Project title
Reading on Leave – An examination of the transient spaces of wartime leave in First World War literature.
Biographical Note
Matt is a current, full-time PhD student in the English Literature department. He has focussed on the First World War’s literature during both his previous degrees, exploring Ford Madox Ford’s impressionist depictions of war neurosis during his BA at the University of East London, and rereading nurse narratives of the conflict during his MA at Exeter University. Within his interests in the First World War’s literature, Matt has particular interests in Ford Madox Ford, Mary Borden and the civilian writing of the war.
Research Outline
Owing to the centenary, the First World War is one of scholarship’s current hot topics and there is a clear drive to continue the study of its literature to explore yet more depictions of experience. The move away from literature purely describing life in the trenches has done wonders for the re-understanding of the war experience, emphasising the domestic experiences of the conflict and civilian’s written testaments and contribution to the war culture. ‘Reading on Leave’ explores the motif of wartime leave in First World War literature, looking at the depictions of these transient spaces in relation to a number of themes key in the field’s scholarship including war feeling, war wounds and societal changes. This research not only looks to examine a space previously unexplored in the war’s literature, but through it to unlock new elements of depiction and new elements of the war’s culture.
Supervisory Team
- Dr Andrew Palmer (First Supervisor)
- Dr Stefania Ciocia (Second Supervisor)
- Professor Carolyn Oulton (Chair)