School of English

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Thomas Legendre

Assistant Professor in Creative Writing, Faculty of Arts

Contact

Expertise Summary

BA (University of New Hampshire), MA (University of Delaware), MFA (Arizona State University), PhD (University of Nottingham)

Creative Writing: Fiction and Drama

Teaching Summary

In my teaching I am interested in helping students to produce fiction of all shapes and sizes. In particular I enjoy exploring the subtle but crucial use of narrative voice and distance in relation… read more

Research Summary

My creative work tends to draw from other disciplines, exploring the subjective underpinnings of apparently objective material.

My first novel, The Burning, features characters whose personal activities, including sexual intrigues and visits to Las Vegas casinos, are inextricable from their discoveries in the fields of economics, ecology, and astrophysics.

My play, Half Life (http://nva.org.uk/artwork/half-life/) was an entirely different sort of project -- an immersive, site-specific performance which took place on the west coast of Scotland as part of NVA's landscape installation -- yet its dramatic technique was derived from the methods of archaeology as well as general relativity and cosmology.

Continuing in this vein, my second novel, Keeping Time, involves a blend of geology, archaeology, music, and time travel, as it involves an archaeologist who travels back in time and has an affair with his wife -- or perhaps a musician having an affair with her husband.

My most recent novel, Spring Fever, is a quantum romantic techno-thriller with a literary sensibility. It features a young woman working for a digital media company, an ice hockey player who talks like a Continental philosopher, and a global virus that affects humans and computers in disturbing ways.

I have also written articles on interdisciplinary topics, critical essays, reviews, and stories ranging in length from 200 to over 7000 words. In addition I have explored storytelling in other media, as reflected in short videos I call fiction flicks, along with 'Dream Repair,' a radio drama broadcast on BBC4.

For more detail, visit my website https://www.thomaslegendre.com

Selected Publications

  • LEGENDRE, T., 2012. Dream repair: a radio play At: BBC 4
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2011. Landscape-mindscape: writing in Scotland's prehistoric future Scottish Literary Review. 3(2), 121-132

In my teaching I am interested in helping students to produce fiction of all shapes and sizes. In particular I enjoy exploring the subtle but crucial use of narrative voice and distance in relation to point-of-view, the self-generated structures of narrative, and the unexpected renderings of character, dialogue, setting, and plot that lead to engaging stories and novels.

Undergraduate modules taught

Academic Community

Creative Writing Practice

Fiction: Forms and Conventions

Advanced Writing Practice

Creative Writing Dissertation

Postgraduate Modules Taught

Creative Writing Conventions and Techniques

Writing Workshop: Fiction

Master's Dissertation

  • THOMAS LEGENDRE, 2023. Spring Fever (novel) Valley Press.
  • THOMAS LEGENDRE, 2023. 'Rock is Dead, Long Live Rock: Quantum Archaeology in the Neolithic Present' Journal of Skyscape Archaeology. 9(1),
  • LEGENDRE, T, 2020. Keeping Time (novel) University of Cincinnati Press/Acre Books.
  • LEGENDRE, T, 2020. 'Hardware' (story) Grist: a Journal of the Literary Arts.
  • THOMAS LEGENDRE, 2020. How Boris Johnson Ruined My Book Launch Bookanista.
  • LEGENDRE, T, 2019. 'Intelligent System' (story) Litro.
  • LEGENDRE, T, 2019. 'Death by GPS' (story) Reflex Fiction.
  • LEGENDRE, T, 2019. 'Mean Clean' (story) Beloit Fiction Journal.
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2017. John McEnroe's Omelet Copper Nickel. 75-6
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2017. Ghostly Desires in Edith Wharton's 'Miss Mary Pask' Journal of the Short Story in English. (In Press.)
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2016. Tenure Tracks Columbia Journal. Available at: <http://columbiajournal.org/fiction-thomas-legendre-tenure-tracks/>
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2016. Ultraviolet Superstition Review.
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2012. Dream repair: a radio play At: BBC 4
  • 2012. Review of Lionel Asbo: State of England by Martin Amis Edinburgh Review. 1(135), 136-38
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2011. Inside the forgiveness machine with David Foster Wallace Edinburgh Review. 1(132), 35 - 41
  • LEGENDRE, T., 2011. Landscape-mindscape: writing in Scotland's prehistoric future Scottish Literary Review. 3(2), 121-132

School of English

Trent Building
The University of Nottingham
University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD

telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 5900
email: english-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk