Profile
Dr Rebecca Menmuir
Profile
After undergraduate studies in English at Royal Holloway, University of London, I completed an MSt in English (650-1550) at St Hilda's College, Oxford, funded by a Jeremy Griffiths Memorial Studentship; this was followed by a DPhil in English at Jesus College, Oxford, funded by a Jesus College Studentship. I spent a year at the University of Groningen teaching undergraduates and MA students, before taking up a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Queen Mary University of London.
College teaching
At Lincoln, I offer classes and tutorials across the breadth of medieval literature, from 650-1550. For Course I students, this includes Prelims Paper 2 (650-1350) and FHS Paper 2 ( 1350-1550). For Course II students, I teach Paper 1 (650-1100) and Paper 2 (1066-1550). I additionally teach Prelims Paper 1A, which focuses on the English language. I am able to supervise final-year theses which focus on medieval literature.
In my teaching I encourage close textual analysis alongside situating medieval literature in its historical, political, and multilingual contexts. I also incorporate medievalism into my teaching, which intersects with my research interests.
- Research
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My interests include classical reception, especially the medieval reception of Ovid; the poetry of Chaucer and Gower; forgeries and pseudo-texts; and medievalism. My first book explores scholastic and literary responses to Ovid's exile poetry in the Middle Ages. My current book project focuses on medieval forgeries of Ovid.
Elsewhere, I have interests in Neo-Latin literature; and medievalism, especially the idea of 'forging' the medieval and Chaucerian apocrypha.
I am the Associate Editor for Chapters 2-5 of The Year's Work in English Studies.
I am committed to widening access to medieval and classical literature, and have organised pilgrimages, tours, and talks based on my research.
- Select publications
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Medieval Responses to Ovid’s Exile, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
'Glossing Book 3 of the Pseudo-Ovidian De vetula' (with Simon Whedbee), The Journal of Medieval Latin 34 (2024): 22-69.
Editor, 'Medieval Forgeries/Forging the Medieval' (with Hannah Armstrong), postmedieval 15.2 (2024).
'Tracing Ovid's "Best Line" in the Middle Ages', The Journal of Medieval Latin 33 (2023): 57-88.
'"Edifying Words" in the Florilegium of New College MS 98', New College Notes 13 (2020): 1-9.
Position
- Simon and June Li Fellow in English Literature