Professor Allan Johnson
About
Biography
My research focuses on the psychoanalytic implications of narrative absence and elision (i.e., the unsaid and unspeakable) in twentieth-century literature to demonstrate how these textual gaps reveal the complex entanglement of subjectivity and narrative form. I am the author of Alan Hollinghurst and the Vitality of Influence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), Masculine Identity in Modernist Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), The Sacred Life of Modernist Literature: Immanence, Occultism, and the Making of the Modern World (Bloomsbury, 2022), and numerous articles and chapters on literary modernism.
I am the former editor of Correspondences: Journal for the Study of Esotericism. I served as Associate Dean (Doctoral College) for the Faculty of Arts, Business, and Social Sciences from 2019 to 2025, where I supported doctoral researchers and worked to foster an environment that encouraged academic excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration, particularly through my involvement with AHRC and ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership leadership.
I welcome PhD proposals that engage with modernist literature, particularly projects that explore its intersections with contemplative studies, philosophy of mind, and esotericism.
Areas of specialism
My qualifications
Previous roles
Affiliations and memberships
News
In the media
ResearchResearch interests
My most recent work examines the influence of esoteric and occult thought on modernist aesthetics and innovation, demonstrating how mystical philosophical traditions shaped creative experimentation during the twentieth century. The book emerging from this research, The Sacred life of Modernist Literature, explores the relationship between modernist literary experimentation and several important strands of occult practice that emerged in Europe between 1894 and 1944, leading to critical developments in psychoanalysis and the reconstitution of mythographic psychotherapies that codified earlier forms of Hermetic and Neoplatonic mysticism.
I welcome PhD proposals that engage with modernist literature, particularly projects that explore its intersections with contemplative studies, philosophy of mind, and esotericism.
Research interests
My most recent work examines the influence of esoteric and occult thought on modernist aesthetics and innovation, demonstrating how mystical philosophical traditions shaped creative experimentation during the twentieth century. The book emerging from this research, The Sacred life of Modernist Literature, explores the relationship between modernist literary experimentation and several important strands of occult practice that emerged in Europe between 1894 and 1944, leading to critical developments in psychoanalysis and the reconstitution of mythographic psychotherapies that codified earlier forms of Hermetic and Neoplatonic mysticism.
I welcome PhD proposals that engage with modernist literature, particularly projects that explore its intersections with contemplative studies, philosophy of mind, and esotericism.
Supervision
Completed postgraduate research projects I have supervised
- [in progress] PhD, Megan Williams (AHRC funded), 鈥樷淧riceless Gems of Living Thought鈥: Anarchism and Aestheticism at the Fin de Si猫cle鈥
- [in progress] PhD, Andrea Marzocchi, 鈥樷業 am nothing; I see all.鈥 The Sublime and the (De)construction of Cultural Identities in Contemporary American Short Stories鈥
- [in progress] PhD, Sarer Scotthorne, 鈥楲ittle Thought Way: How Can the Mindfulness Practice of Martial Arts Transform Creative Process?鈥 (co-supervisor)
- PhD, Sue Terry, 鈥楨nchanted Modernism and the Radical Reform of the Interwar Family: Female Empowerment in the Magical Modernist Fiction of Five British Women Writers, 1900- 1940鈥
- PhD, Beth Roberts, 鈥楩eminist Pluralities in 21st-Century American Historiographic Metadrama鈥 (co-supervisor)
- PhD, Julian Woolford, 鈥樷淎ttend The Tale鈥: Adaptation, Structure and Storytelling in Musical Theatre鈥
- PhD, John Attridge, 鈥楶laying the Outsider: Re-evaluating Modernism and Working-Class Representation in E. M. Forster鈥
- PhD, Hajar Mahfoodh, 鈥楻esistance, Home and Exile in Modern Arab Poery鈥
- PhD, Toby Jungius, 鈥楬ow Traditional Associations between the Uncanny and Stop-motion are Challenged by the Delineation of the Familiar and the Unfamiliar (co-supervisor)
- PhD, Georgia van Raalte (AHRC funded), 鈥楧ion Fortune鈥檚 Occult Novels and the Techniques of Literary Initiation鈥
- PhD, Enai锚 Schlogel De Azambuja (AHRC funded) 鈥楥osmological Imaginations: Zen and Material Ecopoetics in Williams, Moore, Stevens, and Cummings鈥
- PhD, Michelle Rushefsky, 鈥楬orror Capriccios: (Re)Imagining British Nineteenth-Century Fiction through the Veil of American Horror鈥 (co-supervisor)
- PhD, Stewart Ferris, 鈥楯eeves and Wooster: Style, Origins, and Influences鈥 (co-supervisor)
- PhD, Gianni Washington, 鈥楯anus: The Monstrosity of Genre鈥 (co-supervisor)
- PhD, Katrina Marshall, 鈥楩ive Get Into Gender Trouble: A Study of Gender Controversy in the Famous Five Revised Editions鈥
- PhD, Christopher Hill, 鈥楳usic Figures, Inspiration and the Performance of Identity in the Contemporary Transnational Novel鈥
- PhD, Stephanie Han, 鈥榃riting Beyond the Nation: Globality, Aesthetics, and the Asian American Novel鈥 (co-supervisor)
Teaching
My teaching spans modernist literature, twentieth-century cultural history, and interdisciplinary approaches to the humanities. I lead modules on Modernism, The American Century, and Magic, Mysticism, and Modernity, all of which reflect my ongoing research in modernist studies. I also contribute to various undergraduate modules.
Publications
Highlights
- The Sacred Life of Modernist Literature: Immanence, Occultism, and the Making of the Modern World (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022; softcover 2024).
- Masculine Identity in Modernist Literature: Castration, Narration, and a Sense of the Beginning, 1919-1945 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017; softcover 2019).
- Alan Hollinghurst and the Vitality of Influence (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014; softcover 2016).
- 鈥楥ontingency and the Categorical Imperative in Iris Murdoch鈥檚 Under the Net鈥, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction.
- 鈥楬istoriographic Metatheatre and Narrative Closure in Pippin鈥檚 Alternate 鈥淭heo Ending鈥濃, Journal of American Drama and Theatre, (2024) 37:1.
- 鈥樷淎 little bit naughty鈥: The Logotherapeutic Process in Tim Minchin鈥檚 Matilda the Musical鈥, Studies in Musical Theatre, (2023) 17:2, 95-105.
- 鈥業ntermodernism and the Ethics of Being Late in Evelyn Waugh and Harold Acton鈥, English Studies, (2023) 104:1, 120-133.
- 鈥楾he Modernist Afterlives of Theosophy鈥, The Edinburgh Companion to Modernism, Myth, and Religion, eds. Suzanne Hobson and Andrew Radford (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022).
- 鈥楤ernard Shaw鈥檚 Gnostic Genius鈥, SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, (2021) 20:2, 35-49.
- 鈥楾he Multiple Mobilities of Civil Rights in Jeanine Tesori鈥檚 Violet and Caroline, or Change鈥, Studies in Musical Theatre, (2020), 14:3, 243-543.
- 鈥楧ecadence in the Time of AIDS鈥, Decadence: A Literary History, ed. Alex Murray (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).
- With Didi Udofia, 鈥楿sing Mindfulness Meditation Techniques to Support Peer-to-Peer Dialogue in Seminars鈥, Enhancing Student-Centred Teaching Through Student-Staff Partnerships, eds Karen Gravett, Nadya Yakovchuk, and Ian Kinchin (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).
- 鈥樷淸God] is a flaming Hebrew letter鈥: Esoteric Camp in Angels in America鈥, Literature and Theology (2019), 33:2, 206-222.
- 鈥樷淎 gay story, a history鈥: Gay Male Liberation and Queer Rumination鈥, Accelerated Times, Volume 5: British Literature in Transition, 1980-2000, eds Berthold Schoene and Eileen Pollard (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).
- With Aren Roukema, 鈥楾ime to Drop the 鈥淲estern鈥濃, Correspondences: Journal for the Study of Esotericism (2018), 6:2, 109-115.
- 鈥楾he Pleasure of Conspicuous Leisure in Sister Carrie and The House of Mirth鈥, English Studies, (2017) 98:8, 968-977.
- 鈥楾.S. Eliot and the Modernist Thunderbolt鈥, The Startling New, ed. Mary Pat Brady (Detroit: Gale, 2017).
- 鈥楢rchitectural Space and the Failures of 鈥楥omplete鈥 Houses in Heartbreak House鈥, SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, (2016) 36:2, 203-14.
- 鈥樷淭he doors would be taken off their hinges鈥: Space, Place, and Architectural Absence in Virginia Woolf鈥, English Studies, (2016) 97:4, 412-419.
- 鈥楧esigning 鈥淎uthenticity鈥 in Digital Learning Environments鈥, Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, (2016) 9.
- 鈥楾hresholds of Interpretation: Identifying, Producing, and Supporting with The Turn of the Screw鈥 CEA Critic (Journal of the College English Association) (2015) 77.2, 196-210.
- 鈥楾he Authentic and Artificial Histories of Mechanical Reproduction in Doctorow鈥檚 Ragtime鈥, Orbis Litterarum, (2015) 72:2, 89-107.
- 鈥業t鈥檚 Vestimentary, My Dear Watson: Fashion, Disguise, and Criminality in Sherlock鈥, Film, Fashion and Consumption, (2014) 4:2, 115-127.
- 鈥楤uried Temples and Open Planes: Alethea Hayter, Alan Hollinghurst, and the Architecture of Drug-Taking鈥, Textual Practice, (2013), 27:7, 1177-1195.
- Review of Gregory Currie, Narratives and Narrators: A Philosophy of Stories, in Notes and Queries, (2011), 58:3.
- 鈥楢rtistic Excision and Scientific Production in Cather鈥檚 The Professor鈥檚 House鈥, The Explicator, (2010), 68:2.
- Review of Madelyn Detloff, The Persistence of Modernism: Loss and Mourning in the Twentieth Century, in Notes and Queries, (2010), 57:2.
- 鈥榁oices and Language in T.S. Eliot鈥檚 The Waste Land鈥, T.S. Eliot, ed. John Paul Riquelme (Ipswich: Salem Press, 2009).
- 鈥楢mbrose Silk, The Yellow Book, and The Ivory Tower: Influence and Jamesian Aesthetics in Put Out More Flags鈥, Evelyn Waugh Studies, (2009), 40:2.
- 鈥楳odernity and Anxiety in Bram Stoker鈥檚 Dracula鈥, Dracula, ed. Jack Lynch (Ipswich: Salem Press, 2009).
- Review of Nicholas Freeman, Conceiving the City: London, Literature, and Art 1870- 1914, in Notes and Queries, (2009), 56:1.
- 鈥樷淵ou are not, not, not to look at your Baedeker鈥: Renovation of Space and the Mediating Presence of Baedeker鈥檚 Northern Italy in E.M. Forster鈥檚 A Room with a View鈥, Origins of English Literary Modernism, 1870-1914. ed. by Gregory Tague (Palo Alto, CA.: Academica, 2008).
- Review of Ferdinand Saumarez Smith, Eleusis and Enlightenment: The Problem of the Mysteries in Eighteenth-Century Thought, Journal of Religious History.