About
I joined the University of Birmingham in January 2012. I teach on the Literary Aesthetics and Critical Practice modules.
Qualifications
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BA 2002 (St. Peter’s College, Oxford)
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MA 2005 (Queen Mary, University of London)
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PhD 2009 (Queen Mary, University of London).
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PhD Dissertation Title: ‘Urbs/Passion/Politics: Venice in Selected Works of Ruskin and Pound’
Biography
I joined the University of Birmingham in January 2012, after completing a PhD at Queen Mary, University of London. Between 2009-2012, I taught in a number of universities on a temporary basis, including Queen Mary, and Somerville College, Oxford.
Teaching
I teach on the Literary Aesthetics and Critical Practice modules. In semester 2, I will convene the third-year Decadence and Aestheticism module. In spring 2012, I convened the third-year course, The Work of T.S. Eliot.
Research
My research is focused on 20th century British and American modernist writing, in particular the work of Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and D.H. Lawrence. I have a particular interest in the ways in which these writings are engaged with politics, travel writing and ideas of nationhood and citizenship. My doctorate considered the ways in which modern (19th and 20th century) literary depictions of Venice engage with political contexts; I am currently working on a book based on this research.
I am also beginning another project on the political resonances of Europe in early 20th century American writing, with reference to Pound, Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald and others. I have also written on Victorian literature (in particular the aesthetic and political writings of John Ruskin). Other interests range from literature and theology, to Kazuo Ishiguro and contemporary British hip-hop. I am also a practising poet.
Publications
Journal Articles:
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‘Geographies of Politics, Geographies of Literature: Ezra Pound and Italian Modernism’ Comparative American Studies 9(2). June 2011. 161-173.
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‘Fascist Aesthetics: Ezra Pound’s Cultural Negotiations in 1930s Italy’. Journal of Modern Literature 34:1. Fall 2010. 45-7.
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‘Historicising the Stones: Ruskin’s The Stones of Venice and Italian Nationalism’. Comparative Literature 62:3. Summer 2010. 246-326.
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‘Ruskin’s “Authentic” London: Architecture and National Identity in the Victorian City’. Literary London Journal 7:2. September 2009. Online.
Book Chapters:
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‘”Ct/ Volpe’s Neck”: Re-approaching Pound’s Venice in the Fascist Context’. In Ezra Pound, Ends and Beginnings, eds. John Gery & William Pratt (New York: AMS Press 2011).
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‘Roots Manuva’s Romantic Soul’. In Stress Fractures: New Essays on Poetry, ed. Tom Chivers (London: Penned in the Margins Press 2010). 141-150.
Reviews and Other Articles (Selected):
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‘A Tourist in Search of Home’ (on Kazuo Ishiguro). Slightly Foxed Quarterly 33. Spring 2012. 54-7.
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‘Influence Knows no Boundaries’. Review of Pericles Lewis, ed. The Cambridge Companion to European Modernism. Times Higher Education. 23 February 2012. xiv.
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‘John Ruskin can Help us Rail against the Dehumanising Power of Capitalism’. The Guardian. 6 November 2011. Online.
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Review of Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois, eds. The Anthology of Rap. Times Literary Supplement 8 April 2011.p.27.
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‘Fantasy Land’. Review of Joseph Luzzi, Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy. Times Literary Supplement. 26 June 2009. P.27.
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Review of Zhaoming Qian, ed., Ezra Pound’s Chinese Friends. Textual Practice 23(3). June 2009. 520-523.
Poems (Selected):
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‘Europa! Europa!’. The Wolf 26. April 2012. 16.
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‘Archives’. The Wolf 25. October 2011. 26-27.