DUNCAN WU
Duncan Wu is Professor of English at Georgetown University in Washington DC and former Professor of English Language and Literature at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. He is the author of numerous books on the poetry and prose of the British Romantic period, as well as on contemporary British drama. He is a regular contributor to the Times Higher Education Supplement, and has written for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, and The Observer.
LATEST BOOK: WILLIAM HAZLITT: THE FIRST MODERN MAN
Romanticism is where the modern age begins, and Hazlitt was its most articulate spokesman. No one else had the ability to see it whole; no one else knew so many of its politicians, poets, and philosophers. By interpreting it for his contemporaries, he speaks to us of ourselves - of the culture and world we now inhabit. Perhaps the most important development of his time, the creation of a mass media, is one that now dominates our lives. Hazlitt's livelihood was dependent on it. As the biography argues, he took political sketch-writing to a new level, invented sports commentary as we know it, and created the essay-form as practised by Clive James, Gore Vidal, and Michael Foot. Duncan Wu's profile of one of the greatest journalists in the language draws on over a decade of archival research in libraries across Britain and North America, to reveal for the first time such matters as why Godwin broke with Hazlitt; how Hazlitt came to know Sir John Soane and J. M. W. Turner; the true nature of Hazlitt's dealings with Thomas Medwin, and what the likes of Joseph Farington and Sir Thomas Lawrence thought of him. In addition, it sheds new light on Hazlitt's dealings with such figures as Francis Jeffrey, Robert Stodart, John M'Creery, Henry Crabb Robinson, Joseph Parkes, John Cam Hobhouse, and Stendhal. It benefits also from Wu's New Writings of William Hazlitt, many of which make their appearance here, illuminating hitherto obscure passages of Hazlitt's life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man (Oxford University Press, 2008). Work on this biography began in October 1994. It contains a host of new discoveries concerning Hazlitt, embracing all periods of his life, from his early boyhood in America to his last days in the solitude of London’s Soho. The biography differs from its predecessors in contextualizing Hazlitt within the Romantic period, for which he was an eloquent spokesman. During the course of work on it, I discovered many new essays by Hazlitt, and five new letters by him.
Nicholas Heiney, The Silence at the Song’s End co-edited with Libby Purves (Song’s End Press, 2007). I co-edited this volume of poems and journals, authored by a former student who committed suicide. It was published in the UK in 2007 and has won an enthusiastic and devoted following. Over 5,000 copies sold. http://www.songsend.co.uk/Site_SONGSEND/HOME.html
New Writings of William Hazlitt (2 vols., Oxford University Press, 2007). These volumes bring together 205 works attributable to Hazlitt (including a poem) not included in the standard edition of the Works. Each is introduced by an essay explaining the grounds for attribution, and annotated to provide points of information, and to gloss allusions and echoes. New writings include pieces on Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, the Utilitarians, and Edmund Kean.
Romanticism: An Anthology (The Third Edition) (Blackwell, 2005). The third edition of the anthology of Romantic poetry and prose first published by Blackwell in 1994, this time incorporating numerous works by Romantic women poets. Introduction, headnotes and annotations completely rewritten. Illustrations, colour plates, a map and a timeline included for the first time. In March 2006 the British Association for Romantic Studies conducted a survey which revealed that over 46% of respondents used Romanticism: An Anthology as a standard course text, making it the most widely-used teaching anthology in the field in the UK.
Metaphysical Hazlitt (Routledge, 2005) (co-edited with Tom Paulin and Uttara Natarajan). A collection of essays by Hazlitt scholars published to commemorate the bicentenary of the publication of his first book, An Essay on the Principle of Human Actions (1805).
Wordsworth’s Poets (Carcanet, 2003). Drawing on the two volumes of Wordsworth’s Reading, this collection of poems anthologizes works admired by Wordsworth.
The Blackwell Essential Literature Series (General editorship). (7 vols., Blackwell, 2002). These volumes draw partly on the texts in the Blackwell Anthology series, partly on other works.
1. Old and Middle English Poetry (co-edited with Elaine Treharne)
2. Poetry from Chaucer to Spenser (co-edited with Derek Pearsall)
3. Renaissance Poetry (edited by Duncan Wu)
4. Poetry from 1660 to 1780 (co-edited with Robert Demaria, Jr)
5. Restoration Comedy (edited by David Womersley with an introduction by Duncan Wu)
6. Romantic Poetry (edited by Duncan Wu)
7. Victorian Poetry (co-edited with Valentine Cunningham)
Wordsworth: An Inner Life (Blackwell, 2002). Critical monograph describing the slow evolution of Wordsworth’s talent under the influence of profound loss, drawing on a thorough survey of the manuscripts at Dove Cottage.
Making Plays: Interviews with Contemporary British Dramatists and Directors (Macmillan, 2000). Interviews with Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner; David Hare and Richard Eyre; David Edgar and Michael Attenborough; Michael Frayn and Michael Blakemore; Howard Brenton and Max Stafford-Clark. An investigation of the close working relationship between the playwright and his director.
Wordsworth’s Reading 1770-1799 (Cambridge University Press, 1993); an annotated account of readings undertaken by Wordsworth up to the age of 29.
Wordsworth: A Selection of his Finest Poems (Oxford University Press, 1994), co-edited with Stephen Gill. Reprinted as the World’s Classics William Wordsworth: Selected Poetry in 1997, and then in the Oxford’s World’s Classics series in 1998. Still in print.
Romanticism: An Anthology (Blackwell, 1994); standard text for University courses. This first edition included a complete text of Wordsworth’s ‘Thirteen-Book Prelude’, among other works.
William Wordsworth: The Earliest Poems 1785-1790 (Carcanet/Routledge, 2002). Annotated edition of the juvenile poetry, aiming to demonstrate both its quality and close relationship to the verse of Wordsworth’s maturity.
13 British Romanticism and the Edinburgh Review (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002); co-edited with Massimiliano Demata. A collection of essays by diverse hands in celebration of the bicentenary of the founding of the Edinburgh Review under Francis Jeffrey’s editorship.
The Selected Writings of William Hazlitt (9 vols., Pickering and Chatto, 1998). A completely re-edited text (including two new essays edited from manuscript), with fresh annotations and scholarly materials.
A Companion to Romanticism (Blackwell, 1998); commissioned essays by distinguished scholars on aspects of the subject.
Romanticism: An Anthology (Second Edition) (Blackwell, 1998); second edition, this time incorporating a complete text of Byron’s Don Juan Cantos I and II, among other things. Introduction, headnotes and annotations completely rewritten.
Romanticism: The CD-ROM. Co-edited with David Miall (Blackwell, 1998); the anthology with pictures, maps, archival materials in digital form.
William Hazlitt, The Plain Speaker: Key Essays (Blackwell, 1998); a selection of the best essays from Hazlitt’s masterpiece, re-edited for the modern readerWilliam Wordsworth: The Five-Book Prelude (Blackwell, 1997); the first edition of Wordsworth’s fugitive poem of early 1804, drawing entirely on the manuscripts at Dove Cottage, Grasmere.
Women Romantic Poets: An Anthology (Blackwell, 1997); a comprehensive anthology of women poets of the Romantic period. Texts were edited for the volume from manuscript and printed sources.
Wordsworth’s Reading 1800-1815 (Cambridge University Press, 1996); the second volume of readings undertaken by Wordsworth, in this case between the ages of 30 and 45.
Six Contemporary Dramatists: Bennett, Potter, Gray, Brenton, Hare, Ayckbourn (Macmillan Press, 1995); essays on six contemporary British playwrights, demonstrating the similarity of their ethical and political interests, and exploring their various responses to the politics of the 1980s.
Romanticism: A Critical Reader (Blackwell, 1995); a selection of essays by major critics in the field published between 1980 and 1995.
