Professor Simon Wortham

About

After completing my DPhil at the University of Sussex in 1993, my research has concentrated on the connections between continental philosophy, literary theory and a variety of political and psychoanalytic texts. I have published books on the philosophical question of the university institution; on the question of sleep as a complex and surprisingly persistent topic within the history of philosophy; on the European philosophical tradition's relationship to problems of pain and suffering; on the complicated interplay between psychoanalytic and political ideas of resistance; and on the writings of Jacques Derrida. My most recent academic monograph explores the legacy of philosophical discourses of optimism and pessimism in order to assess the limits and possibilities of contemporary political hope.  I have also written a trilogy of novels published by Ma Bibliotheque, the first appearing in 2020. Current projects include a critical life of Robert Walser and a fictional account of Walser's correspondence with Frieda Mermet. While at Kingston I have supervised PhDs on topics as varied as psychoanalysis, trauma and creative writing; resistance, revolution and fascism; Kantianism and speculative realism; and deconstruction and performativity.