Who's who

BA, PhD

Digital Futures Research Centre

Keywords: William Blake, Romantic literature and art, digital humanities, Web 2.0

Lecturing

Jason Whittaker is Professor of Blake Studies and lectures on BA(Hons) Journalism, having published widely on magazine journalism and web 2 journalism.

After completing his PhD in English at the University of Birmingham, Jason became editor of the computer magazine PC Advisor and took that title to the number two position on the UK news-stand. He is a journalist with nearly fifteen years' experience, having begun work as an intern on the Express and Star and with pieces in magazines such as Redbrick and Open Eye. Since returning to Higher Education, Jason's work has also appeared in publications such as Digit, PC World, MacWorld and THES, with a focus on articles that deal with technology.

The dominant influence on his life and, however, is William Blake, the subject of his postgraduate studies and three books: William Blake and the Myths of Britain (Macmillan 1999), Radical Blake: Influence and Afterlife (co-author, Shirley Dent; Palgrave 2002), and Blake, Modernity and Popular Culture (co-editor, Steve Clark; Palgrave 2007).

He has written a number of articles and reviews on Blake, the most recent including an essay on Blake and Milton's History of Britain Blake, Nation and Empire (eds. Steve Clark and David Worrall; Palgrave 2006), one on psychogeography in The Reception of Blake in the Orient (eds. Steve Clark and Masashi Suzuki; Continuum 2006), and Blake's influence on queer artists in Queer Blake (eds. Tristanne Connolly and Helen Bruder; Palgrave, forthcoming).

Research

Research interests

My main research interest is in the reception of William Blake in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, exploring transdisciplinary approaches to the use of Blake in various media and formats. In addition to this, my previous work as a technology journalist has led me into research and practice around the application of online technologies in the arts and humanities.

Recent outputs

Producing for Web 2.0. Routledge, 2009. ISBN: 9780415486224, 252pp.

Magazine Production. Routledge, 2008. ISBN: 041543520X, 176pp.

Review of Blake publications, Year's Work in English Studies, 88, The English Association/Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN: 9780199583232.

Review of Blake publications, Year's Work in English Studies, 87, The English Association/Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN: 0084-4144.

Selected earlier outputs

Blake, Modernity and Popular Culture. With Steve Clark. Palgrave, 2007. ISBN: 0230008445, 233pp.
The Cyberspace Handbook. Routledge 2004; ISBN: 0415168368, 321pp.

Radical Blake: Influence and Afterlife from 1827. With Shirley Dent. Palgrave 2002. ISBN: 0333986458, 237pp.

‘Gothic and New Technologies', chapter for the Routledge Companion to Gothic (eds. Catherine Spooner and Emma McEvoy), Routledge, 2007, ISBN: 9780415398435.

‘Walking thro' Eternity': Blakean psychogeography and other pedestrian practices (5000 words): in Reception of Blake in the Orient (eds. Steve Clark and Masashi Suzuki), Continuum, 2006, pp.297-310, ISBN: 0826490077.

‘The Matter of Britain: Blake, Milton, and the Ancient Britons', in Blake, Nation and Empire, eds. Steve Clark and David Worrall, Palgrave, 2006, pp.186-200, ISBN: 0-333-99314-4.

Current research / forthcoming outputs

Blake 2.0: William Blake in Twentieth-Century Art, Music and Culture. Edited volume with Steve Clark and Tristanne Connolly. Contract with Palgrave for publication in 2011.

‘Trannies, Amputees and Disco Queens: Blake and Contemporary Queer Art', chapter in Queer Blake, eds. Helen Bruder and Tristanne Connolly, Palgrave, 2010, ISBN: 9780230218369. Publication June 2010.

‘Zoamorphosis: 250 years of Blake Mutations' in William Blake: Severe Contentions and the Burning Fire of Thought, eds. Mark Crosby, Troy Patenaude and Angus Whitehead. Palgrave. Publication 2011.

Membership of learned societies, subject associations

BARS (British Association of Blake Studies)

MeCCSA (Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association)

Editorial Boards

Blackwell Literature Compass

Supervision of research degrees

Currently supervising two research students. I have examined four PhD candidates.

I am particularly interested in supervising research in: Romantic and eighteenth century literature; Reception studies and theory; Digital arts and humanitie

http://zoamorphosis.com  

http://jasonwhittaker.faljournalism.com