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Michael J Sullivan

@michaeljsullivan.bsky.social

3.6K followers 1.2K following 24 posts

Literary critic at University of Oxford, St Catherine's College | Poetics | Transnational drift of verse forms | Digital Humanities & Digital Editing | General Editor, OUP Complete Works of Tennyson. Views are my own. www.michaeljsullivan.net

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Mar 12

Delighted to publish 'Reading Behind the Lines', among the first sustained applications of multispectral processing to modern anglophone literature. We recover lost text in Tennyson's manuscripts and theorise its critical implications: doi.org/10.1093/res/... @engfac.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Sep 8

Much looking forward to speaking in the Tennyson Talks Zoom series on 2 October: ‘“Among a World of Ghosts”: Tennyson’s Texts’. Joining details via the poster @engfac.bsky.social @bavs-uk.bsky.social @navsa.bsky.social

Poster of the Tennyson Talks 4th Series indicating that events are at 7.30pm London time on the first Thursday of each month, held via Zoom. Joining details can be obtained from Professor Valerie Purton.

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Sep 4

Excited to have begun a new role for this year leading the courses in material texts for the Oxford Master’s strands in modern literature. Very much looking forward to this role spanning 1830-present, and incorporating new resources and methods both material and digital. @engfac.bsky.social

Photograph of bookcases over entranceway.

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Jul 28

Excellent to attend and speak at the British Association of Victorian Studies 25th Anniversary Conference, and to hear its inspiring roundtable from presidents past and future. Isobel Armstrong on the future of the discipline: ‘Be dauntless’. #BAVS2025 @bavs-uk.bsky.social @engfac.bsky.social

Excerpt from conference Programme for BAVS 25th Anniversary Conference depicting the conference registration, welcome, and first panel.

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Reposted by Michael J Sullivan

BAVS @bavs-uk.bsky.social · Jul 15

One week to go until the BAVS 2025 Annual Conference @engfac.bsky.social

If you're interested in hosting BAVS 26, 27, or 28 at your institution then we'd love to hear from you! bavs.ac.uk/host-the-bav...

BAVSBAVS

bavs.ac.uk

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Mar 14

‘Reading this recovered text helps us to illuminate the creative process behind works of art, but also to restore valuable parts of the world’s cultural heritage’: read full article at doi.org/10.1093/res/... @engfac.bsky.social

University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk · Mar 14

A new project, led by @engfac.bsky.social's Dr @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social, has recovered never before seen text by Alfred Tennyson using a combination of imaging techniques to remove crossings out, marks and ink blots.

More info ⬇️

Oxford researcher reveals hidden Alfred Tennyson text using

A new project, led by Dr Michael J Sullivan of the University of Oxford’s English Faculty, has recovered never before seen text by Alfred Tennyson using a combination of imaging techniques to remove

www.ox.ac.uk

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Mar 12

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Feb 12

Call for Papers now open for BAVS 25th Anniversary Conference in Oxford. Papers, panels and roundtables are invited on any aspect of the long nineteenth century. 23-25 July, with an ECR event on 22 July – for more details and to submit, see english.web.ox.ac.uk/bavs2025 @engfac.bsky.social

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 23

Many thanks for compiling this -- if there's still space, I'd be very grateful to be added.

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 21

Thanks — we cite their work on X-Ray Fluorescence. We’re also advancing methods of multispectral image analysis and processing for environmentally damaged manuscripts.

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 21

Many thanks to the Oxford Centre for Textual Editing and Theory for hosting our research lecture yesterday, where we launched the project website: recovery-of-literary-manuscripts.net #DigitalHumanities #DigitalScholarship @universityofoxford.bsky.social @engfac.bsky.social

Recovery of Literary Manuscripts – Recovery of Literary Manuscripts

recovery-of-literary-manuscripts.net

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 21

Our DH research is informing literary criticism and scholarly editions, including The Complete Works of Alfred Tennyson for OUP and work on the Shelley Circle for the Johns Hopkins edition of The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley. @navsa.bsky.social @bars.bsky.social @engfac.bsky.social

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 21

Since 2021, we’ve been recovering lost variants in modern literature – article forthcoming in The Review of English Studies. We’re developing new techniques to restore lost lines of literary manuscripts, revealing more of the world’s extant literature that has remained beyond the reach of critics.

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 21

Excited to have launched our project website for ‘Recovery of Literary of Manuscripts’ at Oxford yesterday. 'Recovery of Literary Manuscripts' is an interdisciplinary project applying multispectral imaging to the study of modern anglophone literature. recovery-of-literary-manuscripts.net

Project website depicting manuscript imaging in progress

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 14

Many thanks for compiling, and I'd be very grateful if I might be added, too.

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 14

Please could I be added? Many thanks!

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 11

Many thanks for compiling this - if there's still space, I'd be very interested in joining!

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 10

Many thanks for compiling - please might I be added, if there is still space?

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 10

Please could I be added? Many thanks!

Reposted by Michael J Sullivan

Jennie Batchelor @jenniebatchelor.bsky.social · Nov 9

Hi folks. Please request an add/share/like to join the Material Culture starter pack!

go.bsky.app/GARWutv

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Reposted by Michael J Sullivan

Dr Kath @dr-kath.bsky.social · Oct 26

This is my humble attempt at a starter back for literary studies. Please feel free to join.

go.bsky.app/9i1XbVC

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Jun 13

Thrilled to see my article out in The Wordsworth Circle, examining a recently acquired manuscript of ‘The Barberry-Tree’ and disentangling its authorship, philosophy and prosody: doi.org/10.1086/730753

Wordsworth, Parody, and the Authorship of “The Barberry-Tree” | The Wordsworth Circle: Vol 55, No 2

doi.org

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Apr 21

Excellent time at the Byron Bicentenary event at Cambridge this week — thank you very much to the organisers. @trincolllibcam.bsky.social

Reposted by Michael J Sullivan

Bodleian Libraries @bodleian.ox.ac.uk · Nov 8

On this day 400 years ago, Shakespeare's First Folio was published!

There are quite a few around. We look after a couple ourselves.

But here's something unique.

We hold the only known surviving copy of the first of his works to be published in 1593: the poem Venus and Adonis!

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Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 3

Read the full article open advance access in the OUP journal The Review of English Studies - ‘Sesta Rima as a Mode of Imitation: Hybrid Forms in Anglo-Italian Verse’: academic.oup.com/res/advance-...

Sesta Rima as a Mode of Imitation: Hybrid Forms in Anglo-Italian Verse

Abstract. This article finds in the Italianate form of sesta rima an additional strand of influence on English ottava rima in the nineteenth century. It explore

academic.oup.com

Michael J Sullivan @michaeljsullivan.bsky.social · Nov 3

Engaging with the genesis and uses of these stanzas in a range of modern poets, the article forms a case study in experimental stanza switching and hybrid forms in Romantic and post-Romantic verse. @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social @modernistudies.bsky.social