Duncan Wu (born 3 November 1961 in Woking, Surrey) is a British academic and biographer.

Biography

Wu received his D.Phil from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. From 2000-2008, he was Professor of

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 ...

and Literature at St Catherine's College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He is now the Raymond Wagner Professor of Literary Studies in the English Department at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in Washington DC. Wu joined St Catherine's in 2000 as University Lecturer, and in 2003 became Professor of English Language and Literature. Before that, he was Reader and then Professor of English Literature 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 , ...

, 1995–2000, and before that he was a Research Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

, 1991-4. His first book, ''Wordsworth's reading 1770-1799'', was published in 1993. His popular textbook, ''Romanticism: An Anthology'', went to a third edition in 2005. Besides several other books about Wordsworth, he has written about contemporary British drama, the fiction of

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

, and the non-fiction of

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

and

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English lan ...

. He worked with

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark: A Life in Four Books, Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays ...

on his ''Book of Prefaces'' and is a regular contributor to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and other British newsprints. His latest volume, ''William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man'', was published by Oxford University Press in the UK on 20 October 2008. He is also Vice-Chairman of The Charles Lamb Society, Trustee of The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association, and a founder member and former Chairman of The Hazlitt Society. Wu's interests include music, books, and

monster trucks A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pi ...

In other media

In November 2013, Wu was interviewed, as scholar, for the documentary ''

Poetry of Witness ''Poetry of Witness'' is a 2015 documentary film directed by Billy Tooma and Anthony Cirilo about the lives of six contemporary poets who have lived through, and survived, extremities such as war, torture, exile, and repression, using poetry to pre ...

'', directed by independent filmmakers Billy Tooma and Anthony Cirilo, alongside his Georgetown University colleague,

Carolyn Forché Carolyn Forché (born April 28, 1950) is an American poet, editor, professor, translator, and human rights advocate. She has received many awards for her literary work. Biography Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Michael Joseph and Louis ...

Partial bibliography

Works written by Wu include: * ''Wordsworth's reading 1770-1799'' Cambridge University Press, 1993, * * ''Selected Writings of William Hazlitt'' (9 vols., 1998) ** * ''Making Plays''

Macmillan Publishers Limited Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, 2000, * ''Wordsworth: An Inner Life'', Wiley, 2002, * ''Wordsworth's Poets'' Carcanet, 2006, * ;Edited * *

References

External links

Official University web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Duncan 1961 births People from Woking Georgetown University faculty English biographers Living people Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford Academics of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of Glasgow