20th and 21st Century Literature and Theory

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Click for 20th and 21st Century Literature and Theory research outputs|
Click for MA in Modernism and Contemporary Literature|
Click for MA in Poetic Practice|

The English department at Royal Holloway offers a dynamic research environment for those working on the modernist and contemporary periods. Our strengths include the study of literature in relation to modernism, postmodernism, philosophy, film and visual media, sound, contemporary poetics and performance, genetic criticism, science fiction, technology, Holocaust studies, terrorism and state violence, and postcolonialism.

Research students working on modernist and contemporary topics are able to develop their work in an atmosphere of supportive and encouraging debate. Staff are active in research groupings and seminar series within the department and the University of London, as well as in national and international networks.

Potential PhD students should either contact relevant staff members direct or get in touch with the Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Judith Hawley|.

 

Areas of Expertise

Modernism

• Tim Armstrong (modernist culture; American literature; the body)
• Finn Fordham (Joyce, modernism, genetic criticism) 
• Andrew Gibson (Joyce, Beckett, Pound)
• Robert Hampson (Conrad and Ford)
• Betty Jay (women's writing, Woolf)

Postmodernism and Contemporary Literature

• Tim Armstrong (post-war American literature)
• Robert Eaglestone (contemporary fiction and theory, postmodernism and after)
• Finn Fordham (contemporary fiction and poetry) 
• Andrew Gibson (postmodern literature and theory, London writing)
• Adam Roberts (postmodernism and contemporary writing)
• Kiernan Ryan (Ian McEwan, Martin Amis; contemporary British fiction)

Literature and Philosophy

• Robert Eaglestone (contemporary European philosophy, Heidegger, Levinas, Derrida)
• Andrew Gibson (Post-Deleuzean French philosophy: modern and postmodern aesthetics; literature in modern philosophical contexts) 
• Betty Jay (feminist theory)
• Kiernan Ryan (Marxist criticism; new historicism and cultural materialism)

Literature, Film and Visual and Sonic Media

• Tim Armstrong (modernism, film and media)
• Andrew Gibson (film theory)
• Betty Jay (women, film and literature)
• Redell Olsen (video, internet)
• Kristen Kreider (film, video art, multimedia)
• Will Montgomery (sound)

Contemporary Poetics and Performance

• Robert Hampson (contemporary British and American poetry and poetics)
• Andrew Motion (twentieth-century and contemporary poetry)
• Redell Olsen (contemporary poetics and textuality, performance)
• Kristen Kreider (contemporary poetry and poetics, material poetics, performance)
• Will Montgomery (contemporary British and American poetry and poetics)

Science Fiction, Literature and Technology

• Tim Armstrong (literature and technology)
• Adam Roberts (science fiction)
• Redell Olsen (technologies of writing)

Holocaust Studies, Terrorism and State Violence

• Robert Eaglestone (Holocaust and genocide studies, Arendt, historiography, literature)

American Literature

• Tim Armstrong (slavery, African-American writing, the modernist and postmodern novel)
• Robert Hampson (poetry, 1950-present)
• Redell Olsen (contemporary poetry and poetics)
• Will Montgomery (contemporary poetry and poetics)

Postcolonialism

• Robert Hampson (postcolonialism and modernism)
• Mark Mathuray (postcolonial fiction)

 

Current Postgraduate Research Students 

Click here to see details of our current postgraduate research students in 20th and 21st Century Literature and Theory.|