Research Profile
Dr David
Simmons
Senior Lecturer in English & Screen Studies
Faculty of Education and Humanities
- David.Simmons@northampton.ac.uk
- 01604 893291
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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
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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.
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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.
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2017
- Simmons, D. (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, D. (2017) American Horror Fiction: from Poe to Twilight. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9781137532794.
2016
- Simmons, D. (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, L., Simmons, D. and Robinson, K. L., (eds.) (2016) Time on Television: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture. London: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. 9781784530136.
- Jowett, L., Robinson, K. L. and Jowett, L. (2016) Time on Television: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture. London: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. 9781784530136.
- Simmons, D. (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, D. (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, S. and Simmons, D. (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, D. (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, D. and Ibrahim, W. (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, C. (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, N. and Simmons, D., (eds.) (2014) Reassessing the Twentieth Century Canon: From Joseph Conrad to Zadie Smith. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 9781137366009.
2013
- Simmons, D. (2013) Member of Editorial Board. The Journal Of Popular Culture. Blackwell Publishing. 0022-3840, (1540-5931 electronic).
- Simmons, D. (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, D. (2013) Founding Member. Kurt Vonnegut Society.
- Simmons, D., (ed.) (2013) New Critical Essays on H.P. Lovecraft. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9781137332240.
- Simmons, D. (2013) The Wicker Man pre-screening talk. Other presented to: Screening of The Wicker Man, Errol Flynn Cinema, Northampton, 06 November 2013. (Unpublished)
- Simmons, D. (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, D., (ed.) (2012) Investigating Heroes: Essays on Truth, Justice, and Quality TV. North Carolina: McFarland. 9780786459360.
2011
- Simmons, D. (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, D. (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, D. (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, D., (ed.) (2011) New Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut. Paperback ed. New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9780230120976.
- Simmons, D. (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, D. (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, D. (2010) South Park. In: Abbott, S. (ed.) Abbott, Stacey The Cult TV Book. New York and London: I.B.Taurus. pp. 199-202.
- Simmons, D. (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, D. and Allen, N. (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, C. (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, D. (2008) The Anti-Hero in the American Novel: From Joseph Heller to Kurt Vonnegut. New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan. 9780230603233.
This list was generated from NECTAR on Sun Nov 18 15:57:00 2018 GMT.