CURRICULUM VITAE
SUPERNUMERARY TEACHING FELLOW
English Lit. from 1740-2000, St John’s College, University of Oxford
I was a Director of Studies for first-year undergraduates, and a College Advisor to graduate students studying eighteenth to twentieth century English Literature. Working with students in both tutorials and classes, my teaching responsibilities included, Moderations Paper 1 (Introduction to the Study of Literature), Paper 2a (Victorian Literature), Paper 2b (Modern Literature), Final Honour School Paper 6 (1740-1832), Paper 7 (Special Authors) and Paper 8 (Special Topics). I have also lectured extensively on Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century courses, as well as designing a Masters Course for postgraduates.
PUBLICATIONS
Coleridge and Scepticism, Oxford English Monographs, (Clarendon Press, 2007)
My first book, Coleridge and Scepticism, was published in the Oxford English Monographs series. This is an original interdisciplinary study of the philosophical and theological contexts of Coleridge’s theory of natural symbolism. It explored, the important influence of a tradition of ‘epistemological piety’ on Coleridge's mature thought. I argued that sceptical themes present in the writings of Calvin, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Hume and Kant - derived from Protestant critiques of natural reason - undermined Coleridge’s confidence in his ability to read the language of God in nature.
HIGHER EDUCATION
D.Phil. English Literature, University of Oxford:
“Analogy, Disanalogy and the Coleridgean Symbol: Some Philosophical and Theological Contexts for Coleridge’s Theory of Symbolism”. Professor Anthony Nuttall and Professor John Beer examined the thesis in August 2003.
HIGHER EDUCATION
M.Phil. English Romantic Studies, University of Oxford (Distinction)
This intensive two-year taught course gave me a thorough grounding in English Literature from 1775 to 1832. We studied poetry, political theory, drama, essays and criticism, situating texts in their widest social and political context. I wrote on Burke, Paine, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, Mary Shelley, Hazlitt and De Quincey.
The lucidity and rigour of Coleridge and Scepticism should recommend it not just to Coleridgeans, but to any reader interested in interactions between literature and philosophy in the long eighteenth century.