Dr James Reath
Research Fellow
English and Creative Writing
Dr James Reath is a Wellcome Early-Career Research Fellow (2023-2027) in English Literature based at the Wellcome Centre for Cultures & Environments of Health (WCCEH). His first book, Anexact Form and Modernist Culture, is forthcoming from Edinburgh University Press. His current Wellcome-funded research project is titled "Molecular Dreamworlds: A Cultural History of Chemical Entanglement, 1945-1995".
Dr Reath's Wellcome Trust funded project, Molecular Dreamworlds, conducts a multidisciplinary investigation into the social and cultural lifeworlds of different synthetic materials in the mid-to-late twentieth century--including agrochemical pesticides, fast-fashion textiles, labor-saving kitchen appliances, and multinational pharmaceuticals.
Dr Reath received his AHRC-funded PhD from University College London in October 2022. Before this he received a BA in English & History (First) from Queen Mary University of London with one-year studying at the University of Miami and an MA in English Literature (Distinction) from McGill University. He has held visiting fellowships at Yale University (funded by the Yale-UCL Collaborative Exchange Program) and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin (funded by AHRC IPS).
Recent essays include "The Groovy: An Everyday Aesthetic of the Sixties" (Textual Practice), "Review: Modernism at the Beach" (Modernist Cultures), and "The Black Atlantic at 30" (Verso Blog).
