Background and activities
Departmental roles
Professor of British Literature and Culture
Leader of the research project 'Enlightenment News'
Leader of the Division of Literature and Cultural History
Research interests
I work within the field of eighteenth-century British literature and culture and have specialist interests in theatre history, the actor and playwright Charles Macklin, the life and works of Laurence Sterne, and the mediation of news. I am engaged in projects in all of these areas, and am particularly interested in exploring the impact of the digitization of news archives on eighteenth-century scholarship. This has led to the development of the collaborative project 'Enlightenment News: Periodical Publication, Newspapers and the Digital Archive'.
Background
I was born and educated in Britain. I have a BA in English from the University of London, an MA in English and Art History from the University of Wales, Lampeter, and a PhD in English from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. I have worked at NTNU since 1997.
External roles
Member of the editorial board of The Shandean, a journal devoted to the study of Laurence Sterne.
Member of the editorial board of Oxford Bibliographies: British and Irish Literature
Scientific, academic and artistic work
A selection of recent journal publications, artistic productions, books, including book and report excerpts. See all publications in the database
Journal publications
- (2018) Theatrical Gold Diggers: Fortune-Hunting and the Irish on and off the Eighteenth-Century Stage. Review of English Studies. vol. 69 (292).
- (2016) 'Sterne's Subscribers and the Society of Dilettanti'. The Shandean. vol. 27.
- (2016) Theatrical riots and conspiracies in London and Edinburgh: Charles Macklin, James Fennell and the rights of actors and audiences. Review of English Studies. vol. 67 (278).
- (2015) Gulliver’s Travels on the Mid-Eighteenth-Century Stage; Or, What is an Adaptation?. Forum for modern language studies. vol. 51 (2).
- (2015) Musical Catches and the Singing Nuns of Andouillets. The Shandean. vol. 26.
- (2014) Borrowings from Jonathan Swift in Charles Macklin's the true-born irishman. Notes and Queries. vol. 61 (3).
- (2014) Laurence Sterne and Topham Beauclerk: Evidence of an Acquaintanceship. Notes and Queries. vol. 61 (3).
- (2014) 'Scholia'. Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats. vol. 47 (1).
- (2013) A New Identification of the Addressee of a Late Letter by Laurence Sterne. Notes and Queries. vol. 60 (1).
- (2006) Nicolai Wergeland's 'Hendricopoedia': a text, translation and commentary. The Shandean. vol. 17.
- (2006) Review of Thomas Keymer (ed.), Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy: A Casebook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). The Shandean. vol. 17.
- (2005) Review of Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey and Other Writings, ed. Ian Jack and Tim Parnell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). The Shandean. vol. 16.
- (2003) 'Laurence Sterne: The Florida Edition'. Review. vol. 25.
- (2003) 'Tristram Shandy goes north: a correction'. The Shandean. vol. 14.
- (2003) 'A Sentimental Journey through Germany, Denmark and Sweden: a note on sources for early Scandic translations of Sterne'. The Shandean. vol. 14.
- (2002) "John Bull, pit, box, and gallery, said No!": Charles Macklin and the Limits of Ethnic Resistance on the Eighteenth-Century London Stage. Representations. vol. 79.
- (2002) "Thomas Weales's 'The Christian Orator Delineated' (1778) and the early reception of Sterne's 'Sermons'". The Shandean. vol. 13.
- (2001) 'Anglicanism, Enthusiasm and Quixotism: Preaching and Politeness in Mid-Eighteenth Century Literature'. Literature & Theology. vol. 14 (4).
- (1997) B for Broomstick? : a consideration of Aaron Hill's revolutionary acting theory. Leading notes : journal of the National Early Music Association. vol. 13 (Spring).
Books
- (2018) Travelling Chronicles: News and Newspapers from the Early Modern Period to the Eighteenth Century. Brill Academic Publishers. 2018. ISBN 978-90-04-36287-1. Library of the Written Word (66).