Philip Tew

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Enstppt (talk | contribs) at 16:00, 2 October 2007 (→Origins & education). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Origins & education

Philip Tew was born into a working class English family in 1954 in Enfield, Middlesex, a borough in the far north of London. Brought up in eastern Enfield close to an industrial zone that has since largely disappeared, he was educated at Brimsdown Infant & Junior Schools [[1]], Enfield Grammar School (founded 1558) [[2]], and Leicester [[3]] and Westminster [[4]] universities. After the first phase of his higher education undertaken at Leicester he was awarded a BA (Upper Second Class with Hons) in American Studies (with English and History) in 1976 and a PGCE in English (Middle and Secondary Schools) in 1977. While working as a schoolteacher he studied part-time for an MPhil in modern American literature, focusing on the novels of Kurt Vonnegut, which degree was awarded in 1985. After an eight-year career in Further Education Colleges and five years in his first university post, Tew left full-time employment to become a mature student studying on a PhD programme at Westminster University. He successfully completed his doctorate on avante-garde, working class author, B.S. Johnson [[5]] [[6]], at Westminster University between 1995 and 1997. Having completed his thesis in twenty months, Tew submitted a revised version which was later published by Manchester University Press in 2001 as an academic monograph (as cited above and below).

Academic appointments and publications

In May 2006 Tew was appointed as Professor in English (Post-1900 Literature) in the School of Arts at Brunel University in West London, United Kingdom. [[7]] He had previously been Reader in English at both Debrecen University (Hungary) and Birmingham City University (then UCE Birmingham), and Professor in English at the University of Northampton. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts [[8]], founding and executive Director of the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies [[9]], joint managing editor of Symbiosis: a Journal of Anglo-American Literary Relations [[10]], and a member of the AHRC Peer Review College. Additionally, since 1998 he has been an active member of the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA), a regional scholarly organization for professionals in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other modern languages based in the USA [[11]]. He will be delivering a paper on Walt Whitman at the NEMLA 2008 Convention will be held in Buffalo, NY, April 10-13, 2008.

As an academic Tew’s primary areas of interest are in contemporary and modern British fiction after 1945, various strands of critical or 'high' theory, and more specifically metarealism and materialism. He has been an outspoken opponent of the essentialism and until recently the often little questioned anti-realist orthodoxies underlying much of postmodernist and postcolonial criticism.

His many publications include the following significant books: B. S. Johnson: A Critical Reading (Manchester UP, 2001), Contemporary British Fiction (Polity, 2003) co-edited with Richard J. Lane and Rod Mengham (Reader in English, Jesus College, Cambridge), The Contemporary British Novel (Continuum, 2004; Svetovi Press Serbian translation 2006; second rev. ed. 2007), Jim Crace: A Critical Introduction (Manchester UP, 2006), British Fiction Today co-edited with Rod Mengham (Continuum, 2006) and Re-reading B. S. Johnson (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) a collection co-edited with Glyn White. Forthcoming are: Re-Envisioning the Pastoral (Fairleigh Dickinson UP) co-edited with David James, and a single author study, Zadie Smith (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). Tew is co-editor of two series: Palgrave Macmillan's New British Fiction (with Rod Mengham) and the forthcoming Continuum Literary Handbooks (with Steven Barfield, Senior Tutor in English, Westminster University).

Tew is now acknowledged to be a leading, if occasionally controversial, international expert in the field of contemporary British Fiction and associated theoretical criticism. He has lectured widely in North America, and Europe (including Albania, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Spain, and Russia). His academic criticism is both recommended reading on courses and stocked in libraries worldwide.

Career and life

Tew's first job at sixteen was as a cable drum maker in a factory manufacturing cable. Finding this unpalatable despite being well-paid, he returned to school after three months to continue his education. For a while in the early 1980s he was a playleader on a GLC (Greater London Council) scheme setting up huge inflatable structures in London parks. A fellow worker was Will Self who became a longstanding friend. Subsequently Self was to become one of Britain's foremost satirical writers of of prose fiction and journalism. Tew was also an occasional stagehand at the English National Opera during this period working at both the Coliseum and the rehearsal rooms in West Hampstead.

Working as a schoolteacher, academic and writer Tew has experienced a variety of educational establishments at every level including: primary and secondary schools in both a full and part-time capacity in Leicestershire and London from 1977-82 and 1988-92; Further Education Colleges as a lecturer in English for the ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) from 1982-90; the universities of Wolverhampton, Westminster, Cambridge, Debrecen, Szeged (Hungary), Birmingham City (UCE), and Northampton from 1990 – 2006. More recently from 1997-2001 Tew worked as a freelance television researcher and producer for Café Productions and Dai-4 Films.

General

Currently Tew lives in Tufnell Park in north London, but spends time every summer on the shores of Lake Balaton in Hungary. Married in 1976, he was divorced in 1981. He has one son, George Alister Tew, born in July 1980, who is a graduate of Bristol and Oxford universities, and who both lives and works in Cheltenham.

Bibliography

Books:

  • B. S. Johnson: A Critical Reading, Manchester University Press and St. Martin’s, Manchester and New York, 2001, pp.288; (ISBN 0719056268).
  • Contemporary British Fiction, Richard J. Lane, Rod Mengham, and Philip Tew (eds.). Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003, pp. 276 (ISBN: 0745628664).
  • The Contemporary British Novel, London: Continuum, 2004, pp. 206 (ISBN 0 8264 7349/0 8624 7350 4). Reviewed in TLS No. 5294, 17 Sept. 2004.
  • Savremeni Britanski Roman [САВРЕМЕНИ БРИТАНСКИ РОМАН. Serb translation of The Contemporary British Novel], Svetovi Press: Novi Sad, Serbia, 2006. Trans. Nataša Vavan Pralica. [ISBN: 8670474905].
  • Jim Crace. Contemporary British Fiction series (gen. ed. Dr. Daniel Lea). Manchester: Manchester UP, 2006. (ISBN: 0719069122).
  • British Fiction Today. Philip Tew and Rod Mengham (eds.) London: Continuum, 2006 (ISBN: HB: 08264 87319; PB: 08264 873 27).
  • Teaching Contemporary British Fiction. [special issue of Anglistik und Englischunterricht] Barfield, Steve, Philip Tew, Anja Muller-Wood and Leigh Wilson (eds.). Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2007) [ISBN: 9783825352882 / 3825352889; ISSN: 0344 8266].
  • Re-Reading B. S. Johnson. Philip Tew and Glyn White (eds.) London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 240pp. [ISBN-13: 978-0230524927 / ISBN-10: 0230524923].

Chapters and Essays in Books & Collections:

  • ‘Literary Theory.’ Dictionary of Critical Realism. Mervyn Hartwig (ed.). London and New York: Routledge, 2007, 280 – 2. [ISBN: H/B 0415261619, 9780415261616; P/B 041526099x, 9780415260992]
  • ‘Martin Amis and Late-twentieth-century Working-class Masculinity: Money and London Fields.’ Gavin Keulks. (ed). Martin Amis: Postmodernism and Beyond. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, 71 – 86. (ISBN: H/B 0230008305, 9780230008304).
  • ‘Exploring the Self, Judaism and the Pentateuch: Jenny Diski’s Skating to Antarctica (1997), Only Human: A Divine Comedy (2000) and After These Things (2004).’ British Fiction Today. Rod Mengham and Philip Tew (eds.) London: Continuum, forthcoming 2006 (ISBN: HB: 08264 87319; PB: 08264 873 27).
  • ‘B. S. Johnson and the BBC: Initial Contacts.’ Reading Without Maps: Cultural Landmarks in a Post-Canonical Age. A Tribute to Gilbert Debusscher. Christophe Den Tandt (ed.). Brussels and New York: PIE/Peter Lang, 2005: 119 – 33. [invited & refereed contribution]
  • ‘Exploring an Economy of Exegetical Structures through Cassirer and Bourdieu.’ Metaphors of Economy. Critical Studies series. Nicole Bracker and Stefan Herbrechter (eds.). Amsterdam: Rodopi Press, 2005: 39 – 53 (ISBN: 90-420-1568-3).
  • 'British Theory and Criticism, 1900 and After.' With Prof. Philip Smallwood. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Criticism and Theory. 2nd ed. Michael Groden, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman (eds.). Baltimore & London: Johns Hopkins UP, 2005: 156 -160. (ISBN: 0-8018-8010-6)
  • ‘My doingthings: London according to B. S. Johnson.’ Literary London. Lawrence Phillips (ed). Amsterdam: Rodopi Press, 2004: 111 – 129 (ISBN: 9042016639).
  • ‘Three Dialogues as a Laughable Text?: Beckett’s Bergsonian Comedy,’ Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd'hui. 1 February 2003, vol. 13, no. 1, 105-118; Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi. (ISBN: 90-420-0808-3) [refereed submission]
  • ‘A New Sense of Reality? A New Sense of the Text? 'Exploring the Literary-Critical Field and Meta-Realism.’ After Postmodernism. Klaus Stierstorfer (ed.). Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2003: 29 – 50. (ISBN: 3-11-017722-6).
  • ‘Radical Victorian.’ [critical after-word]. Thomson, James. The City of Dreadful Night. London: Agraphia, 2003: 55 – 66 (ISBN: 1 904596 01 0).
  • ‘Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Parody: Exceedingly Beckett.’ With Steven Barfield. Pastiches, Parodies & Other Imitations (Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd'hui 12) . Marius Buning, Matthijs Engelberts and Sjef Houppermans (eds.).Amsterdam and New York, Rodopi, 2002: 93 – 104 (ISBN: 90-420-1094-0)
  • ‘The Fiction of A. L. Kennedy.’ Contemporary British Fiction. Richard J. Lane, Rod Mangham and Philip Tew (eds.). Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003: 120 – 39 (ISBN: 0745628664 ).
  • ‘Philosophical adjacency: Beckett’s Prose Fragments via Jűrgen Habermas.’ Beckett and Philosophy. Richard J. Lane (ed.). London: Palgrave, 2002: 140 - 153 (ISBN: 0-333-91879-7).
  • ‘Co-ordinates for Reconsidering Literary Interpretation.’ After Postmodernism: An Introduction to Critical Realism. Garry Potter & Jose Lopez (eds.). London: Athlone Press: 2001: 196 – 205 (ISBN: HB – 0 00440 2; PB – 0 485 00629 4).
  • ‘Chaos and Truth: B. S. Johnson’s Theoretical and Literary Narratives.’ Focus: Papers in English Literary and Cultural Studies. Maria Kurdi, Gabriella Hartvig and Andrew C. Rouse, (eds.). Pecs: Hungary: U of Pecs P, 2000: 38 – 54; (ISSN: 1585-5228).

Periodical and Journal Publication:

  • ‘Across the Prairies, and Beyond the Postmodern: A. L. Kennedy, Linda Hutcheon and Realizing the Contemporary.’ Wascana Review of Contemporary Poetry and Fiction. Spring 2003 (38:1): 51 – 65. (ISSN 0043 0412).
  • ‘Introduction.’ New Formations: A Journal of Culture / Theory / Politics. Philip Tew and Wendy Wheeler (eds.). 49 (Spring 2003): 7 – 13. (ISSN 09502378; ISBN 0853159742).
  • Complex Figures issue. New Formations: A Journal of Culture / Theory / Politics. 49 (Spring 2003) Philip Tew and Wendy Wheeler (eds.): 187pp; (ISSN 09502378; ISBN 0853159742).
  • ‘B. S. Johnson,’ [author overview essay]. The Review of Contemporary Fiction. 22:1 (Spring 2002): 7 – 58 (ISSN: 0276-0045).
  • ‘A Matter of Memory: Monica Jones, Philip Larkin & Myself.’ About Larkin: Newsletter of the Philip Larkin Society. [Sponsored by St. John's College, Oxford). 12 (Oct. 2001): 19 – 20 (ISSN: 1362-542X).
  • ‘(Re)-acknowledging B. S. Johnson’s Radical Realism, or Re-publishing The Unfortunates.’ Critical Survey. 13:1 (2001): 37 – 61 (ISSN: 0011-1570).
  • Forgotten Voices issue, [proceedings of ‘Forgotten Voices of the Twentieth Century Symposium.’ Hungarian Journal for English and American Studies. Philip Tew (ed.). 5, 2 (Autumn/Winter 1999), pp. 234 (ISSN: 1218-7364).
  • ‘Theorizing The Lexicon of Youth in Contemporary Irish Fiction: Mac Laverty, Bolger, and Doyle via Lefebvre’s Tenth Prelude.’ Special issue Essays on Contemporary Irish Literature and Culture in Honour of Brian Friel at Seventy. HJEAS; The Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies. 5, 1 (Spring/Summer 1999): 181 – 197 (ISSN: 1218-7364).
  • ‘Re-invoking Herbert Simmons: Man Walking on Eggshells of Radical Narrative.’ Forgotten Voices special issue. HJEAS: The Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies. Philip Tew (ed.). 5 (2) Autumn/Winter 1999, 109 – 126; (ISSN: 1218-7364).
  • ‘Journeying with Bachelard, Bourdieu and Others toward Bunting: Revisiting the Margins of Forgetfulness.’ Forgotten Voices special issue. HJEAS: The Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies. Philip Tew (ed.). 5 (2) Autumn/Winter 1999, 11 – 37 (ISSN: 1218-7364).
  • ‘Contextualizing B. S. Johnson (1933-73): the British novel’s forgotten voice of protest.’ The Anachronist. [Eõtvõs Loránd University, Budapest]. Winter 1998: 165 – 92 (ISSN: 1210-2589).


Electronic / Online Publication:

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philip_Tew&oldid=161810374"