Chloe Houston
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+44 (0) 118 378 8367
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Associate Professor
Director of Undergraduate Admissions in the Department of English Literature.
Areas of interest
My research is in early modern literature and performance, and especially the representation of cultural and religious difference. My main research interest is the portrayal of the Persian empire in English drama in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and I am currently writing a book on this subject. Other aspects of my research include utopias, travel and travel writing, and religious identity. My first book was a study of Renaissance utopias from 1516 to the mid seventeenth century, and I have edited a collection of essays on travel and utopia in the early modern period.
Postgraduate supervision
I have supervised a number of PhD students to completion and am happy to talk to anyone who is interested in undertaking postgraduate research in early modern studies at Reading, and especially within my own area of research.
Teaching
I convene three Part 3 modules, "The Bloody Stage: Revenge and Death in Renaissance Drama", "Classical and Renaissance Tragedy" and "Utopia and Dystopia in English and American Literature". I also convene the Part 1 module "Genre and Context". I give lectures on a range of modules including "Renaissance Texts and Cultures", "Shakespeare", and "Shakespeare on Film". I convene the MA modules in "Early Modern Literature" and "The Global Renaissance".
Research centres and groups
You can follow the activities of the Early Modern Research Centre on Twitter @ReadingEMRC
Publications
- Houston, C. (2020) Early modern utopian fiction. In: Shrank, C. and Withington, P. , (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of More’s Utopia. Oxford University Press , Oxford.
- Houston, C. (2019) Visiting Tamburlaine’s tomb: drama and performance in early seventeenth-century travel writing. Renaissance Studies , 33 (4). pp. 568-589. ISSN: 1477-4658 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/rest.12568
- Houston, C. (2017) ‘I wish to be no other but as he’: Persia, masculinity and conversion in early seventeenth-century travel writing and drama. In: Ditchfield, S. and Smith, H. , (eds.) Conversions: Gender and Religious Change in Early Modern Europe. Manchester University Press
- Houston, C. (2014) Persia and kingship in William Cartwright's The Royall Slave (1636). SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 , 54 (2). pp. 455-473. ISSN: 0039-3657 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sel.2014.0022
- Houston, C. (2014) The renaissance Utopia: dialogue, travel and the ideal society. Ashgate , Farnham. pp 198. ISBN: 9781472425041
- Holmberg, E. and Houston, C. (2013) Introduction: shaping strangers in Early Modern English travel writing. Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing , 14 (2). pp. 1-9. ISSN: 1807-9326 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3167/jys.2013.140201
- Houston, C. (2012) Turning Persia: the prospect of conversion in Safavid Iran. In: Stelling, L. , Hendrix, H. , Richardson, T. , (eds.) The Turn of the Soul. Intersections Brill (23). , Leiden. ISBN: 9789004218567
- Houston, C. , eds. (2010) New worlds reflected: travel and utopia in the Early Modern Period. Ashgate Publishing ISBN: 9780754666479
- Houston, C. (2010) Utopia and education in the seventeenth century: Bacon’s 'Salomon’s House' and its influence. In: Houston, C. , (eds.) New Worlds Reflected: Travel and Utopia in the Early Modern Period. Ashgate Publishing pp. 161-178. ISBN: 9780754666479
- Houston, C. (2009) 'Thou glorious kingdome, thou chiefe of empires': Persia in seventeenth-century travel literature. Studies in Travel Writing , 13 (2). pp. 141-152. ISSN: 1755-7550 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645140902857240
- Houston, C. (2009) 'Thou glorious kingdome, thou chiefe of empires': Persia in seventeenth-century travel literature. Studies in Travel Writing , 13 (2). pp. 141-152. ISSN: 1755-7550 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645140902857240
- Houston, C. (2009) Travelling nowhere: global utopias in the Early Modern period. In: Singh, J. , (eds.) A companion to the Global Renaissance 1550-1660: English Culture and Literature in the Era of Expansion. Wiley , Oxford. pp. 82-92. ISBN: 9781405154765
- Houston, C. (2007) Utopia, dystopia, or anti-utopia? Gulliver's Travels and the utopian mode of discourse. Utopian Studies , 18 (3). pp. 425-442. ISSN: 1045-991X
- Houston, C. (2007) Could “Eutopian politics […] never be drawn into use”? Utopianism and radicalism in the 1640s. In: Caricchio, M. and Tarantino, G. , (eds.) Recent historiographical trends of the British studies (17th-18th centuries). Cromohs Virtual Seminars CROMOHS pp. 1-4.
- Houston, C. (2007) 'Knowledge shall be increased': natural philosophy and religion in the Early Modern utopia. Literature Compass , 4 (5). pp. 1397-1411. ISSN: 1741-4113 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2007.00486.x