Mr Thomas Rutledge
Lecturer in Literature
| Job Title | Contact | Location |
|---|---|---|
|
Lecturer
in Literature |
T dot Rutledge at uea dot ac dot uk
Tel: +44 (0)1603 59 3555 |
Arts Building 2.53 |
Biography
I was born and raised in the land of the pukeko and the pohutukawa on the other side of the globe. I studied first at the University of Auckland, completing a BA in English and Latin and an MA in English, before coming to England in 1998 to work on a DPhil. on “Aspects of the Reception of Classical and Italian Literature in Early-Renaissance Scotland” at the University of Oxford. I came to UEA in 2002, where I have been a Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature since 2005. While I’m prepared to concede that the Guinness is better, the weather most certainly is not.
I’m a keen follower of the All Blacks (of course – though not in World Cup years, naturally) and a devoted fan of the giallorossi, A. S. Roma (and of the Azzurri), so any supporter of the club from Old Trafford would do well to keep quiet about that. On the other hand, I love my music (rather unoriginally, Mozart, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Paul Simon, especially), and play the trumpet badly, the guitar much worse, and am desperately looking for someone brave enough to teach me the cello. If anyone likes to mix a bit of Casals with their Chaucer, then click here!
Key Research Interests
My research interests are in Older Scots literature, particularly in the works of Robert Henryson, Gavin Douglas, and John Bellenden, and, more generally, in the medieval and Early Modern reception of classical literature. I’m also very interested in trecento and quattrocento Italian culture and its transmission and reception within late-medieval and Early Modern Scotland and England.
My work has focused particularly on the great classical translations of Virgil’s Aeneid and Livy’s Ab urbe condita, completed by Gavin Douglas in 1513 and by John Bellenden c.1533, and on Robert Henryson’s Orpheus and Eurydice and on the relationship between these works and the parallel intertextual projects of Dante, Boccaccio, Veggio, Landino, and Poliziano. I’m especially interested in the manner in which classical texts are reimagined within new cultural circumstances and for new purposes. I tend to get grumpy with classicists who simplify the medieval and with medievalists who simplify the classical.
I am about to pursue further my interest in Ariosto’s Romance-Epic, Orlando Furioso, and its Scottish translation by John Stewart of Baldynneis.
I would be very happy to consider applications for supervising full-time or part-time research in any of these or related areas.
Teaching Interests
Teaching Interests
I have taught a range of courses in Classical, Medieval, and Early Modern literature at the University of Auckland, the University of Oxford, and at UEA where I teach, or have taught, the following modules: Reading Texts; Writing Texts; Medieval Writing; Chaucer; Virgil’s Classic Epic; Arthurian Traditions; Medieval Gender and Sexuality; Shakespeare; Adaptation: Shakespeare on Stage and Screen; Shakespeare: Shadow and Substance; and I supervise undergraduate dissertations on a range of Classical, Medieval, Early Modern, Romantic, and Modernist topics.
Click here for information about the innovative MA in Medieval and Early Modern Textual Cultures pathway on offer at UEA in the School of Literature, details about current PhD research activities and opportunities, a profile of the lecturers' interests and current projects, an indication of the extensive archival and material culture that is accessible, as well as information on what life is like in Norwich.
Jump to: Article | Book Section
Number of items: 2.
Article
Rutledge, Thomas (2002) Robert Henryson’s Orpheus and Eurydice: A Northern Humanism? Forum for Modern Language Studies, 38. pp. 396-411.
Book Section
Rutledge, Thomas (2007) Gavin Douglas and John Bellenden: Poetic Relations and Political Affiliations. In: Langage Cleir Illumynate: Scottish Poetry from Barbour to Drummond, 1375-1630. Editions Rodopi B.V. ISBN 978-9042023192
