English Literature with Professor John Holmes

Professor John Holmes

University of Birmingham

Professor John Holmes joined the English department at the University of Birmingham in 2015 as Professor of Victorian Literature and Culture. His research focuses on the relationship between scientific ideas and cultural forms in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including poetry, architecture and the visual arts. More widely, John works on and teaches a wide range of nineteenth-century literature, with interests in poetry and poetic form, especially the sonnet and the epic; religious belief and doubt; and the history of sexuality. John has been actively involved in the British Society for Literature and Science (BSLS) since its inaugural conference in 2006, Treasurer from 2006 to 2009, Book Reviews Editor from 2008 to 2012, and Chair from 2012 to 2015. While he was Chair he helped to establish links between the BSLS and other related academic societies, including the international Commission of Science and Literature (CoSciLit), the European branch of the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts (SLSAeu) and the British Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE-UK).