About us

Working under the broad heading of Materialities, this group undertakes research into textual scholarship, material cultures and performance practice.

We have produced editions of world-leading importance including the works of Margaret Oliphant (Chatto and Windus), John Ford (Oxford University Press), and Ben Jonson (Cambridge University Press). Further editorial work in progress includes an edition of Elizabeth Montagu’s letters, supported by an AHRC Networking Grant, and the Longman edition of Christina Rossetti’s poems. Group members have also worked extensively with practice-based researchers at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Pegasus Theatre.

More generally, our work explores the material texts and objects which people make, give and exchange – and considers how these things acquire meaning in the world. Our research engages fundamentally with the different things that ‘matter’ when we write, read, watch or otherwise experience literature.

Coloured cotten reels

Related courses

Leadership

Katharine Craik

Professor Katharine Craik

Director of Research and Professor in Early Modern Literature (1500-1750)

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Membership

Staff

Name Role Email
Dr Carina Bartleet Senior Lecturer in Drama c.e.bartleet@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Laura Higgins Senior Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Drama lhiggins@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Morag Joss Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing mjoss@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Eleanor Lowe Programme Lead for English Literature, Theatre and Creative Writing eleanor.lowe@brookes.ac.uk
Professor Nicole Pohl Professor Emerita in Early Modern Literature and Critical Theory npohl@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Dinah Roe Research Lead for English, Creative Writing and Modern Languages, Reader in 19th Century Literature d.roe@brookes.ac.uk

Projects

Active projects

Project title and description Investigator(s) Funder(s) Dates

Elizabeth Montagu Correspondence Online (EMCO)

Elizabeth Montagu, author and Bluestocking salonnière (1718-1800), was the leading woman of letters and artistic patron of her day. Our project is digitising Montagu’s extant correspondence totaling c. 4,000 documents held in at least 23 libraries, archives and private collections worldwide.

Professor Nicole Pohl AHRC, Foyle Foundation From: January 2017