Staff directory
Dr. David Simmons
- Job title: Senior Lecturer in English & Screen Studies
- Department: Journalism, Media & Performance
- Tel: 01604 893291
- Email: david.simmons@northampton.ac.uk
General information
David Simmons is currently Senior Lecturer in English and Screen Studies at the University of Northampton.
Administrative Positions
- Level 4 Year Tutor for Film and Screen Studies and Media Production and the Moving Image
Other Positions
- member of the Editorial Board for The Journal of Popular Culture
- member of the Editorial Board for Americana; The Journal of American Popular Culture
- peer reviewer for Revenant: Critical and Creative Studies of the Supernatural
- peer reviewer for Palgrave Macmillan in the areas of Contemporary American literature
- founding member of The Kurt Vonnegut Society
Teaching
Module Leader for the following modules:
- Reading Literary Genres (Level 4)
- Screen Cultures (Level 4)
- Visions of America: Contemporary Literature (Level 5)
- Media Convergence (Level 5)
- Contemporary British Literature (Level 7)
Other areas of teaching expertise include Popular Fiction, The Weird, and Hollywood Cinema.
Research
David's research interests lie primarily in twentieth century American popular literature and screen media. More specifically, he has undertaken research work in the following areas:
- the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
- adaptation and transmedia incarnations of Lovecraft's work
- pulp fictions
- Socio-political and cultural readings of the post war U.S. novel
- the work of Kurt Vonnegut, the writing of Herbert Marcuse
- the work and theory of Albert Camus
- the western novel
- the writing of Chuck Palahniuk
- the field of travel writing,particularly Wilfred Thesiger and Paul Bowle
- the depiction of development of the hero/anti-hero in U.S. post war fiction and film
- The cult television series Heroes, South Park, Quantum Leap and Supernatural
- American Horror Story and films of the Hammer and Amicus film studios
Current Research Projects
David will shortly be publishing a co-edited collection of essays on twentieth century canonical British and U.S. fiction as well as a co-edited collection on depictions of time as a concept within genre television. David is also currently exploring the subject of weird writing in a U.S. context
Areas for Supervision of Research Students
David welcomes applications for postgraduate research on topics relating to H.P. Lovecraft, weird fiction (particularly in a U.S. context), the postwar U.S. novel, Chuck Palahniuk.
Publications
2017
- Simmons, David (2017) 'The crazed nonsense that paid the bills': reading Stephen King’s The Dark Half (1989) as a critique of the commercial imperative behind popular fiction. Invited Presentation presented to: Rereading Stephen King: Navigating the Intertextual Labyrinth, Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, 11 November 2017.
- Simmons, David (2017) American Horror Fiction: from Poe to Twilight. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9781137532794.
2016
- Simmons, David (2016) H.P. Lovecraft and real person fiction: the pulp author as subcultural avatar. In: Sederholm, C. H. and Weinstock, J. A. (eds.) Sederholm, Carl H and Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew The Age of Lovecraft. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 149-165.
- Jowett, Lorna, Simmons, David and Robinson, Kevin Lee, (eds.) (2016) Time on Television: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture. London: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. 9781784530136.
- Jowett, Lorna, Robinson, Kevin Lee and Jowett, Lorna (2016) Time on Television: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture. London: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. 9781784530136.
- Simmons, David (2016) “Bonanza was never like this..,” Quantum Leap and interrogating nostalgia. In: Jowett, L., Robinson, K. L. and Simmons, D. (eds.) Jowett, Lorna, Robinson, Kevin Lee and Simmons, David Time on Television: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture. London: IB Tauris. pp. 145-156.
- Simmons, David (2016) “The future’s so bright and I owe it all to you”: considering negative capability in relation to Joss Whedon’s unfinished oeuvre. Paper presented to: 7th Biennial Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses (Euroslayage), Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, 07-10 July 2016. (Unpublished)
2015
- Andermahr, Sonya and Simmons, David (2015) The University of Northampton School of the Arts 'Opps for Apps' Project. Panel Presentation presented to: Opps for Apps Symposium, The University of Northampton, School of the Arts, 17 June 2015. (Unpublished)
2014
- Simmons, David (2014) 'Hundred-per-cent American con man': character in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In: Allen, N. and Simmons, D. (eds.) Allen, Nicola and Simmons, David Reassessing the Twentieth Century Canon: from Joseph Conrad to Zadie Smith. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 175-186.
- Simmons, David and Ibrahim, Wasfi (2014) Between Orientalism and post-modernism: Robert Irwin’s fantastic representations in The Arabian Nightmare. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies. 20(1), pp. 91-112. 1218-7364.
- Allen, Claire (2014) Beyond Postmodernism in Alasdair Gray's Lanark. In: Allen, N. and Simmons, D. (eds.) Allen, Nicola and Simmons, David Reassessing the Twentieth Century Canon: From Joseph Conad to Zadie Smith. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 206-220.
- Allen, Nicola and Simmons, David, (eds.) (2014) Reassessing the Twentieth Century Canon: From Joseph Conrad to Zadie Smith. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 9781137366009.
2013
- Simmons, David (2013) Member of Editorial Board. The Journal Of Popular Culture. Blackwell Publishing. 0022-3840, (1540-5931 electronic).
- Simmons, David (2013) Member of Editorial Board. Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, 1900 to present. Americana, The Institute for the Study of Popular Culture. 1553-8931.
- Simmons, David (2013) Founding Member. Kurt Vonnegut Society.
- Simmons, David, (ed.) (2013) New Critical Essays on H.P. Lovecraft. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9781137332240.
- Simmons, David (2013) The Wicker Man pre-screening talk. Other presented to: Screening of The Wicker Man, Errol Flynn Cinema, Northampton, 06 November 2013. (Unpublished)
- Simmons, David (2013) “They're for Who fans first and gamers second”: narratology vs ludology in Doctor Who: The Adventure Games. Panel Presentation presented to: Doctor Who: Walking in Eternity, University of Hertfordshire, 03-05 September 2013. (Unpublished)
2012
- Simmons, David, (ed.) (2012) Investigating Heroes: Essays on Truth, Justice, and Quality TV. North Carolina: McFarland. 9780786459360.
2011
- Simmons, David (2011) "By Jupiter's cock!" Spartacus: Blood and Sand, video games, and camp excess. In: Cornelius, M. G. (ed.) Cornelius, Michael G Of Muscles and Men: Essays on the Sword and Sandal Film. North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 144-153.
- Simmons, David (2011) "There's a ton of lore on unicorns too": postmodernist micro-narratives and Supernatural. In: Abbott, S. and Lavery, D. (eds.) Abbott, Stacey and Lavery, David TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Roadmap of Supernatural. Toronto: ECW Press. pp. 132-145.
- Simmons, David (2011) Hammer Horror and science fiction. In: Hochscherf, T. and Leggott, J. (eds.) Hochscherf, Tobias and Leggott, James British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays. North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 50-59.
- Simmons, David, (ed.) (2011) New Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut. Paperback ed. New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9780230120976.
- Simmons, David (2011) “Nothing too heavy or too light" negotiating Moore’s Tom Strong and the academic establishment. Studies in Comics. 2(1), pp. 57-67. 2040-3232.
2010
- Simmons, David (2010) "The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true": negotiating the reality of World War II in Slaughterhouse-Five and Catch-22. In: Mustazza, L. (ed.) Mustazza, Leonard Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut. California: Salem Press. pp. 64-79.
- Simmons, David (2010) South Park. In: Abbott, S. (ed.) Abbott, Stacey The Cult TV Book. New York and London: I.B.Taurus. pp. 199-202.
- Simmons, David (2010) “A certain resemblance”: negotiating Africa as abjection within and without in H.P. Lovecraft’s “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” and “Under the Pyramids”. Critical Engagements. 2(1), pp. 59-83. 1754-0984.
2009
- Simmons, David and Allen, Nicola (2009) Reading Chuck Palahniuk’s Survivor (2000) and Haunted (2005) as critique of ‘The Culture Industry'. In: Kuhn, C. and Rubin, L. (eds.) Kuhn, Cynthia and Rubin, Lance Reading Chuck Palahniuk: American Monsters and Literary Mayhem. New York and London: Routledge. pp. 116-128.
- Allen, Claire (2009) Wampeters and foma? Misreading religion in Cat's Cradle and The Book of Dave. In: Simmons, D. (ed.) Simmons, David New Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 213-226.
2008
- Simmons, David (2008) The Anti-Hero in the American Novel: From Joseph Heller to Kurt Vonnegut. New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9780230603233.
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