Charles Lock

Charles Lock is Professor of English Literature at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen. He has held this position since 1996 after previously teaching at the University of Toronto (where he became Full Professor in 1993) and the University of Karlstad in Sweden. His distinguished career spans over six decades of teaching and research across the English-speaking world and beyond.

Lock received his D.Phil. from Oxford University in 1982 with a dissertation on John Cowper Powys, for whom he has served as Editor (2010-20) and Associate Editor of the Powys Journal. He was awarded the Laurence Binyon Prize in the History of Art in 1979. His academic journey has taken him from Oxford to Sweden, Canada, and finally Denmark, providing him with a truly international perspective on literature and culture.

Professor Lock's research spans all eras and areas of English literature and extends into art history, comparative literature, literary theory, and book history. His work demonstrates a consistent commitment to social justice, having championed neglected women writers, minority voices, and environmental causes throughout his career. He has published extensively on John Cowper Powys and his circle, Thomas Hardy (particularly his poetry), contemporary poetry across the anglophone world, semiotics, and the history of punctuation and layout in texts. His recent work shows increasing engagement with global history, including studies of the Codex Argenteus, the Nestorian stele, and Russian Alaska.

Lock's impressive publication record includes 218 research outputs across multiple formats, demonstrating remarkable breadth and depth. His work reveals consistent thematic threads connecting literary analysis with broader philosophical and ethical concerns. Recent publications show particular interest in textual transmission, the materiality of writing, and cross-cultural encounters throughout history. His scholarship bridges traditional literary studies with innovative approaches to book history, semiotics, and global cultural exchange.

• Laurence Binyon Prize in the History of Art (1979)

Throughout his career, Professor Lock has been deeply committed to mentoring students and promoting marginalized voices. He served as literary executor for poet Anne Blonstein from 2011-2021, dedicating a decade to preserving and organizing her papers. His teaching reflects his research interests, covering everything from Chaucer and Shakespeare to contemporary avant-garde literature and "Rotten English" based on Ken Saro-Wiwa's work. He has been particularly active in promoting women writers of the early 20th century and has organized symposia on figures like Leonora Carrington and Flora Tristan. His current teaching includes a course on Moby-Dick and the image and status of whales, reflecting his longstanding ecological concerns.

Professor Lock has been instrumental in promoting Modern Greek Studies at the University of Copenhagen through the Sophia Scopetéa bequest (2012-2018), organizing approximately ten conferences. He has also served as editor of the Powys Journal and participated in numerous international conferences and collaborative projects, demonstrating his active engagement with the global academic community.