I began my association with the Open University as an Associate Lecturer in 2009 and am now based at the OU in Wales as Staff Tutor for the Arts. Before joining the English department here, I taught at the University of Wales, Lampeter, and Trinity University College Carmarthen.
My teaching interests are broadly based around British literature of the 18th and 19th centuries with a focus on the Romantic Period. In addition I have worked as an AL at the Open University teaching The Arts Past and Present (AA100) and the MA in English (A815/6). I currently sit on the module teams for each of these and look forward to contributing to new courses in the coming years.
My main areas of interest are in the field of Romanticism, in particular the work of Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth and John Clare. My monograph, which is currently in preparation, traces the Romantic origins of Bohemianism and the representation of the Gypsy-Traveller in British literature. In addition, I’ve recently developed interests in ecocriticism and Welsh Writing in English. I would welcome applications for postgraduate research related to Romantic literature and culture.
“Eco-Space in a Talking Place: The Significance of the Gypsy Camp in John Clare’s ‘Lament of Swordy Well’”, Culture, Environment and Eco-Politics, ed. by David Wragg & Nick Heffernan (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011)
“Southey and Itinerancy”, The Wordsworth Circle, 42.1 (2011), 68-72.
Romantic Bohemianism (under negotiation, 2011)
“The Vagrant Dwellers of Tintern Abbey”, Wye Valley Conference, Tintern, July, 2011
“Robert Southey’s Gypsies”, International Southey Conference, Keswick, March 2010
Email: a.j.howell@open.ac.uk
