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Dr Hilary Weeks

Senior Lecturer in English Literature

As a former medievalist I know that where we begin may not be where we find ourselves eventually. My road took me from a bookshop in London to an academic career via several years living, working and studying in the USA.

Biography

As a former medievalist I know that where we begin may not be where we find ourselves eventually. My road took me from a BA degree at York to a bookshop in London and then to an academic career via several years living, working and studying in the USA. Medieval romance led me to Tennyson, Morris and Ruskin. Education matters to me as much as literature. I’ve taught and tutored people of all ages, helping them to fulfil their dreams and goals, and I remain dedicated to outreach and university access.

Qualifications

  • BA (Hons): English and Related Literature (German), University of York, 1983
  • MA: English, University of California Los Angeles, 1990
  • PhD: English Literature, University of Gloucestershire, 2005

Membership of professional bodies

British Association of Victorian Studies

Tennyson Society

William Morris Society

Teaching & Research

Teaching

Teaching widely as well as in depth, being part of learning communities and public engagement are my job’s greatest rewards. I focus on nineteenth-century literature, visual culture and travel writing.

Research

Dr Hilary Weeks’s research interests include nineteenth-century (Romantic and Victorian) British literature, European affinities, travel writing, aesthetics, architecture and the visual arts, Pre-Raphaelitism and religion. She has supervised research degrees on Edward Thomas, Mary Webb, and the history of the novel, and examined on architectural geography. She is currently researching early nineteenth-century travel novels for Cambridge University Press.

Publications

More publications from Dr Hilary Weeks can be found in the Research Repository.

External responsibilities

Academic Link Tutor for Yeovil College University Centre

Subject for media interview

Nineteenth-century literature

Culture and art

The Gothic

Travel writing

Psycho-geography

Visual/verbal aesthetics

PreRaphaelites

University access and the level 4 student experience