Prof Julian Wright

Professor

Department: Humanities

Julian has been Head of the Department of Humanities since 2017. He is a historian of modern Europe and the author of two books with Oxford University Press, on regionalism and socialism. Julian is particularly fascinated by the idea and experience of time in the present. Working with colleagues from other disciplines, he recently brought out a ground-breaking volume with the Proceedings of the British Academy, 'Time on a Human Scale' which puts the human present back into the cultural, philosophical and literary history of Europe between 1860 and 1930.

Julian's new project on the experience of ordinary people who were living 'outside of time' in the era of the Second World War demands a focus on the practices of the everyday, from writing to performing to familial relationships, and how people tried to reconstruct these ordinary temporal rhythms in difficult conditions, from those living under siege to prisoners in camps or people living in secrecy in occupied Europe.

Before appointment to Northumbria University in 2017, Julian taught at Durham University for thirteen years. Earlier, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church Oxford and prior to that a Senior Scholar of the Modern History Faculty in Oxford, where he was educated as an undergraduate and DPhil student. He has held a visiting professorship at the École des hautes Études en Sciences sociales, Paris.

Julian is a Council Member and Secretary for Professional Engagement of the Royal Historical Society.

Campus Address

Office: Lipman 108

Email Julian

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

The author of two books with Oxford University Press, on regionalism and socialism, Julian is particularly fascinated by the idea and experience of time in the present. Working with colleagues from many other institutions and disciplines, he is leading a project called 'Time on a Human Scale' which puts the human present back into the cultural, philosophical and literary history of Europe between 1860 and 1930.

Julian's new project on the experience of ordinary people who were living 'outside of time' in the era of the Second World War demands a focus on the practices of the everyday, from writing to performing to familial relationships, and how people tried to reconstruct these ordinary temporal rhythms in difficult conditions, from those living under siege to prisoners in camps or people living in secrecy in occupied Europe.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
The Times of Tyranny and Democracy. A Reflection on Élie Halévy and Twentieth-century Concepts of Time, Wright, J. 8 Feb 2019, Élie Halévy et L'Ère des tyrannies, Paris, Editions Les Belles Lettres
Socialism and the Experience of Time: Idealism and the Present in Modern France, Wright, J. 6 Jul 2017
A lesson in revolution: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, 'The Communist Manifesto', Wright, J. 22 Oct 2015, Revolutionary Moments, London, Bloomsbury
Socialism and political identity: Eugene Fourniere and intellectual militancy in the Third Republic, Wright, J. Jul 2013, In: French Historical Studies
Les réformistes au secours d’une femme en deuil. Une petite histoire de réseaux et de recherches socialistes à la veille de la Grande Guerre, Wright, J. 2012, In: Cahiers Jaurès
Pluralism and the Idea of the Republic in France, Wright, J., Jones, H. 2012
Réformisme et historiographie révolutionnaire: Georges Renard et Eugène Fournière, historiens du XIXe siècle, Wright, J. 2012, In: Mil neuf cent. Revue d'histoire intellectuelle
Vision and reality: Joseph Paul-Boncour and Third Republic pluralism, Wright, J. Jul 2012, Pluralism and the Idea of the Republic, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan
After the Affair: the Congrès de la Jeunesse and intellectual reconciliation in 1900, Wright, J. Dec 2009, In: French History
One mind at Locarno? Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann, Wright, J., Wright, J. 2008, Mental Maps in the Era of Two World Wars, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan