Ciaran Duncan

Thesis Title: Claude McKay's Reverberating Figure of the Vagabond.

I look at forms of diasporic modernism from the Harlem Renaissance to contemporary Britain, taking as my point of departure Claude McKay's portrayal of himself, and a number of the migrant characters in his novels, as "vagabonds".

Supervisors: Professor Elleke Boehmer, Professor Nicole King

Research Interests: Harlem Renaissance

Modernism and Colonial Histories

Film

Literary Tragedy

Queer Theory

Publications

Duncan, C. (2025) The Transmission of Claude McKay’s Novels in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Harlem Renaissance, World Literature, Fascist Imagery? Journal of World Literature. [Online] 1–25.

Duncan, C. (2025). Re-visions of Literary Tragedy: Postcolonial Innovations in the Fiction of Preti Taneja and Kamila Shamsie. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. [Online] 1–19. 

Teaching

I have taught Paper 1B to undergraduates, which is a paper for first year students on approaches to literature and theory. I designed a syllabus and led classes and tutorials.

I have also acted as a Graduate Teaching Assistant on a Special Options paper (Paper 6) on Tragedy for third year undergraduates.