RGS

Biography

Biography

After gaining a Double First in English Language and Literature from Christ Church, Oxford, I went on to study for my doctorate there (1984-88), before working free-lance as an editor and writer. In 1993 I joined the department of American Studies, where I’ve taught a wide range of modules, from English and American 20th-century fiction to courses on the Beat Generation and the Counterculture of the 1960s, from introductions to cinema to specialist courses on film noir and Alfred Hitchcock. From 2003 I was Programme Director for English and American Literatures and then also for American Studies. Over the past twenty-five years I've become a leading scholar in the Beat field, especially on the work of William Burroughs, and in 2010 I became founding President of the European Beat Studies Network. In 2023 I worked with the director Luca Guadagnino on his adaptation of Burroughs’ novel, Queer, starring Daniel Craig, and in 2024 I took early retirement to become Professor Emeritus.

School of Humanities
Chancellor's Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5AA
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733109

Head of School
Dr Nick Seager
Room: CBB1.038 (Chancellor's Building, 'B' Extension)
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733142
Email: n.p.seager@keele.ac.uk

School and college outreach
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 734009
Email: outreach@keele.ac.uk