Peter Conrad is an Australian-born academic specializing in English literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

, currently teaching at Christ Church

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

 at Oxford University.

Conrad moved to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship

Rhodes Scholarship

The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...

 in 1968. He became a Fellow of All Souls, Oxford

All Souls College, Oxford

The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....

, from 1970 to 1973 before taking up his current post at Christ Church. He has taught English at Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, since 1973, and has been a visiting Professor at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 and at Williams College

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

, and a guest lecturer throughout the United States.

He has written a number of works of criticism including a major history of English literature, The Everyman History of English Literature, a cultural history of the twentieth century, two autobiographical works and a novel. He has written books of criticism on Orson Welles

Orson Welles

George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

 and Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

 and has been a prolific writer of features and reviews for many magazines and newspapers including The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

, The Observer

The Observer

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

, the New Statesman

New Statesman

New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....

and The Monthly

The Monthly

The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer Morry Schwartz...

.

He is satirised as "Mr Kurtz" in James Delingpole

James Delingpole

James Delingpole is an English columnist and novelist. A self-described libertarian conservative, he writes for The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Spectator. He has published several novels and four political books, most recently Watermelons: The Green Movement's True Colors [2011]...

's novel Thinly Disguised Autobiography.

Publications

• The Victorian Treasure-House
• Shandyism: The Character of Romantic Irony
• Romantic Opera and Literary Form
• Imagining America
• Television: The Medium and its Manners
• The Art of the City: Views and Versions of New York
• The Everyman History of English Literature
• A Song of Love and Death: The Meaning of Opera, New York: Poseidon Press, 1987 ISBN 0671643533
• Behind the Mountain: Return to Tasmania
• Where I fell to Earth: A Life in Four Cities, New York: Poseidon Press, 1990 ISBN 0671682334
• Modern Times, Modern Places: Life and Art in the Twentieth Century, Thames & Hudson 1999 ISBN 978-0500281512

External links

• "Newsreel History" by Terry Eagleton
  Terry Eagleton
  Terence Francis Eagleton FBA is a British literary theorist and critic, who is regarded as one of Britain's most influential living literary critics...
  
  : Review of Modern Times, Modern Places.
• "Boyer Lecture": Boyer Lectures recorded 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
  
  .