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 Centre for Cultures & Environments of Health (CCEH). He is the author of Anexact Form and Modernist Culture (Edinburgh University Press: 2025) and an essay based on the book's first chapter ("History of the Doodle") can be read in Aeon.
His current Wellcome Trust funded project, Molecular Dreamworlds, conducts a multidisciplinary investigation into the social and cultural agencies of different synthetic materials in the twentieth century: including agrochemicals, trashy textiles, and pharmaceuticals.
Dr Reath received his AHRC-funded PhD from University College London (UCL) 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), "Curt witty wotty dashes" (Aeon), "Review: Modernism at the Beach" (Modernist Cultures), and "The Black Atlantic at 30" (Verso Blog).
