The field of 20th and 21st Century Literature and Theory is immensely diverse and rich, and one that transforms rapidly. English at Royal Holloway has an established tradition of shaping those developments, with marked strengths in the field and several world-leading scholars and critics specialising in such areas as Modernism, Literary Theory, Post-colonialism, Poetics, Science Fiction, and the Contemporary.
We cover a range of approaches: from historicism, to the formalist and theoretical. Collaborations within and beyond the Department create dynamic interdisciplinary encounters between our varied interests, both critical and creative. And so our work flourishes at points where numerous concerns of the 20th and 21st centuries intersect: Gender, Race, Sexuality, Textuality, Technology, Science, Media, the Holocaust, the effects of Crisis on culture and cultural politics.
20th and 21st Century Literature and Theory Specialists
Tim Armstrong, Professor, Modernism (and Time, Music, Biology, Technology), American Literature, Hardy, Slavery.
Prue Bussey-Chamberlain, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Contemporary Poetics, Modernism, New York School, Feminism, Affect Theory, the Avant-Garde.
Robert Eaglestone, Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Theory and European Philosophy, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Finn Fordham, Professor of English, Modernism, Textuality, James Joyce, the Cultural archive, Genetic Criticism, late 20th Century American fiction, War and Culture, Biography.
Andrew Gibson, Professor of English Literature, Modern Literature and Theory, James Joyce, French literary theory, Samuel Beckett, Contemporary French Philosophy (Badiou), Contemporary London
Warwick Gould, Emeritus Professor, Yeats, Modernism
Robert Hampson, Professor of Modern Literature, Conrad, Modernism, Contemporary Poetry and Poetics
Mark Mathuray, Senior Lecturer, Post-colonial Writing, Queer studies, Modernist and Contemporary African Literature
Daniel Matore, Early Career Leverhulme Fellow, Pound, American Modernism, Modernism and music.
Terri Ochiagha, Lecturer in World Literatures in English, Post-colonial Literature, African Literature, Chinua Achebe
Will Montgomery, Senior Lecturer, American Modernism, Susan Howe, Frank O’Hara, Sound and Poetics
Redell Olsen, Professor, Interdisciplinarity (Creative and Critical), Sound and Poetics, Avant-Garde, Frank O’Hara
John Regan, Lecturer in Digital Humanities, Digital Technology and modes of reading
Adam Roberts, Professor Science Fiction, History of Criticism
James Smith, Lecturer in English Literature 1660-1780 Literary Theory, Derrida, Lacan
Anne Varty, Professor in Victorian Literature, Contemporary Women’s Poetry, Contemporary Scottish Poetry, WW1 women’s poetry
Affiliations
Colleagues in this field are associated with numerous world-leading journals and academic series, including:
Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernist Culture
Oxford University Press Monograph Series
