Thomas Wilks

Dr Thomas Wilks is Lecturer in German at Queen Mary University London. He was also Lecturer in German at Aberystwyth University, where he was the scheme leader for Liberal Arts degree programmes (2017-18). He has taught and examined German language and German and European literature extensively at University College London (2012-17); German literature, history and cinema at the University of Reading; French and German drama at the University of York; and English for Academic Purposes at Royal Holloway and at the University of Southampton. He studied at Royal Holloway University of London (BA French and German; MA European Literary and Cultural Studies; PhD comparing Michel Leiris's and Hubert Fichte's life-writing projects). He held a Teaching Fellowship in German there as well as appointments in French and as an Associate Examiner, including for the University of London External BA German programme, for which he co-authored study guides on modern literature. He spent much of his career over the nine years prior to joining UCL in three very different regions and institutions in Germany, teaching advanced English language, translation, theatre, British history, cultural studies and media studies extensively at the Universities of Würzburg (where he also ran the English Drama Group), Mainz and Braunschweig. His book on Experimentation and the Autobiographical Search for Identity in the Projects of Michel Leiris and Hubert Fichte was published by Mellen. He has also published articles on Leiris. His recent publications include chapters on medical (in)humanities and theatre translation. His research interests are in comparative literature, especially the autobiographical, and translatability in modern and contemporary narrative. His current book project investigates connections between discretely signified forms of reconfigured awareness that are unified by the English term 'distraction'.