Adrian Harding

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Adrian Harding

Assistant Professor

  • Department: Comparative Literature and English
  • Complementary Department(s): French Studies and Modern Languages
  • Office: 
    G-108
  • Office Hours: 
    Tuesdays and Fridays 11:30-12:00

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Professor Harding came to The American University of Paris (AUP) in 1987 after doing research at the University of Cambridge on the development of modernist poetry, focusing on the relations of epic and hermetic writing. In the Comparative Literature and French programs at AUP he has taught courses on European romanticisms, modern British literature, modern American poetry and poetics, theatre in Paris, contemporary French fiction, and literature and the visual arts. He also teaches in the English writing program, and formerly taught creative writing. He has lectured and written on contemporary art and contemporary poetry, having set up an international contemporary art gallery and performance space in Edinburgh.

He writes and researches in the areas of poetry and poetics, narrative and performance, both anglophone and European. His work is currently focused on practices of embodiment and dislocation in late nineteenth-century realism, on the relations between the semantics of prosody and the cultural and social limits of a 'poetics of the real', centering on the writings of Henry James. He co-founded the European Society for Jamesian Studies and is a member of the British Academy research group for the study of literary reception. He also has an interest in literary translation, which he has long practised and taught.



Education/Degrees

  • PhD Cambridge University
  • BA Liverpool University

Publications

Books
  • Louvre Blinds (Paris: Editions Le Passage, 2009) Essay in cultural criticism; photographs by Alecio de Andrade, preface by Edgar Morin.
  • This House Is But A Butchery (Cambridge: Poetical Histories, 1997).
  • K (London : Dashwood Press, 1995).
  • A Survey of English Literature: The Twentieth Century (Paris: Editions Dunod, 1992).
  • Dusk Around Fire (London: Dashwood Press, 1992).
  • Transparencies (London : Dashwood Press, 1992).
  • Blinds (Bruxelles : Editions Lebeer Hossmann, 1985). Fiction / essay on the work of Sarkis and Ian Hamilton Finlay.
  • Copier/Recopier (Genève: Les Messageries Associées, 1976). Translation. Arrudo-Pereira Prize, Biennale of São Paulo, Brazil, 1977. 
Edited books
  • Ed., with Annick Duperray and Dennis Tredy. Henry James and the Poetics of Duplicity. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.
  • Ed., with Annick Duperray and Dennis Tredy. Henry James’s Europe : Heritage and Transfer. Cambridge : Open Book Publishers, 2011.
  • Ed., with Annick Duperray. Narrative and the Ethical: The Case of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Paris: Editions Publibook, 2006.
  • Ed., with Max Duperray and Joanny Moulin. Discourses of Melancholy, Université de Provence, November 2005. E-REA, Revue d'études anglophones, 4.1 (Spring 2006).
Articles, chapters of books
  • “'As if to see what was really going on': the poetics of the real in the 'middle' Henry James.” In Elinor Shaffer, ed., International Theory and Practice of Reception Studies Today. British Academy RBAE Network Project (London: Bloomsbury, 2013).
  • “Haunted Metre: Wordsworth's Subliminal Lyric.” E-REA, Revue d'études anglophones 5.2 (Autumn 2007).
  • "Awkward Realism: Objects of Coercion in What Maisie Knew and The Awkward Age." E-REA, Revue d'études anglophones 5.1 (Spring 2007).
  • "After the Letter: Hawthorne's House of Fiction". In Annick Duperray & Adrian Harding, eds., La Fonction éthique de l'œuvre: le cas de Nathaniel Hawthorne. Paris: Editions Publibook, 2006. (Colloque La Fonction éthique de l'œuvre: le cas de Nathaniel Hawthorne. Université de Provence, Aix-Marseille 1, 2001).
  • “Living on the Lip of the Norway Lobster”. In A Folio for Fanny Howe. Ed. Paul Green (Peterborough, U.K.: Spectacular Diseases, 2000). Poems and articles by Rae Armantrout, Paul Green, Romana Juk, Peter Middleton, Claire Wills, Adrian Harding, Barbara Henning and Wendy Mulford.
  • “’I look at the word Love and then I underline it’: How dislocation of feeling informs the temporality of Raymond Carver's writing.” In Annick Duperray, ed., Image et texte: Carver/Altman, Short Cuts. Aix: Publications de l'Université de Provence, 2000. (Pu Image et texte: Carver/Altman, Short Cuts. Université de Provence, Aix-Marseille 1, 1999).
  • "America and the Migration of the Same: Lawrence and Crèvecoeur". In Etudes Lawrenciennes (Université de Paris X, Nanterre; 1998).
  • "The Melancholy of Technology". In Tekhnema. A Journal of Philosophy and Technology. Vol. 2 (Spring 1995)
  • "Irony and Self-Irony in The Rainbow". Actes du Colloque du Cercle d'Etudes Lawrenciennes, Humour et satire dans l’œuvre de D.H Lawrence. Université de Paris X, Nanterre (printemps 1991).
  • Hawthorne's Tales: a Study Guide (Paris: British Institute, 1990)
  • "Cahiers de l'Herne: D.H. Lawrence". In D.H Lawrence Studies (Autumn 1990).
  • "Politique de la poésie contemporaine". In Cadmos. Cahiers trimestriels du Centre Européen de la Culture (Summer 1989).
  • "Le Département des cornemuses: Sarkis". Exhibition catalogue. Ecole des arts décoratifs, Strasbourg, 1986.
  • "Captain Sarkis". Exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle, Berne and Centre d'art contemporain, Genève, 1985.
  • "La Fin des siècles, le début des siècles". Exhibition catalogue. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1984.

Conferences & Lectures

  • "Stairs, Stars and Red Cigars: The Poetics of the Real in What Maisie Knew." Jamesian Strands. The Fourth International Conference of the Henry James Society, Newport, Rhode Island, 2008.
  • "Crippled in narration: the voyage of 'the ghostly word' in Coleridge and Wordsworth's parody-Gothic". lGA Conference, Université de Provence, Aix-Marseille l, 2007.
  • "James, Post-Structurality and After." ESSE Congress, University of London, 2006.
  • “Samuel Beckett's late prose: Nothingness and endlessness.” Response to Professor Wolfgang Iser, University of California, Irvine. Conference: The Institute of Translation in Europe, Université de Provence, 2006.
  • "Awkward Realism: Objects of Coercion in What Maisie Knew and The Awkward Age." Lecture given at Clare Hall, Cambridge, 2005.
  • "lain Sinclair's Lud Heat and Suicide Bridge: The Poetics of London's Mythic Pathology." ESSE Congress, Saragossa, Spain, 2004.
  • "Setting Keel to Breakers: the Poetics of Exile in Ezra Pound's Cantos". Conference: Les écrivains en voyage: nouveaux mondes, nouvelles idées? Université Catholique de l'Ouest, Angers, 2004.
  • "Conductors of Chaos: J.H.Prynne and Douglas Oliver." Conference: Poetics of the Subject, Université de Provence, Aix, 2004.
  • “Boston’s Poetics after Olson.” AFEA Congress, Rouen, 2003.
  • “Transfigurations: Hölderlin’s Late Poems.” The American University of Paris, 1999.
  • "Intent on My Own Race and Place: Stevenson in the South Seas." R. L. Stevenson Centenary Lecture, ULIP, University of London in Paris, 1994.
  • "Marcel Broodthaers and lan Hamilton Finlay: fields of poetic action." American University of Paris, 1993.
  • The Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne. ULIP, University of London in Paris, 1991.
    1) "Allegories of History"  2) "Allegories of Story".
  • The poetry of Walt Whitman. ULIP, University of London in Paris, 1990.
    1) "Endlessly Rocking"  2) "The Shapes Arise"
  • The Poetry of Allen Ginsberg. ULIP, University of London in Paris, 1989.
    1) “Singing the Body Electric” 2) "Chanting the Body Politic".
  • "Poésie et Art Visuel dans l'œuvre de Ian Hamilton Finlay." Centre International d'Etudes Universitaires, Genève, 1988.
  • William Faulkner: The Wild Palms. ULIP, University of London in Paris, 1988.
    1) "In the South" 2)"Into the Wide World":
  • Walker Percy: The Moviegoer. ULIP, University of London in Paris, 1987.
    1) "A Philosophical Tale" 2) “A Transcendental Self”.
  • John Barth: The Floating Opera. ULIP, University of London in Paris, 1986.
    1) "The Hero As Writer" 2) "The Writer As Hero"
  • "Signes textuels et signes visuels: Ian Hamilton Finlay." Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Strasbourg, 1984.
  • “Poetic Language and Poetic L.A.N.G.U.A.G.E.: some differences between contemporary British and American writing.” University of Berkeley, California. Berkeley Poetry Conference, 1982.

Affiliations

  • Co-founder (with Annick Duperray and Dennis Tredy): The European Society of Jamesian Studies, housed in the Comparative Literature Department at AUP.
  • Member of Research Group: "The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe" (R.B.I.A.E.) of the School of Advanced Studies, University of London, affiliated to the British Academy.
  • Member of the L.E.R.M.A. research group (Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur le Monde Anglophone), Département d’Etudes du Monde Anglophone, Aix-Marseille Université
  • Member, Centre Européen de la Culture, Geneva, Switzerland.

Research Areas

  • Anglophone and European poetry and poetics
  • Narrative poetics
  • Performance theory