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Honorary Fellow in the Department of English Studies

Biography

The Decadent Image and The Decadent Short Story

The bulk of my research explores late nineteenth-century decadence, aestheticism, symbolism, and their legacies. I have published and presented widely on topics in the long Fin de siècle, with an emphasis on transnationalism, influence, and comparative poetics. My book, The Decadent Image: The Poetry of Wilde, Symons, and Dowson (Edinburgh University Press, 2015), partly funded by the Friends of Princeton University Library Research Grant (FPUL), is the first monograph study with an exclusive focus on the poetry of the Decadent movement of the 1890s. It examines the curious productive paradoxical collisions between the immediacy of sensuous experience and artificiality of form, an overarching concept that guides my subsequent research in a variety of areas and emphases.

I have published co-edited essay collections on themes in the fields of decadence and modernism. I have also co-edited The Decadent Short Story: An Annotated Anthology (Edinburgh University Press, 2014), a book that showcases the instrumental role of little magazines in the shaping of the short story form. Published journal articles and chapters in volumes are devoted to such writers as Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons, Ernest Dowson, and Arthur Machen. I am in the process of completing a co-edited collection of essays on Neo-Victorian Decadence for Brill's Neo-Victorian Series. In connection with this project, I was on the co-organising committee of a study group and a conference on neo-Victorian decadence that was held in October 2022 in Pescara, hosted by the Centre of Victorian and Edwardian Studies (CUSVE) at the D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara and the Decadence Research Centre (Goldsmiths, University of London). I am currently working on a book-length study on decadence and science fiction from the late nineteenth to late twentieth century.

I am an Honorary Fellow and teaching associate in the Department of English Studies and an Associate Lecturer in English literature at Newcastle University. I have taught a wide range of modules across all levels of undergraduate study. I have previously taught Translation (MA) at Durham, in the School of Modern Languages & Cultures, supervising successfully 15,000-word projects.

Research interests

  • Decadence and its legacies
  • Comparative literature / Translation: symbolism and decadence
  • 1890s little magazines
  • Fin-de-siècle literature and culture
  • Science fiction: esp. SF New Wave
  • literature of transgression
  • self-reflexive texts / metapoetics

Esteem Indicators

  • 2022: Invited seminar talk. ‘Exophony at the Fin de Siècle: Stuart Merrill, Renée Vivien, and Decadent Translation.’ Nineteenth Century Research Seminar. Faculty of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford. Organiser: Professor Helen Small. Monday 7 November 2022. : Invited seminar talk. ‘Exophony at the Fin de Siècle: Stuart Merrill, Renée Vivien, and Decadent Translation.’ Nineteenth Century Research Seminar. Faculty of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford. Organiser: Professor Helen Small. Monday 7 November 2022. https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/8992799d-f6e4-4ff6-8c42-cb38ad991b80/
  • 2022: President’s Panel (BAVS). ‘Exophony and Translation at the Fin de Siècle: Stuart Merrill and Renée Vivien.’ President’s Panel: Transnationalism. 2022 BAVS. Moderators: Dinah Birch and Patricia Pulham. University of Birmingham. 1–3 September 2022.: President’s Panel (BAVS). ‘Exophony and Translation at the Fin de Siècle: Stuart Merrill and Renée Vivien.’ President’s Panel: Transnationalism. 2022 BAVS. Moderators: Dinah Birch and Patricia Pulham. University of Birmingham. 1–3 September 2022. https://bavs2022.com/bavs-programme/
  • 2021: Co-investigator, ‘Neo-Victorian Decadence’: Co-investigator. ‘Neo-Victorian Decadence’. Joint CUSVE-DRC International Conference. Directors: Jane Desmarais (Goldsmiths, University of London) and Anna Enrichetta Soccio (Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara). Chieti, 26-28 October 2022. Webinar host. Webinar on ‘Neo-Victorian Decadence’. CUSVE-DRC Research Group. 1 April 2022. https://www.dilass.unich.it/cusve-researchgroups
  • 2017: Co-organiser, ‘Neo-Victorian Decadences’: ‘Neo-Victorian Decadences’. 8–9 September 2017, Durham University Intn’l Conference, with Joseph Thorne. Keynote speakers: Dr Marie-Luise Kohlke (Swansea) and Dr Kirsten MacLeod (Newcastle) https://neovictoriandecadences.wordpress.com/
  • 2017: Editorial Advisory Board Member: Editorial Advisory Board Member for Volupté (Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies)
  • 2016: Keynote talk. ‘Tropes of Tainted Medievalism: Ernest Dowson’s Recasting of Fin’Amor.’ ‘Ernest Dowson (1867–1900): Poet, Translator, Novelist.’ Goldsmiths, University of London. 15 April 2016.: Keynote talk. ‘Tropes of Tainted Medievalism: Ernest Dowson’s Recasting of Fin’Amor.’ ‘Ernest Dowson (1867–1900): Poet, Translator, Novelist.’ Goldsmiths, University of London. 15 April 2016.
  • 2015: Invited talk. ‘Raconteur and Racketeer: Oscar Wilde and the Confidence Trick.’ Research Centre for Literature and Cultural History. Liverpool John Moores University. 24 November 2015.: Invited talk. ‘Raconteur and Racketeer: Oscar Wilde and the Confidence Trick.’ Research Centre for Literature and Cultural History. Liverpool John Moores University. 24 November 2015.
  • 2014: Co-organiser, 'Aphoristic Modernity, 1890–1950’: ‘“Perfectly phrased and quite as true”: Aphoristic Modernity, 1890–1950.’ 4 July 2015, University of York, with Michael Shallcross. Plenary speakers: James Williams (York) and Mark Sandy (Durham) https://aphoristicmodernity.wordpress.com/call-for-papers-3/ http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/59750
  • 2013: Princeton University Library Research Grant. The Friends of Princeton University Library (FPUL). Firestone Library. Value: $2,500.00.: Princeton University Library Research Grant. The Friends of Princeton University Library (FPUL). Firestone Library. Value: $2,500.00.
  • 2012: Co-organiser, 'Aphoristic Modernity, 1890–1950': ‘“We Speak a Different Tongue”: Maverick Voices and Modernity, 1890–1939’. 5–6 July 2013, Durham University. Intn’l Conference. Principal Co-organiser, with Anthony Patterson, Yoonjoung Choi, and Mark Sandy. Plenary speakers: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths) and Michael O’Neill (Durham) http://www.dur.ac.uk/maverick.voices/ http://readdurhamenglish.wordpress.com/tag/maverick-voices-and-modernity/

Publications

Authored book

Book review

Chapter in book

Edited book

Journal Article

Other (Digital/Visual Media)