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Research Profile

Dr David
Simmons

Senior Lecturer in English & Screen Studies

  • Current Position

    Senior Lecturer in English and Screen Studies. My interests include Twentieth Century U.S. fiction, Pulp and Horror Writing, Adaptation, and Video-Games. David has published widely in these fields including monographs on the changing depiction of heroism in the U.S. during the post war period and the importance of Class in Horror Fiction.

    Current responsibilities
    • One of the departmental leads for pastoral care for Joint Honours students in FAST, and a member of the university’s steering committee for Joint honours students. 
    • Research co-ordinator for the AHRC funded project Diaspora Screen Media Network (2019-2021). 
    • Run the English department’s twitter feed at @EngNorthants
    • Central point of contact for the University’s cult film club that runs in association with the local independent cinema, The Northampton Filmhouse. This involves monthly screenings with associated public events including pre-screening lectures, post screening panel discussions, Director Q and As, etc.
  • Module leader
    • LIT1033: Life, Liberty and Happiness: Introduction to American Literature,
    • LIT2045: Visions of America,
    • LIT3061: Adaptation,
    • LITM036: Pulp Visions;
    • LITM041: Literary Transmediations;
    • MED1078: Media and Creative Industries;
    • MED2096: Media Convergence;
    • MED3061 Cult Media.

    David teaches on all of these modules as well as supervising dissertations on LIT4016 and LITM043. David has also taught modules on The Gothic, Postcolonial Literature, Modernism, and Literary Theory.

    In 2016 David attained Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

  • David has an internationally recognised research profile having published widely with many respected UK based and International, scholarly publishers.

    Recent Publications

    Monograph
    • Simmons, D. American Horror Fiction and Class: From Poe to Twilight. London and New York: Palgrave. 2017. 978113753280-0. 
    Edited Collection
    • Jowett, L., Simmons, D. and Robinson, K. L., (eds.) Time on Television: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture. London: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. 2016. 9781784530136.
    • Allen, N., Simmons, D. (eds) Reassessing the Contemporary Canon: From Joseph Conrad to Zadie Smith. New York and London: Palgrave, 2015. 9781137366009. 
    Chapters 
    • Simmons, D. “H.P. Lovecraft and real person fiction: the pulp author as subcultural avatar”. In: Sederholm, C. H. and Weinstock, J. A. (eds.) The Age of Lovecraft. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2016. pp. 149-165.
    • Simmons, D. “Bonanza was never like this..,” Quantum Leap and interrogating nostalgia. In: Jowett, L., Robinson, K. L. and Simmons, D. (eds.) Time on Television: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture. London: IB Tauris.2016. pp. 145-156.
    • Simmons, D. “’Hundred-per-cent American Con Man’: Character in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. In: Allen, N., Simmons, D. (eds) Reassessing the Contemporary Canon: From Joseph Conrad to Zadie Smith. New York and London: Palgrave, 2015. pp. 175-186.

    Editorial Boards

    • Member of Editorial Board for the peer reviewed The Open Access Library of the Humanities (2016-)
    • Member of Editorial Board for the peer reviewed The Journal of Popular Culture (2015-)
    • Member of Editorial Board for the peer reviewed Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, 1900 to present (2014-)
    • Member of Editorial Board of BAAS: US Studies Online peer reviewed journal.(2014-)
    • Manuscript reviewer for Palgrave Macmillan in area of Contemporary American Literature (2012-)
    • Member of ABES (Annotated Bibliography of English Studies),Contributor/reviewer of Contemporary American Literature (2009-)
    • Founder member of the Kurt Vonnegut Society (2009-)
    • Member of the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies (2006-)
    • Regular Radio Appearances on BBC Radio Northampton and NNBC, 2015-present

    In addition to the outlined scholarly research David has recently had success bidding for an AHRC network grant (£29,000) for a project entitled “Diaspora Screen Media Network”. 

    As Research Co-ordinator for the project, David played a key part in writing the application documents and is am currently involved in the successful organisation and running of the network’s events and website. The project aims to create a space for those interested and active in the areas of Black British and British Asian Screen Media to discuss pertinent issues and brings together two of the University’s key ongoing interests: Diversity Digital Teaching/Learning.

    The project has already involved the participation of the local community and national/international organisations such as The Muslim Film Council, the BBC, and Film Hub Midlands. The intention is for the team to apply for follow on funding from the AHRC once the project’s initial running period has ended.

    Current research projects

    David continues to be research active, publishing numerous chapters, journal articles, and book length projects. David is currently working on two projects, the first with Liverpool University Press for a monograph on Monsters in Popular Culture, and the second with The University of Wales Press for a book on Shared Universes in Horror Fiction and Film.

    Areas for supervision of research students

    Since becoming a permanent member of staff, David has been involved with the supervision of 7 PhD students, on such diverse subjects as Trauma in Marvel Movies, Transmedia and H.P. Lovecraft. Southern Gothic Fiction, and Depiction of Algeria in Fiction.

    David would be interested in supervising doctoral work in the areas of:

    • Gothic/Horror fiction
    • Adaptation and transmedia incarnations of Lovecraft’s work
    • Pulp fiction
    • Twentieth Century U.S. Fiction
    • Literature and Existentialism
    • The Frankfurt School and Literature/Popular Culture
    • The Western
    • Travel Writing
    • Cult TV and Film

  • For publications, projects, datasets, research interests and activities, view David Simmons’s research profile on Pure, the University of Northampton’s Research Explorer.