University of Sussex profile

University of Sussex
2009 – 2013: AHRC Sponsored DPhil Candidate

Queen Mary, University of London
2008 – 2009: MA Writing in the Modern Age (with Distinction)

Queen Mary, University of London
2005 – 2008: BA English and Drama (Joint Hons First Class)
Westfield Trust Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement

MCP
C#/.NET Framework

Doctoral Thesis Title

Hostility or tolerance? Philosophy, polyphony and the novels of Thomas Pynchon

Description

The primary aim of my thesis is to answer four research questions that situate and investigate the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida in relation to the novels of Thomas Pynchon: 1.) Where, and to what degree, does Pynchon scholarship diverge from the Theory-boom of the 1980s and 1990s?; 2.) Where are the points of hostility?; 3.) Upon what is this hostility predicated?; and 4.) What allegiances are signalled by a hostility or hospitality towards these schools of thought?

Through the structuring device of a New Wittgensteinian reading within a polyphonic context, my thesis attempts to avoid the pitfalls of the prevalent Theory-rooted methodology and, rather than merely noting surface similitude, aims at a politicised, deeper understanding of Pynchon's relationship to philosophical thought.

I am currently supervised by Peter Boxall and Doug Haynes.

Additional Research Interests

Contemporary American fiction (Don DeLillo, David Grossman, Toni Morrison, W.G. Sebald, David Foster-Wallace), Modernism (Ford Madox Ford, Robert Musil), Poststructuralist Theory, the theatre of Samuel Beckett and Joe Orton, the films of Elia Suleiman, alternative theatre practice, literature and technology.

Editorial board: forthcoming postgraduate/early-career researcher, open access e-journal

• Responsible for technical systems including design implementation, coding and deployment

Conference Papers

• June 2010: 'It sure's hell looked like war': Terrorism and the Cold War in Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day and Don DeLillo's Underworld' (forthcoming, IPW 2010: Of Pynchon And Vice: America’s Inherent Others, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland)

Public Performance Work

• November 2008: The Involunteers, Plum, Battersea Arts Centre

Funding Awarded

• October 2009: AHRC Doctoral Studentship: full-time, 3 years, fees and Maintenance.

Training

• March 2010: Digital Researcher workshop, Vitae/British Library
• February 2010: Profolio Doctoral Researcher workshops, University of Sussex