Isobel Hurst

Isobel Hurst is a Lecturer in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research specializes in Classical Reception Studies, focusing on the interplay between Greek and Roman literature and 19th-century women's writing.

• Academic qualifications: D.Phil. (2003), M.Phil. in English Studies (2000), BA in Classics and English (1995) - all from the University of Oxford

Her research explores how women writers like Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot creatively engaged with classical texts to challenge gender norms and societal constraints, particularly through reworkings of Homeric and Virgilian themes. She examines intersections between domesticity and epic traditions, feminist reinterpretations of mythology, and the role of classical education in women's authorship.

Recent publications analyze Louise Glück's mythic poetry, Victorian epic traditions, and transatlantic classical dialogues. She supervises PhD students working on topics including Sapphic poetics, prophetic figures in literature, and epic subversions in contemporary forms.

Isobel contributes to academic discourse through her involvement with the Decadence Research Centre and Centre for Comparative Literature, bridging classical traditions with modern literary innovations through both teaching and research.