Bruce W. Holsinger is an American author, novelist, and an academic and literary scholar. Currently, he is professor of English at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

Academic career

He is considered an expert on the use of

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

in medieval English manuscript production, and organized, with bioarchaeologists from the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

, the

research project Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

into uterine vellum which established the precise composition for the material used in for the creation of the earliest bible manuscripts.

Novelist

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'' described him as "gamekeeper turned poacher", due to the fact that Holsinger, a professor at the

, specializing in medieval

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

, turned to writing fiction based around his academic interests. His first novel was ''A Burnable Book'' in 2014. This was set in fourteenth-century England during the reign of

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...

, and has Holsinger's protagonist

John Gower John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civ ...

—at the instigation of

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

—hunt down a supposedly revolutionary book, in which a series of poems predict the deaths of the kings of England. One of the most prominent characters is one ''Edgar Rykener''—who is

in-universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...

also called Eleanor—a man who dresses as a woman and has sex for money. This inclusion, says Holsinger, is directly based on the real-life case of

John Rykener Eleanor Rykener, also known as John, was a 14th-century sex worker arrested in December 1394 for performing a sex act with John Britby, a man who was a former chaplain of the St Margaret Pattens church, in London's Cheapside while wearing fema ...

, which also occurred in 1394, the year Holsinger sets the events of his book. In February 2018 Holsinger was appointed editor of the University of Virginia's

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

ed journal, ''

New Literary History ''New Literary History: A Journal of Theory & Interpretation'' is a quarterly academic journal published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It focuses on the history and theory of literature, and key questions of interpretation. The journal has rec ...

''; he is the third member of staff to take the position since the journal's foundation in 1969. He has written for the ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

'', ''

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'' and

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...

s for ''The New York Times''.

Books

Fiction

* ''The Displacements'' (2022) * ''The Gifted School'' (2019) * ''The Invention of Fire'' (2015) * ''A Burnable Book'' (2014)

Non-Fiction

* ''Neomedievalism, Neoconservatism, and the War on Terror'' (Chicago, 2007) * ''The Premodern Condition: Medievalism and the Making of Theory'' (Chicago, 2005) * ''Music, Body, and Desire in Medieval Culture'' (Stanford, 2001)

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holsinger, Bruce Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Virginia staff American historical fiction writers