[1] PhD Studentship: Appropriating a Conqueror: The Legend of Alexander the Great in Late Antique and Medieval Literary Culture

Durham University’s Department of English Studies, in partnership with the British Library, is delighted to offer a full-time or part-time PhD studentship via the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme. The start date will be January 2021. The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr Venetia Bridges at Durham and co-supervised by Dr Peter Toth at the British Library.

The Research Project
In the last two millennia, Alexander the Great has been represented as a magician, scientist, statesman, philosopher and as one of the greatest explorers of humankind. The British Library’s vast collection of materials relating to the legend of Alexander provides an exceptional opportunity for PhD research into his immense impact on European literary culture from a transnational and multilingual perspective. As a student at Durham but working on the British Library’s collections, the successful applicant will also be involved in the development and curation of a major new exhibition at the Library focusing on the stories and legends around Alexander.
Applicants are invited to propose a multilingual and comparative project on the theme of Alexander’s reception from Late Antiquity to the close of the Middle Ages (300BC-1500AD) in European contexts, with a particular focus on the well-known Alexander Romance. Projects should make use of material in more than one language, and of the Library’s collections.

Eligibility and how to apply
Applicants must satisfy the standard UKRI eligibility criteria. To be eligible for a full award, non-British nationals should normally have been resident in the UK for 3 years immediately prior to the date of the start of the course. EU students not resident in the UK for 3 years prior to 30 September 2020 may be eligible for a fees-only award. Please see Annex B of the UKRI Training Grant Guidance to confirm eligibility before applying (https://www.ukri.org/files/funding/ukri-training-grant-terms-and-conditions-guidance-pdf/)

For full details, please download the project description and further particulars:
https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/english.studies/AppropriatingaConquerorfurtherparticulars.pdf
and
https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/english.studies/Jobs.ac.ukadvert.pdf

Deadline
The deadline for applications, including references, is 5pm on 29 May 2020.
Contact
For an informal discussion please contact Dr Venetia Bridges (venetia.r.bridgesdurham.ac.uk) and/or Dr Peter Toth (peter.tothbl.co.uk).
For queries about the application process please contact: english.pgstudiesdurham.ac.uk

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[2] PhD Studentship: The Michael Hamburger Archive: Mediating European Literature

The Studentship
The University of Bristol and the British Library are delighted to offer an Arts and Humanities Research Council full-time or part-time PhD studentship on the theme “The Michael Hamburger Archive: Mediating European Literature”. The doctoral student will spend time both in Bristol and at the British Library and will be part of a wider cohort of students undertaking collaborative doctoral research projects. Given the nature and extent of the material which is the focus of this project, the PhD student is likely to be based mainly at the British Library in London and to make frequent visits to Bristol.
The expected start date for this studentship is 1 October 2020.

The Research Project
Michael Hamburger was one of the foremost mediators of modern European – mainly German and Austrian – literature to readers in English. Born into a German family of Jewish descent, he came to the UK as a refugee in 1933. He became a poet, a literary critic, and the translator of a very broad range of writers, including Hölderlin, Goethe, Rilke, Celan, Brecht, Ernst Jandl, Hans Magnus Enzensberger and W. G. Sebald. Hamburger’s archive at the British Library, which thus far is uncatalogued, comprises 94 boxes of drafts of translations, poems and essays; correspondence with writers, publishers and friends; and diaries and personal reflections among many other documents.

This studentship offers a unique opportunity, through research, cataloguing, and public engagement, to illuminate processes that have been at the core of Anglo-German cultural relations in the past three-quarters of a century: the translation of literature, and specifically poetry; the writing of feuilleton-style and heavier literary criticism; and reflection at length on translation and cultural transfer. The project will enhance the current emphasis on the transnational in German studies, and it speaks to an enduring academic and public interest in the relationship between Germany and the United Kingdom. Equally, the existence of such a full archive makes this an outstanding opportunity for Translation Studies research. Alongside the PhD research, and integrally connected with it, the studentship will involve a significant contribution to the organisation and cataloguing of the Michael Hamburger Archive, and to the evolving approaches to and understanding of translators’ archives in the Library.

Eligibility and how to apply
Applicants must satisfy the standard UKRI eligibility criteria. To be eligible for a full award, non-British nationals should normally have been resident in the UK for 3 years immediately prior to the date of the start of the course. EU students not resident in the UK for 3 years prior to 30 September 2020 may be eligible for a fees-only award. Please see Annex B of the UKRI Training Grant Guidance to confirm eligibility before applying (https://www.ukri.org/files/funding/ukri-training-grant-terms-and-conditions-guidance-pdf/)

For the full person specification and details on how to apply, please see https://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/study/postgraduate/funding/
and
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/arts/postgraduate/documents/funding-adverts/Michael%20Hamburger%20Archive%20studentship.pdf

Deadline
The deadline for applications, including references, is 5pm on 1 June 2020.

Contacts for informal discussion:
University of Bristol: Steffan Davies (steffan.daviesbristol.ac.uk), Rebecca Kosick (rebecca.kosickbristol.ac.uk)
British Library: Pardaad Chamsaz (pardaad.chamsazbl.uk), Rachel Foss (Rachel.Fossbl.uk)

Contact for queries about the application process:
Faculty of Arts Postgraduate Research Admissions team (artf-pgadmissionsbristol.ac.uk).