Dr Neil Badmington - BA (Exeter), MA, PhD (Wales)
Overview
Telephone: +44(0)29 208 76255
Fax: +44(0)29 208 74502
Extension: 76255
Location: Humanities Building, Colum Drive, Cathays, Cardiff, CF10 3EU.
Research Group
Cultural Criticism / English Literature
Research Interests
Twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature (especially American); film (particularly the work of Alfred Hitchcock); poststructuralism (with an emphasis upon the work of Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida); postmodernity; textuality; posthumanism; narratives of withdrawal/retreat from the world.
I welcome applications from potential PhD students whose plans overlap with any of my listed interests. Informal enquiries are always welcome.
Selected Publications
Hitchcock's Magic (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011).
Alien Chic: Posthumanism and the Other Within (London and New York: Routledge, 2004).
Ed., Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory (London and New York: Routledge, 2010).
Ed. (with Julia Thomas), The Routledge Critical and Cultural Theory Reader (London and New York: Routledge, 2008).
Ed., Derridanimals. Special issue of The Oxford Literary Review 29 (2007).
Ed., Posthuman Conditions. Special double issue of Subject Matters 3.2/4.1 (2007).
Ed., Posthumanism (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2000).
NB: Please click on ‘Publications’ (above) for a complete list.
Teaching
I teach on the BA and MA in English Literature programmes.
Publications
Books and edited collections
Hitchcock’s Magic (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011). x + 208 pp. (Distributed in the USA by the University of Chicago Press.)
Alien Chic: Posthumanism and the Other Within (London and New York: Routledge, 2004). x + 203 pp.
(Editor, with Jürgen Pieters) Literature and Culture: The Work of Catherine Belsey. Special issue of Textual Practice 24.6 (2010).
(Editor) Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory: Volume I (London and New York: Routledge, 2010). xxiv + 208 pp.
(Editor) Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory: Volume II (London and New York: Routledge, 2010). xi + 390 pp.
(Editor) Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory: Volume III (London and New York: Routledge, 2010). xi + 316 pp.
(Editor) Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory: Volume IV (London and New York: Routledge, 2010). xi + 400 pp.
(Editor, with Julia Thomas) The Routledge Critical and Cultural Theory Reader (London and New York: Routledge, 2008). xii + 452 pp.
(Editor) Derridanimals. Special issue of The Oxford Literary Review 29 (2007).
(Editor) Posthuman Conditions. Special double issue of Subject Matters 3.2/4.1 (2007).
(Editor) Posthumanism (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2000). xiii + 172 pp.
Essays
‘Sighs and Citations’, Times Literary Supplement 15 July 2011: 25.
‘Danger! Keep Out! Exploring Culture with Catherine Belsey (and Other Animals)’, Textual Practice 24.6 (2010): 953-65.
‘Posthumanism’, in The Routledge Companion to Literature and Science, eds. Bruce Clarke and Manuela Rossini (London and New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 374-84.
‘The “Inkredible” Roland Barthes’, in Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory: Volume II, ed. Neil Badmington (London and New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 371-9. Reprinted from Paragraph 31.1 (2008).
‘Man Saved By Wolfe’, Electronic Book Review, 2010.
Introduction to Roland Barthes, Mythologies, revised edition, ed. Annette Lavers, trans. Annette Lavers and Siân Reynolds (London: Vintage, 2009), pp. ix-xiv.
‘Blade Runner’s Blade Runners’, Semiotica 173.1/4 (2009): 471-89.
‘L’encroyable Roland Barthes’, in Roland Barthes en cours (1977-1980): Un style de vie, eds. Sémir Badir and Dominque Ducard (Dijon: Editions Universitaires de Dijon, 2009), pp. 145-52.
‘Babelation’, in Cy-Borges: Memories of Posthumanism in the Work of Jorge Luis Borges, eds. Ivan Callus and Stefan Herbrechter (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2009), pp. 60-72.
‘The “Inkredible” Roland Barthes’, Paragraph 31.1 (2008): 84-94.
‘I Ain’t Got No Body: Lyotard and Le Genre of Posthumanism’, in Gender After Lyotard, ed. Margret Grebowicz (New York: State University of New York Press, 2007), pp. 27-43.
‘“…a drowning of the human in the physical”: Jonathan Franzen and the Corrections of Humanism’, Subject Matters 3.2/4.1 (2007): 1-14.
‘Posthuman Conditions’, Subject Matters 3.2/4.1 (2007): ix-xi.
‘Derridanimals’, The Oxford Literary Review 29 (2007): v-vii.
‘Declaration of Ink Dependence’, Writing Technologies 1.1 (2007).
‘Cultural Studies and the Posthumanities’, in New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory, eds. Clare Birchall and Gary Hall (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), pp. 260-72. Chinese and Turkish translations forthcoming.
‘From Critical Practice to Cultural Criticism: An Interview with Catherine Belsey’, Textual Practice 19.1 (2005): 1-12.
‘Roswell High, Alien Chic, and the In/human’, in Teen TV: Genre, Consumption and Identity, eds. Glyn Davis and Kay Dickinson (London: British Film Institute, 2004), pp. 166-76.
‘Mapping Posthumanism’, Environment and Planning A 36.8 (2004): 1341-63. With an introduction by Noel Castree and Catherine Nash, and responses from Jonathan Murdoch, Bruce Braun, and Sarah Whatmore.
‘Post, Oblique, Human’, Theology and Sexuality 10.2 (2004): 56-64.
‘Theorizing Posthumanism’, Cultural Critique 53 (2003): 10-27.
‘Revaluations: Pierre Macherey’, The European English Messenger 11.1 (2002): 65-8.
‘Pod Almighty!; or, Humanism, Posthumanism, and the Strange Case of Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, Textual Practice 15.1 (2001): 5-22.
‘Posthumanist (Com)Promises: Diffracting Donna Haraway’s Cyborg through Marge Piercy’s Body of Glass’, in Posthumanism, ed. Neil Badmington (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2000), pp. 85-97.
‘Disclosure’s Disclosure’, in Subverting Masculinity: Hegemonic and Alternative Versions of Masculinity in Contemporary Culture, eds. Frank Lay and Russell West (Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 2000), pp. 94-105.
‘Cruising the Information Superhighway: Computer-Mediated Communication, Cultural Landscapes, and the Struggle Over Meaning’, in Modern American Landscapes, eds. Mick Gidley and Robert Lawson-Peebles (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1995), pp. 275-91.
Italian translation of ‘The Human and the Labyrinth’, trans. Renata Oggero, Labirinti del fantastico, in press.
Dutch translation of ‘Alien Chic; or, How We Never Really Learned to Stop Worrying and Love E.T.’, Feit & Fictie, in press.
Art
Blue Acid City(dir. Brian Moran and Elliott Dodd, 2008). This film adapted part of my 2004 book, Alien Chic: Posthumanism and the Other Within.
Shorter pieces
Review of Simon Glendinning, Derrida: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), Times Literary Supplement, 6 January 2012: 27.
Review of Roland Barthes, Travels in China (Cambridge: Polity, 2011), Times Literary Supplement, 23 and 30 December 2011: 38.
Review of Alain Robbe-Grillet, Why I Love Barthes (Cambridge: Polity, 2011), Times Literary Supplement, 21 October 2011: 30.
‘Posthumanism’, in The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory: Volume III: Cultural Theory, eds. M. Keith Booker and Michael Ryan (Oxford: Blackwell, 2011), pp. 1212–16.
‘Des jours sombres pour l’enseignement supérieur’, le snesup: Mensuel du Syndicat National de l’Enseignement Supérieur 590 (décembre 2010): 22.
‘What Are You Reading?’, Times Higher Education, 18 March 2010, 51.
‘The Canon: Mythologies by Roland Barthes’, Times Higher Education, 25 February 2010, 49.
‘I’ve Got UFO Under My Skin’, Times Higher Education Supplement, 22 October 2004, 15.
‘Posthumanism’, in The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory, eds. Simon Malpas and Paul Wake (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), pp. 240-1.
Review of Sarah Whatmore, Hybrid Geographies: Natures, Cultures, Spaces (London: Sage, 2002), Cultural Geographies 11.2 (2004): 230-1.
‘Come on Down!’, The Guardian, 11 January 2003, The Guide section, 4-6. Cover story.
‘Pierre Macherey’,The Literary Encyclopedia and the Literary Dictionary, eds. Robert Clark et al., 2003.
Review of Elaine L. Graham, Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), Textual Practice 17.1 (2003): 146-9.
Review of Iain Chambers, Culture After Humanism: History, Culture, Subjectivity (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), Textual Practice 16.1 (2002): 188-91.
‘Jean Baudrillard’, ‘Ernesto Laclau’, ‘Metanarrative’, ‘Mirror Stage’, and ‘Parole’, in Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory, eds. Roberta E. Pearson and Philip Simpson (London and New York: Routledge, 2001) pp. 42, 257-8, 280, 283, 320-1, respectively.
Review of Scott Brewster, John J. Joughin, David Owen and Richard J. Walker, eds. Inhuman Reflections: Thinking the Limits of the Human (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2000), Notes and Queries 246.3 (September 2001): 350-2.
‘Slipstreaming with Lacan’, Science Fiction Studies 27 (2000): 321-5. Review of Fred Botting, Sex, Machines and Navels: Fiction, Fantasy and History in the Future Present (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).
‘Theory 3 – English’, Times Higher Education Supplement, 30 January 1999, 19.
‘A Handbook of Their Own’, Science Fiction Studies 25 (1998): 539-43. Review of Chris Hables Gray et al., eds. A Cyborg Handbook (New York and London: Routledge, 1995). [NB: Printers’ errors corrected in the following issue].
Research
I have recently completed a number of major research projects:
- A book entitled Hitchcock’s Magic (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011).
- A four-volume work entitled Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory (London and New York: Routledge, 2010). This 1400-page collection is the most extensive anthology of criticism devoted to Barthes available in any language.
- The introduction to the revised edition of Roland Barthes’ Mythologies (London: Vintage, 2009). This new edition contains ‘Astrology’, the ‘lost’ mythology that appeared in the French edition of 1957, but in neither the first English translation of 1972 nor The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies.
- A collection, co-edited with Jürgen Pieters, entitled Literature and Culture: The Work of Catherine Belsey. This appeared as a special issue of Textual Practice 24.6 (2010).
With the completion of that work, my new principal research project is a book which considers the relationship between narratives of withdrawal from the world and the act of writing itself. What, I want to ask, is the relationship between withdrawing from the world and the act of inscription itself? Why have many of those who have retreated from ‘civilization’ felt the need to write about the process, either at the time or once a return to society has occurred? (Why not just go quietly?) What is it about retreat that demands recording, and what happens to retreat when it is written? Why might writing stage a radical retreat of its own? I want to address these questions by examining a wide range of narratives of retreat (Thoreau, Huysmans, Ruess, Flaubert, Verne, Auster, and Proust, for example), and I want also to develop a theory of writing as a form of retreat by drawing upon the work of Barthes, Derrida, Saussure, and Lacan.
Other current projects include:
- An essay on the relationship between Roland Barthes’ Mourning Diary and Camera Lucida.
- An edited collection of essays on Barthes’ Mourning Diary and Carnets du voyage en Chine
I am at present supervising PhD theses on the following topics:
- Evolution and degeneration in postmodern science fiction.
- Critical posthumanism and embodiment.
- Weird fiction, evolution and the human.
- Trauma and post-war subjectivity in the work of Samuel Beckett.
Biography
EMPLOYMENT
2009- Reader in English Literature, Cardiff University
2005-9 Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Cardiff University
2001-5 Lecturer (B) in English Literature, Cardiff University
1999-2001 Lecturer (A) in English Literature, Cardiff University
EDUCATION
1995-8 PhD, University of Wales, Cardiff. (British Academy Studentship.)
1994-5 MA in Critical and Cultural Theory, University of Wales, Cardiff (British Academy Studentship.)
1990-4 BA in American and Commonwealth Arts, University of Exeter. Class I. Winner, Exeter Literary Society Prize, 1994. Winner, David Henderson Award, 1994.
1992-3 University of California, Santa Cruz. (Junior Year Abroad programme.)
1982-9 King Henry VIII Comprehensive School, Abergavenny.
ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
I write regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and am a member of the editorial or advisory panels of Social Semiotics, Phrasis: Studies in Language and Literature, Writing Technologies, Etudes britanniques contemporaines, and Rodopi’s Critical Posthumanisms book series.
I have acted as undergraduate and postgraduate External Examiner at Lancaster University, the University of Malta, and Middlesex University, and I was appointed expert étranger for a panel of the Agence d’évaluation de la recherche de l’enseignement supérieur (AERES) assessing the quality of research at University of Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle, University of Paris XIII-Villetaneuse, and University of Paris-Dauphine.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
I am Honorary Secretary of the University and College Union (UCU) at Cardiff University and UCU departmental representative for the School of English, Communication and Philosophy.