Joseph Phelan

Joseph Phelan is Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at De Montfort University, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities and the School of Humanities. He holds a PhD from King's College London and previously held academic positions including a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church, Oxford.

His research expertise lies in nineteenth-century literature, with a particular focus on the poetry of Robert Browning and Arthur Hugh Clough, poetic form, and Anglo-French and Anglo-Italian literary and cultural relations. He is deeply engaged in editorial scholarship, serving as editor of the Journal of Browning Studies and co-editor of The Poems of Robert Browning series.

His recent publications reveal a sustained engagement with Victorian poetic themes, including marriage, motherhood, literary influence, and cultural identity. Articles such as '“Quickening Life:” Motherhood and the Unborn Child' and 'The French Ideal: Matthew Arnold, Sainte-Beuve, and Renan' demonstrate his interdisciplinary approach, combining literary analysis with cultural and intellectual history. His work often explores the interplay between form and ideology in 19th-century verse.

• Outstanding Academic Title 2006 for The Nineteenth-Century Sonnet (Choice Magazine)

Professor Phelan actively supervises postgraduate research and has secured significant external funding, including an AHRC grant for The Brownings’ Correspondence 1854–56. He is a member of the Browning Society and the AHRC Peer Review College, reflecting his standing in the academic community. His public lectures and involvement in commemorations of literary figures underscore his commitment to public scholarship.

He has also undertaken consultancy for organizations such as the BBC and Disney Book Corporation on matters relating to the Brownings, and has advised on the authenticity of literary memorabilia.