary literature and culture
  • Anna Hartnell: Contemporary literary and cultural constructions of ‘America’; postcolonial and diasporic literatures
  • Kate Mcloughlin: Modernism, comparative literature, women’s writing, Jewish writing and War representation
  • Carol Watts: American literature; contemporary literature and culture, poetry and poetics; cultural theory; eighteenth-century and contemporary literature and culture; film; gender and writing

Antisemitism

  • Anthony Bale: Book history; history of antisemitism; medieval Jewish history; medieval literature

Contemporary literature, theatre and culture

  • Joseph Brooker: Contemporary British writing and culture; Irish writing; modern US literature; Modernism
  • Steven Connor: Contemporary culture; cultural history; literary theory; nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, literature and literary theory; science and culture
  • Helen Freshwater: Censorship; contemporary theatre and its audiences; performance theory; physical theatre
  • Anna Hartnell: Contemporary literary and cultural constructions of ‘America’; postcolonial and diasporic literatures
  • Roger Luckhurst: Contemporary literature and culture; late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; literary theory; Modernism; nineteenth-century literature; science fiction
  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses
  • Carol Watts: American literature; contemporary literature and culture, poetry and poetics; cultural theory; eighteenth-century and contemporary literature and culture; film; gender and writing

Creative writing

Cultural history and theory

  • Steven Connor: Contemporary culture; cultural history; literary theory; nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, literature and literary theory; science and culture
  • Carol Watts: American literature; contemporary literature and culture, poetry and poetics; cultural theory; eighteenth-century and contemporary literature and culture; film; gender and writing

Eighteenth-century literature and culture

  • Luisa Calè: Romantic period literature; visual culture and theory; collecting and museum culture; the material text; reader response, adaptation, translation.
  • Michael Dobson: Eighteenth-century literature and culture; English theatre since 1580; non-professional performance; Shakespeare; Shakespeare on the contemporary stage
  • Carol Watts: American literature; contemporary literature and culture, poetry and poetics; cultural theory; eighteenth-century and contemporary literature and culture; film; gender and writing

Elizabethan literature, poetry and culture

  • Stephen Clucas: Mythography and mythological literature; Renaissance commentary and exegesis; Renaissance science; sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English and European culture and intellectual communications
  • Michael Dobson: Eighteenth-century literature and culture; English theatre since 1580; non-professional performance; Shakespeare; Shakespeare on the contemporary stage

Ethics

  • Isabel Davis: ethics; late medieval and Renaissance literature and culture; sexual domestic ethics

Film

  • Carol Watts: American literature; contemporary literature and culture, poetry and poetics; cultural theory; eighteenth-century and contemporary literature and culture; film; gender and writing

Frankfurt School

  • Esther Leslie: Animation; Critical theory and the Frankfurt School; European modernism and avant-garde; Marxism; situationist theory and psychogeography; the aesthetics of science; Walter Benjamin

Gender and sexuality studies

  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses
  • Carol Watts: American literature; contemporary literature and culture, poetry and poetics; cultural theory; eighteenth-century and contemporary literature and culture; film; gender and writing
  • Joanne Winning: Gender and sexuality; illness and language; lesbian modernism; lesbian subjectivities and cultural production; medical humanities; Modernism and twentieth-century literatures; theorising medical practice; theory and history of psychoanalysis
  • Heike Bauer: histories and theories of sexuality and gender; lesbian and gay writing; nineteenth and early twentieth-century art, design and architecture; race and sexuality; translation and cultural exchange; Victorian England and Germany

History

  • Anthony Bale: Book history; history of antisemitism; medieval Jewish history; medieval literature

Irish writing

  • Joe Brooker: Contemporary British writing and culture; Irish writing; modern US literature; Modernism

Jewish history

  • Anthony Bale: Book history; history of antisemitism; medieval Jewish history; medieval literature
  • Kate Mcloughlin: Modernism, comparative literature, women’s writing, Jewish writing and War representation

Literary theory

  • Steven Connor: Contemporary culture; cultural history; literary theory; nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, literature and literary theory; science and culture
  • Roger Luckhurst: Contemporary literature and culture; late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; literary theory; Modernism; nineteenth-century literature; science fiction
  • Kate Mcloughlin: Modernism, comparative literature, women’s writing, Jewish writing and War representation
  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses

London in literature and culture

  • Anthony Bale: book history; history of antisemitism; medieval Jewish history; medieval literature
  • Joseph Brooker: Contemporary British writing and culture; Irish writing; modern US literature; Modernism
  • Roger Luckhurst: Contemporary literature and culture; late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; literary theory; Modernism; nineteenth-century literature; science fiction
  • Adam Smyth: English literature and culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; autobiographical writing; editorial theory and the history of books; early modern poetry; the cultures of manuscripts and print
  • Susan Wiseman: English Civil War; Renaissance literature and transformation (metamorphosis); Renaissance literature in English; seventeenth-century politics, literature and religion; women's writing of the seventeenth century

Marxism

  • Esther Leslie: animation; critical theory and the Frankfurt School; European modernism and avant-garde; Marxism; situationist theory and psychogeography; the aesthetics of science; Walter Benjamin

Medieval history and literature

  • Anthony Bale: book history; history of antisemitism; medieval Jewish history; medieval literature
  • Isabel Davis: ethics; late medieval and Renaissance literature and culture; sexual domestic ethics

Modernism

  • Joe Brooker: Contemporary British writing and culture; Irish writing; modern US literature; Modernism
  • Esther Leslie: animation; critical theory and the Frankfurt School; European modernism and avant-garde; Marxism; situationist theory and psychogeography; the aesthetics of science; Walter Benjamin
  • Roger Luckhurst: Contemporary literature and culture; late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; literary theory; Modernism; nineteenth-century literature; science fiction
  • Kate Mcloughlin: Modernism, comparative literature, women’s writing, Jewish writing and War representation
  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses
  • Joanne Winning: Gender and sexuality; illness and language; lesbian modernism; lesbian subjectivities and cultural production; medical humanities; Modernism and twentieth-century literatures; theorising medical practice; theory and history of psychoanalysis

Mythography and mythological literature

  • Stephen Clucas: Mythography and mythological literature; Renaissance commentary and exegesis; Renaissance science; sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English and European culture and intellectual communications

Nineteenth-century art and literature

  • Nicola Bown: Interdisciplinarity; nineteenth-century art; nineteenth-century literature; nineteenth-century science photography; relationships between literature; the supernatural in literature and art
  • Luisa Calè: Romantic period literature; visual culture and theory; collecting and museum culture; the material text; reader response, adaptation, translation.
  • Steven Connor: Contemporary culture; cultural history; literary theory; nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, literature and literary theory; science and culture
  • Hilary Fraser: History and aesthetic of women's writing; nineteenth-century literature and cultural history; the Victorian periodical press; Victorian art criticism
  • Robert Inglesfield: Browning; Cowper; eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature; textual editing; Thomson; Wordsworth
  • Roger Luckhurst: Contemporary literature and culture; late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; literary theory; Modernism; nineteenth-century literature; science fiction
  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses
  • Heike Bauer: histories and theories of sexuality and gender; lesbian and gay writing; nineteenth and early twentieth-century art, design and architecture; race and sexuality; translation and cultural exchange; Victorian England and Germany

Old English poetry

  • Alison Finlay: Old English poetry; Old Icelandic sagas and skaldic poetry

Old Icelandic sagas and skaldic poetry

  • Alison Finlay: Old English poetry; Old Icelandic sagas and skaldic poetry

Photography

  • Nicola Bown: Interdisciplinarity; nineteenth-century art; nineteenth-century literature; nineteenth-century science photography; relationships between literature; the supernatural in literature and art

Poetry

  • Michael Baron: Modern poetry; Romantic and post-Romantic literature; Romanticism and language

Post-colonial studies; post-structuralism

  • Anna Hartnell: Contemporary literary and cultural constructions of ‘America’; postcolonial and diasporic literatures
  • Mpalive Msiska: African literature; cultural identity; popular culture; post-colonial life-writing, theory and literature; reception theory; Wole Soyinka
  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses

Psychoanalysis

  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses
  • Joanne Winning: Gender and sexuality; illness and language; lesbian modernism; lesbian subjectivities and cultural production; medical humanities; Modernism and twentieth-century literatures; theorising medical practice; theory and history of psychoanalysis

Reader response

  • Luisa Calè: Adaptation; reader response; Romantic period literature; translation; visual culture; visual culture and theory; visual forms and sites of textual transmission

Renaissance literature, poetry and culture

  • Stephen Clucas: Mythography and mythological literature; Renaissance commentary and exegesis; Renaissance science; sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English and European culture and intellectual communications
  • Isabel Davis: Ethics; late medieval and Renaissance literature and culture; sexual domestic ethics
  • Michael Dobson: Eighteenth-century literature and culture; English theatre since 1580; non-professional performance; Shakespeare; Shakespeare on the contemporary stage
  • Susan Wiseman: English Civil War; Renaissance literature and transformation (metamorphosis); Renaissance literature in English; seventeenth-century politics, literature and religion; women's writing of the seventeenth century

Romantic period literature and culture

  • Nicola Bown: Visual culture, literature, history of science and material culture in the Victorian Period.
  • Luisa Calè: Romantic period literature; visual culture and theory; collecting and museum culture; the material text; reader response, adaptation, translation.
  • Michael Dobson: Eighteenth-century literature and culture; English theatre since 1580; non-professional performance; Shakespeare; Shakespeare on the contemporary stage.
  • Esther Leslie: Romantic philosophy, aesthetics, and science; German Romanticism; ice and liquid crystallinity with reference to Caspar David Friedrich's painting of 1824, Eismeer, or Sea of Ice, and the cruel sublime.

Science and culture

  • Steven Connor: Contemporary culture; cultural history; literary theory; nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, literature and literary theory; science and culture
  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses

Science fiction

  • Roger Luckhurst: Contemporary literature and culture; late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; literary theory; Modernism; nineteenth-century literature; science fiction

Seventeenth-century literature and culture

  • Stephen Clucas: Mythography and mythological literature; Renaissance commentary and exegesis; Renaissance science; sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English and European culture and intellectual communications
  • Adam Smyth: English literature and culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; autobiographical writing; editorial theory and the history of books; early modern poetry; the cultures of manuscripts and print
  • Susan Wiseman: English Civil War; Renaissance literature and transformation (metamorphosis); Renaissance literature in English; seventeenth-century politics, literature and religion; women's writing of the seventeenth century

Shakespeare

  • Michael Dobson: Eighteenth-century literature and culture; English theatre since 1580; non-professional performance; Shakespeare; Shakespeare on the contemporary stage

Supernatural

  • Nicola Bown: Interdisciplinarity; nineteenth-century art; nineteenth-century literature; nineteenth-century science photography; relationships between literature; the supernatural in literature and art
  • Roger Luckhurst: Contemporary literature and culture; late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; literary theory; Modernism; nineteenth-century literature; science fiction

Theatre studies

  • Michael Dobson: Eighteenth-century literature and culture; English theatre since 1580; non-professional performance; Shakespeare; Shakespeare on the contemporary stage
  • Helen Freshwater: Censorship; contemporary theatre and its audiences; performance theory; physical theatre
  • Andrew McKinnon: Advanced training of emerging artists; the theatre of personal memory; ‘theatre as archaeology’
  • Aoife Monks: Celebrity, the star system and the theatre; cross-dressing in contemporary theatre; fashion and acting; global Irishness in performance; impersonation in performance; materiality in performance; performance theory; theatre costume and theatre studies
  • Robert Swain: Development of directors; funding of the arts and arts training; new theatre writing; regional theatre; the training of actors
  • Colin Teevan: An award-winning playwright, screenwriter and radio drama writer. His translations of ancient Greek tragedy have been produced by the National Theatre, his work on contemporary political issues in plays such as How Many Miles to Basra? and The Lion of Kabul have received wide international recognition. He has collaborated regularly with leading practitioners such as Hideki Noda, Kathryn Hunter and Sir Peter Hall. He is currently working on new original dramas for theatre and television.

Translation

  • Luisa Calè: Adaptation; reader response; Romantic period literature; translation; visual culture; visual culture and theory; visual forms and sites of textual transmission
  • Heike Bauer: histories and theories of sexuality and gender; lesbian and gay writing; nineteenth and early twentieth-century art, design and architecture; race and sexuality; translation and cultural exchange; Victorian England and Germany

Twentieth-century literature, poetry and culture

  • Joe Brooker: Contemporary British writing and culture; Irish writing; modern US literature; Modernism
  • Heike Bauer: histories and theories of sexuality and gender; lesbian and gay writing; nineteenth and early twentieth-century art, design and architecture; race and sexuality; translation and cultural exchange; Victorian England and Germany
  • Steven Connor: Contemporary culture; cultural history; literary theory; nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, literature and literary theory; science and culture
  • Kate Mcloughlin: Modernism, comparative literature, women’s writing, Jewish writing and War representation
  • Laura Salisbury: Language and gender; Modernist and contemporary fiction; Modernity; nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophies of temporality; post-structuralism; psychoanalysis and culture; Samuel Beckett; twentieth-century neurological discourses

Victorian period

  • Professor Hilary Fraser: History and aesthetic of women's writing; nineteenth-century literature and cultural history; the Victorian periodical press; Victorian art criticism
  • Heike Bauer: histories and theories of sexuality and gender; lesbian and gay writing; nineteenth and early twentieth-century art, design and architecture; race and sexuality; translation and cultural exchange; Victorian England and Germany
  • Nicola Bown: Visual culture, literature, history of science and material culture in the Victorian Period.

Visual culture and theory

  • Luisa Calè: Adaptation; reader response; Romantic period literature; translation; visual culture; visual culture and theory; visual forms and sites of textual transmission

Walter Benjamin

  • Esther Leslie: animation; critical theory and the Frankfurt School; European modernism and avant-garde; Marxism; situationist theory and psychogeography; the aesthetics of science; Walter Benjamin

War writing

  • Kate Mcloughlin: Modernism, comparative literature, women’s writing, Jewish writing and War representation

Women's writing

  • Hilary Fraser: History and aesthetic of women's writing; nineteenth-century literature and cultural history; the Victorian periodical press; Victorian art criticism
  • Kate Mcloughlin: Modernism, comparative literature, women’s writing, Jewish writing and War representation
  • Susan Wiseman: English Civil War; Renaissance literature and transformation (metamorphosis); Renaissance literature in English; seventeenth-century politics, literature and religion; women's writing of the seventeenth century
 
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