Nigel James Leask (born 1958) is a Scottish academic publishing on

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

, and Anglo-Indian literature, with special interest on

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

, and

Travel writing Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can ...

. He has been

Regius Professor A Regius Professor is a university Professor (highest academic rank), professor who has, or originally had, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Republic ...

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, since 2004. He won the Saltire Society Scottish Research Book of the Year award in 2010 for his book ''Robert Burns and Pastoral: Poetry and Improvement in Late-18th Century Scotland''. He is a fellow of

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

and a Centenary Fellow of the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

Early life and education

He was born in 1958 and grew up in Stirlingshire. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

before taking up a position of

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

Romantic literature Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

at Cambridge University. He is married and has two daughters.

Career

In 2004, he was appointed to Regius chair of English language and literature at University of Glasgow, and is Head of the School of Critical Studies, currently from 1 August 2010. He also held teaching appointments at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

; University of Dundee,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

; and a visiting professorship at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM),

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. He has lectured widely in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. He published ''The Politics of Imagination in Coleridge’s Critical Thought'', his first book, in 1988; subsequently, British ''Romantic Writers and the East: Anxieties of Empire'' in 1992, and many others later.

Bibliography

* ''The Politics of Imagination in Coleridge’s Critical Thought'', 1988. * ''British Romantic Writers and the East: Anxieties of Empire'', 1992. * ''Curiosity and the Aesthetics of Travel Writing, 1770-1840: From an Antique Land'', 2002. * ''Irish republicans and gothic Eleutherarchs: Pacific utopias in the writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone and Charles Brockden Brown'', 2002. * ''Darwin's Second Sun: Alexander von Humboldt and the Genesis of the Voyage of the Beagle'', 2003. * ''Land, Nation and Culture, 1740-1840: Thinking the Republic of Taste'', 2004, co-edited with David Simpson and Peter De Bolla. * ''Maurice, Thomas (1754–1824), oriental scholar and librarian'', 2004. * ''Burns, Wordsworth and the politics of vernacular poetry'', 2005. * ''Byron and the eastern Mediterranean: Childe Harold II and the polemic of Ottoman Greece'', 2005. * ''Travelling the Other Way: The travels of Mirza Abu Talib Khan (1810) and romantic Orientalism'', 2006. * ''Kubla Khan and orientalism: the road to Xanadu revisited'', 2006. * ''Thomas Muir and the telegraph: radical cosmopolitanism in 1790s Scotland. History Workshop Journal'', 2007. * ''His Hero's Story': Dr Currie's Burns, Moore's Byron and Romantic Biography'', 2008. * ''Romanticism and Popular Culture in Britain and Ireland'', 2009, co-edited with Phil Connel. * ''Robert Burns and Pastoral: Poetry and Improvement in Late-18th Century Scotland'', 2010. * ''Their Groves o' Sweet Myrtles': Robert Burns and the Scottish Colonial Experience'', 2012.

Awards

* Saltire Award - Scottish Research Book of the Year 2010.

Notes

External links

Professor Nigel Leask, Head of the University’s School of Critical Studies.

The University of Glasgow have been awarded the funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council - The team include English literature professors Nigel Leask.

* ttp://www.investigatingthearchive.org/triangular-traffic/speakers.php Speakers - Nigel Leask {{DEFAULTSORT:Leask, Nigel 1958 births People educated at Edinburgh Academy Scottish writers Scottish literary critics Scottish literary historians Living people Fellows of the English Association Scottish academics of English literature People from Stirling (council area) Scottish orientalists People from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Oxford