Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Email: [email protected]
I am a specialist in the culture and history of error in early modern England. I am interested in how perceptions of error manifested and changed during this period, in epistemological contexts such as natural philosophy, travel and navigation. In 2023, I will be a British Library Eccles Fellow to conduct archival research for my second monograph in this area. I am Co-editor on the Notebooks volume of The Complete Works of Thomas Browne (OUP). I am also working on a short book entitled Early Modern Bookspace, under contract with Cambridge University Press.
My first monograph, entitled Shakespeare in Error: Error in Shakespeare, is published with Palgrave Macmillan, see here. Its central work is to re-value error not just in the material text but as a way of interpreting Shakespeare’s literary style as heavily digressive and figurative, reconnecting error to its earlier meaning not just of mistake but wandering. It examines the different aspects of error to be found within Shakespeare's drama, including the politics of attributing error to particular social groups such as women and foreigners, and the editorial history of the treatment of error in the texts of Shakespeare. Error in Shakespeare has been reviewed in Shakespeare, Renaissance Studies and the Times Literary Supplement. You can watch the launch of my book here.
I have also published peer-reviewed articles on error in seventeenth-century science and medicine in History of Science, the material history of early modern drama in Shakespeare Survey, and the opportunities for digital humanities and textual criticism in Renaissance Drama.
I have taught widely in English Literature. I was the convener for 'Shakespeare: Text and Stage' at Warwick University CLL and 'Error and Failure in Early Modern Culture' at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. I have taught a variety of modules including 'Shakespeare and Selected Dramatists of His Time' and 'Modes of Reading' at Warwick English Department, and 'Critical Issues in Law and Management' at Warwick Business School. I am the Director of Studies for the doctoral project on 'Coventry Early Modern Grammar School', in collaboration with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum (Coventry), fully funded by the Coventry University Trailblazers scheme, and I am supervising another PhD project on early modern women's writing and theories of grief.
Biography
I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 2022 I was the Byrne-Bussey Marconi Fellow in the History of Science at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
Before coming to Coventry University, I was a Marie Curie Cofund Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick. In September 2019 I was a Short-Term Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC. I previously held a Swiss National Science postdoctoral fellowship at the Houghton Library, Harvard University, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, and the position of Postdoctoral Fellow in early modern English literature at the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland. I received my PhD under a co-tutelle between the University of Warwick and the University of Neuchatel.
External positions
Associate Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick
1 Sept 2020 → …
Projects
- 1 Active
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Reading the Room: Books, Access and Community in Heritage Spaces
Leonard, A. (Co-Investigator), Williams, A. (Principal Investigator), Pye, T. (Co-Investigator) & Solomons, A. (Research Assistant)
3/06/24 → 3/06/25
Project: Research
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Shakespeare and Punctuation: “doe you smell a fault?”
Leonard, A., 23 Apr 2024, (Accepted/In press) A History of Punctuation in English Literature. Bonapfel, E., Faulkner, M., Gutierrez, J. & Lennard, J. (eds.). 1 ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Vol. 1. 25 p. (History of Punctuation in English Literature).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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'Misprinting and Misreading in "The Comedy of Errors"'
Leonard, A., 20 Apr 2023, Printing and Misprinting: A Companion to Mistakes and In-House Corrections in Renaissance Europe (1450-1650). Della Rocca de Candal, G., Sachet, P. & Grafton, A. (eds.). Oxford University Press, p. 399-414 16 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
"Put a Mark on the Errors": Seventeenth Century Medicine and Science
Leonard, A. & Parker, S. E., 1 Sept 2023, In: History of Science. 61, 3, p. 287-307 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile206 Downloads (Pure) -
Thomas Browne's Notebooks
Moon, A. & Leonard, A., 2022, (In preparation) Oxford University Press.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
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Early Modern Bookspace
Higgins, B. & Leonard, A., 2021, (In preparation) Cambridge University Press. (Elements)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
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AHRC Peer Review College
Leonard, A. (Consultant)
2023Activity: Consultancy/Expert Contribution › Expert Contribution/Advice
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Correcting Readers in the Seventeenth Century
Leonard, A. (Speaker)
2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Correcting Readers in Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy
Leonard, A. (Speaker)
2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Prizes
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British Library Eccles Fellowship
Leonard, A. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Byrne-Bussey Marconi Bodleian Libraries Fellowship
Leonard, A. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Leonard, A. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Election to learned society
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Folger Shakespeare Library Short Term Fellowship
Leonard, A. (Recipient), 2019
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
Press/Media
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Soil, Smoke, Slime and Snails: Seeking Connection Between Shakespeare and ‘Our Planet’s Precarity’
21/06/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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The Page’s a Stage: Critical Editions and the Craft of Early Modern Printing
1/01/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment