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Education and Experience
I was educated at the North London Collegiate School and St Hilda鈥檚 College, Oxford (B.A./M.A. and D.Phil.). After a period as Rare Books Curator at the Royal Institute of British Architects, I became a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at 香港六合彩 between 1994 and 1997. My first permanent academic post was at the University of Durham, where I worked between 1997 and 2010 before moving back to 香港六合彩. During my time here听I have contributed early modern teaching to a wide variety of undergraduate and MA courses, convened the MA in 鈥楽hakespeare in his Time鈥� and acted as graduate tutor.
I have acted as a series editor for the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, since 2010. Together with Thomas S. Freeman and Ann Hutchison, I founded the series 鈥楥atholic and Recusant Texts of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods鈥�. I also sit on the editorial boards for British Catholic History and Reformation.
I am a Fellow of the British Academy, of the English Association and of the Society of Antiquaries,听and have held visiting fellowships at the following institutions: Newberry Library, Chicago; the Beinecke Library, Yale; and the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale.
I review regularly for the Times Literary Supplement.
In the past I have received major research grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Leverhulme Trust. Between September 2018 and February 2022 I was听in receipt of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship, working on 鈥楾he Drama of the British Counter-Reformation鈥� (see below).
Current and recent research
I am currently writing a monograph on 鈥楾he Drama of the British Counter-Reformation鈥�.听This will focus on the plays produced at the British Catholic colleges founded after the Reformation, which typically dramatised the stories of confessors and martyrs, aiming to inspire their youthful actors to promote Catholicism in the face of persecution. Running from the foundation of the English College at Douai in 1569 to the exile of James II in 1688, this study will focus on defining the category of British Counter-Reformation literature; on the polemical link between acting, education and Jesuits; and on the imaginative use made of boy actors and male bonding. Finally, these plays will be contrasted with present-day imaginative attempts to radicalise young people.听
I am also co-editing Thomas Traherne鈥檚听Roman Forgeries听with Jean-Louis Quantin and Austen Saunders, volume 12 in the forthcoming edition of Traherne鈥檚 collected works from Oxford University Press (general editor, Julia Smith).
Research interests and supervisory capability
I have special interests within the following fields: Shakespeare and Renaissance drama; Tudor and Stuart poetry, especially the work of John Donne and Robert Southwell; the English and neo-Latin writing of post-Reformation British Catholics; early modern religious prose, especially the work of Thomas Traherne; early modern polemic and anti-Catholicism; the literature and imaginative representation of Anglicanism from the 16th century to the present day, especially Anglican women鈥檚 writing and the work of Anglican novelists; folklore and superstition in early modern Britain; early modern book history and manuscript studies; the literature of antiquarianism; intersections of literature and architecture.听
Prospective doctoral or post-doctoral students in any of the areas I list above are very welcome to discuss projects with me, with a view to supervision or mentoring. I currently听supervise PhD students working on the following topics:听
John Donne and Hebrew
The imaginative representation and folklore of Jacobitism
The Book of Daniel in early modern English literature and culture
Published books (single-authored)
Shakespeare and Religion听(London: Arden Shakespeare, Critical Companions, 2010; paperback 2015).听
Oral Culture and Catholicism in Early Modern England听(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007, paperback,听 2009).听 This volume was awarded the Dietz Prize by the journal听Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900.听
Catholicism, Controversy and the English Literary Imagination, 1558-1660听(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999, paperback 2006).听
Published books (co-authored and edited)
(Co-edited with David Loewenstein) Early Modern Literature and England鈥檚 Long Reformation (Abingdon: Routledge/ Taylor and Francis, 2020). This is a republication of a special issue of Reformation 24:2 (2019). I co-wrote the introduction and contributed an essay: 鈥楽acrilege, Tractarian Fiction and the Very Long Reformation鈥�, pp.143-57.
(Co-edited with Judith Maltby)听Anglican Women Novelists: From Charlotte听Bront毛听听to P.D. James听(Bloomsbury / T. & T. Clark, 2019).听I co-wrote the introduction and wrote the chapter on P.D. James; the volume also covers Charlotte听Bront毛, Charlotte Maria Tucker (鈥楢 Lady of England鈥�), Charlotte M. Yonge, Margaret Oliphant, Evelyn Underhill, Rose Macaulay, Dorothy L. Sayers, Noel Streatfeild, Elizabeth Goudge, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Pym, Monica Furlong.听Poets鈥� Corner in Westminster Abbey and the University Church in Oxford have hosted lecture series drawn from the book, and I have spoken on the topic at several literary festivals.
(Co-edited with Alison Emblow)听Index to the Court Books of the Stationers鈥� Company, 1679 to 1717听(London and Oxford: Oxford UP/ Bibliographical Society, 2007). I contributed all the entries for the years 1679-1697, the editorial material and a 15,000-word introduction. The volume was shortlisted for the Wheatley Medal of the Society of Indexers.
(Co-edited with Giles Mandelbrote and Arnold Hunt)听The Book Trade and its Customers(Winchester: St Paul's Bibliographies, 1997). I authored听 鈥楾he Antiquarian Satirised: John Clubbe鈥檚听History and Antiquities of Wheatfield听(1758)鈥�, pp.243-73听
Published articles and book chapters (selected)
Priestly Playwright, Secular Priest: William Drury's Latin and English Drama', SEDERI 31 (2021), pp.117-45.
鈥楽outhwell鈥檚 Influence: Imitations, Appropriations, Reactions鈥�, in Precarious Identities: Studies in the Work of Fulke Greville and Robert Southwell, ed. Afroditi-Maria Panaghis and Vassiliki Markidou (Abingdon: Routledge/ Taylor and Francis, 2020), pp.229-249.
'Byzantine Tragedy in Restoration England: Joseph Simons's听Zeno听and Sir William Killigrew's听The Imperial Tragedy',听Renaissance Studies, 30:4 (2016), pp.623-39.
'The Writing on the Wall? John Ingram's Verse and the Dissemination of Catholic Prison Writing',听British Catholic History, 33:1 (2016), pp. 58-70.
鈥楽eraphic Discourse, Mystical Bodies: John Austin鈥檚 Original Psalms鈥�, in Nigel Smith & Sara Poor (eds),听Mysticism and Reform, 1400-1750听(Notre Dame:听 Notre Dame UP, 2015), pp.265-90. 听
鈥楧elusion in听A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream鈥�, in David Loewenstein and Michael Witmore (eds),听Shakespeare and Early Modern Religion听(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015), pp.81-95.听
鈥業ntimate Worship: John Austin鈥檚听Devotions in the Ancient Way of Offices鈥�, in Alec Ryrie and Jessica Martin (eds),听Private and Domestic Devotion in Early Modern Britain(Farnham: Ashgate, 2012), pp.259-80.
鈥榃illiam Alabaster and the Palinode鈥�, in Lowell Gallagher (ed.),听Redrawing the Map of Early Modern English Catholicism听(Toronto UP/ 香港六合彩A Center for 17th-Century and 18th-Century Studies, 2012), pp.115-31.听
鈥楾he Death of Donne鈥� in Jeanne Shami, M. Thomas Hester & Dennis Flynn (eds),听The Oxford Handbook of John Donne听(Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011), pp.646-57.
鈥楾he 16th- and 17th-Century 鈥淟ives鈥� of Edmund Gennings鈥�,听Recusant History, 30:2 (2010), pp.213-27.
鈥楾ragedy and Religion鈥�, in Emma Smith and Garrett A. Sullivan (eds),听The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy听(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010), pp.44-57.
鈥楽eventeenth-Century Poetry: II (Herbert, Marvell, Vaughan, Crashaw, Philips)鈥� in听The Cambridge History of English Poetry, ed. Michael O鈥橬eill (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010), pp.211-30.
(with Arnold Hunt), 鈥楾he Book as Gift in Elizabethan Durham: Barnabe Barnes鈥檚听A Divine Centurie of Spiritual Sonnets鈥�, in Paul Scott (ed.),听Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity in the Republic of Letters听(Manchester: Manchester UP, 2010), pp.117-33.
鈥楧ivine Muses, Catholic Poets and Pilgrims to St Winifred鈥檚 Well: Literary Communities in Francis Chetwinde鈥檚 鈥淣ew Hellicon鈥� (1642)鈥�, in Roger Sell & Anthony Johnson (eds),听Religion and Writing in England, 1558-1689: Studies in Community-Making and Cultural Memory听(Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), pp.273-88.
鈥楽t Winifred鈥檚 Well in British Catholic Literary Culture鈥�, in Peter Davidson and Jill Bepler (eds),听Triumphs of the Defeated: Early Modern Festivals and Messages of Legitimacy(Wolfenb眉ttel: Bibliothek Wolfenb眉ttel, 2007), pp.271-80.听
鈥楨lizabeth Cary鈥檚 Historical Conscience:听The Tragedy of Mariam听and Thomas Lodge鈥檚 Josephus鈥�, in Heather Wolfe (ed.),听The Literary Career and Legacy of Elizabeth Cary, 1613-1680听(Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007), pp.53-67. 听
(With Peter Davidson) 鈥楾owards a Definition of 鈥淏aroque鈥濃��,听PN Review, 33:1 (2006), pp.14-17.
Why Didn't Shakespeare Write Religious Verse?'听 in J.R. Mulryne & Takashi Kosuka (eds),听Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson听(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp.85-112.
(with Arnold Hunt) 鈥楯ohn Donne鈥檚 Religious World鈥�, in Achsah Guibbory (ed.),听The Cambridge Companion to John Donne听(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006), pp.65-82.
'"Furor Juvenilis": Post-Reformation English Catholic Mission and Exemplary Youthful Behaviour', in Ethan Shagan (ed.),听Catholics and the Protestant Nation听(Manchester: Manchester UP, 2005), pp.185-206. This volume went into paperback in 2009.
听'"Often to my self I make my mone": Early Modern Women's Poetry from the Feilding Family', in Victoria Burke & Jonathan Gibson (eds),听Early Modern Women's Writing in Manuscript听(London: Routledge, 2004), pp.259-77.
鈥楧onne and Sir Edward Hoby: Evidence for an Unrecorded Collaboration', in David Colclough (ed.),听John Donne's Professional Lives听(Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003), pp.121-32.
'What is a Catholic Poem? Explicitness and Censorship in Tudor and Stuart Religious Verse', in Andrew Hadfield (ed.),听Literature and Censorship in Renaissance England(Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2001), pp.95-111.
'Autodidacticism in English Jesuit Drama: The Writings and Career of Joseph Simons',听MaRDiE听(Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England), 3 (2000), pp.34-56.听
鈥楳ultiple Religious Conversion and the Menippean Self: The Case of Richard Carpenter鈥�, in Arthur Marotti (ed.)听Catholicism and Anti-Catholicism in Seventeenth-Century Texts听(Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999), pp.154-97.听
鈥楢ntiquarians, Local Politics and the Book Trade: The Publication of Philip Morant's听History of Colchester听(1748)鈥�,听The Library,听 6th series, 21:3 (1999), pp.223-46.
`Popish Plots:听The Feign鈥檇 Curtezans听in Context鈥�, in Janet Todd (ed.)听Aphra Behn Studies听(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996), pp.30-49.
`鈥漌e are made a spectacle鈥�: Campion鈥檚 Dramas鈥�, in Thomas McCoog & Joseph Munitiz (eds)听The Reckoned Expense: Edmund Campion and the early English Jesuits(Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 1996), pp.103-18. This collection was reprinted in 2007.听
`Publishing Pompeii: a Study in Cultural Censorships鈥�,听Biblion: The Journal of the New York Public Library, 4:2 (1996), pp.1-23.
`Catholic Texts and Anti-Catholic Prejudice in the Seventeenth-Century Book Trade鈥�, in Robin Myers & Michael Harris (eds)听Censorship and the Control of Print in England and France, 1600-1910听(Winchester: St. Paul鈥檚 Bibliographies, 1992), pp.33-57.
Review articles and selected shorter pieces
鈥楻ecent Work on Robert Southwell鈥�,听Reformation, 14 (2009), pp.184-93.
Notices on William Lane and Jane Barker for the 'Missing Persons' volume of the听Dictionary of National Biography; notices on Anthony Rivers and Joseph Simons for the online听Oxford DNB听(2004).
Entries on 'Reformation and Counter-Reformation' and 'Jesuit Drama' for听The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Theatre and Performance听(Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003).
Entry on Robert Southwell for the听Oxford Encyclopaedia of British Literature, ed. David Kastan (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005).
鈥楬ymns and Prosopopoeia: Samuel Crossman鈥檚 鈥楳y Song is Love Unknown鈥�,听Religion and Literature, 42:3 (2010), pp.191-8.
Curatorial activity
In 2016 I guest-curated '"Cloud-Capped Towers": Shakespeare in Sir John Soane's Architectural Imagination', at Sir John Soane's Museum (April-September).听
I co-edited听Early Printed Books, 1478-1840: Catalogue of the British Architectural Library Early Imprints Collection听(London: Bowker-Saur), contributing to vols I-III听 (1994-1999). The set of volumes was given the Besterman Prize (awarded to a reference book) at the CILIP awards in November 2003.