University of Exeter in Cornwall

Faculty Member, English

Other Affiliations: University of Warwick, Philosophy

Teaching Fellow

About

I currently teach nineteenth and twentieth century literatures, and critical theory (with a little philosophy thrown in) at the University of Exeter (Cornwall Campus). Before this, I completed my PhD on individualism and aesthetic philosophy in the late nineteenth century at the University of Exeter, having studied for my BA in Philosophy & Literature at the University of Warwick and a Masters in Critical Theory at Exeter.

I have published various articles and given numerous conference papers and invited talks, mostly on Walter Pater, but also on Henry James, Decadence, Oscar Wilde, the films of Vincente Minnelli and (bizarrely) on North Korean art. My latest (open-access) article, on Minnelli, can be found here: http://widescreenjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/97/0
My main research project at the moment is, though, completing my first monograph on 'Walter Pater, Individualism and Aesthetic Philosophy' (Edinburgh UP, 2013).

I am also writing about aestheticism in the films of Vincente Minnelli, a concern which is accompanied by a less academic pursuit of hedonism, a true, long-term love of long-distance running and a more recent love of nappy-changing, playing with and cuddling my baby boy, Rufus. When I have time, in among, I read TS Eliot, Henry James and The Economist with some slight hint of obsession.

I am UK Book Reviews Editor for Victoriographies: A Journal of Nineteenth-Century Writing, 1790-1914, a new and exciting journal, which has been published by Edinburgh University Press since May 2011: http://www.euppublishing.com/journal/vic

Last autumn I organised a conference called Reweaving the Rainbow: Literature & Philosophy, 1850-1910:
http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/research/conferences/reweavingtherainbow/
I am currently editing a journal special edition comprising selected and expanded papers from the conference.