Congratulations to Denis Topalovic who has been awarded the Swapna Dev Memorial Book Prize for his thesis on ‘Untimely Forms: Late Modernism, War, Essayistic Form’. The Swapna Dev Memorial Book Prize honours the interest that Swapna Dev had in English literature and is awarded for the best doctoral thesis in English literature at the University of Oxford. The prize was established in 2018 according to the wishes of Swapna Dev's husband, and supported by his generous gift.
Denis Topalovic's thesis traces the varied fortunes of what it calls ‘long-form essayism’, a strand of literary prose—often shelved as unclassifiable—that emerged across various quarters of Europe in the mid- to late-twentieth century in response to war and mass violence. It draws on a transnational cluster of authors ranging from Rebecca West and Cyril Connolly in Britain, through to Alberto Savinio and Claudio Magris in Italy, and W.G. Sebald in Germany.
Denis commented: "I feel honoured to receive this year’s Swapna Dev Memorial Prize, and I am very grateful to the English Faculty for giving me this recognition, and to my supervisor, Marina, for all her support."
You can find out more about the Swapna Dev Memorial Prize on our Prizes and Studentships page.
