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Dr Luke Thurston

Contact

Email: lut@aber.ac.uk
Office: D57
Phone: +44 (0)1970 622389

Teaching Areas

Lecturer in Modern Literature

Luke teaches Victorian, modern and contemporary British, Irish, Welsh and American literature, specializing in the period 1880-1940; and also literary theory, specializing in psychoanalysis and literary ghosts. He welcomes PhD proposals in the following areas: Modernist and contemporary writing; Irish literature in English; the ghost story; psychoanalysis; literature and translation.

Research

Luke's main research interests are in literary ghosts, modernist literature and literary theory, with additional interests in contemporary philosophy and translation studies. His current research activity is divided between Elizabeth Bowen, Samuel Beckett and David Jones.

Another of Luke’s major interest is the theory of psychoanalysis. He has translated works by Jean Laplanche, André Green and Roberto Harari, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal for Lacanian Studies.

Staff Publications

Literary Ghosts from the Victorians to Modernism: the Haunting Interval, New York: Routledge, forthcoming (2012)

‘As one of the leading contemporary literary critics using Lacanian analysis to do his influential readings of Joyce in particular, Thurston is perfectly equipped to make and sustain his argument in intellectually exciting and cogent ways, and he does so here to the hilt. This is a major book by a critic at the top of his game.’ (Routledge Reader’s report) 

       James Joyce and the Problem of Psychoanalysis, Cambridge University Press, 2004

‘Thurston’s ingenious arguments take us deep into the labyrinth of signs and the psyche.’ (Times Literary Supplement)

‘This is a brilliant book. It shows how a sophisticated theory-savvy approach unlocks a few more Joycean riddles.’ (Jean-Michel Rabaté)

‘Thurston’s carefully worked out ideas about Joyce, his extensive and sophisticated knowledge of Lacan, his deep imagination and ability to connect ideas on many levels, and his gift for making complex concepts clear and even entertaining … make this decidedly the best of the many Lacanian books on Joyce.’ (Sheldon Brivic)

For more information, or to purchase the book, see:
http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521835909 
 
Re-inventing the Symptom: Essays on the Final Lacan , Other Press, 2002, Edited by Luke Thurston

‘This is criticism of the highest order that takes Lacan’s work as a starting-point for new creation.’ (Maud Ellmann)

For more information, or to purchase the book, see:
http://www.otherpress.com/bookpage.php?bkID=57 
 
How James Joyce Made His Name: A Reading of the Final Lacan, By Roberto Harari, translated by Luke Thurston (Other Press, 2002)

'This new translation makes the intricacies of Lacan's seminar available to the English-speaking world for the first time. The author's accessible, vigorous prose explains the nuances of Lacanian theory with perfect clarity.'

For more information, or to purchase the book, see:
http://www.otherpress.com/bookpage.php?bkID=366 
 
Essays on Otherness, By Jean Laplanche, translated by Luke Thurston (Routledge, 1999)

‘Exegetically scrupulous and rigorously argued, these essays go straight to the heart of the psychoanalytical enterprise.’ (Peter Osborne)