Mary Fairclough

@maryfairclough

Professor, Department of English and Related Literature and Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. Books, running, messiness, cats

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Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· 5d

he knows nothing of eclipse

Jones the big grey cat lounges on a blanket. Earlier today he lay in a puddle.

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· 9d

We have a Django, and Jones! similar vibes to your pair

Django a tabby and white cat, leans from a garden wall towards the camera

Jones, a velvety grey British shorthair sits on a garden table, looks a bit daft

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· 17d

Thank you #BARS2026 organisers and student assistants, keynotes, and speakers @bars.bsky.social for a brilliant three days in Birmingham! We missed you @drbeard79.bsky.social 🎶

Old Joe Birmingham university clock tower and a dry lawn and campus buildings

UV light scene of karaoke, Walking in Memphis on screen

Blue plaques on concrete including to Stuart Hall

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· 17d

… and Django, tiny, passionate lover of humans and hater of cats who defend our yard against the largest of intruders

Django the tiny tabby and white cat sits in a fire escape, facing off against an enormous fluffy Maine Coon cat on the wall

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· 17d

Deidre, I am so sad to hear this. Thanks you for sharing the lovely Mr Bean. Here is Jones: large, soft, and a lover like Mr Bean of small spaces…

Jones the big grey cat in a kitchen cupboard

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· 29d

So sorry Andy - I hope you have good painkillers and heal up very soon! Jones sends 79 of his very best wishes 🩶🧡

Jones the big grey cat is curled up sweetly. A sticker marked 79 is attached to his fluff. Why? Don’t question him.

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Jul 10

A first glimpse of my book on the CUP website ✨ www.cambridge.org/core/books/r... Coming just in time for Christmas 2026. Very very happy to be published in Studies in Romanticism, especially alongside so many cracking books by brilliant women (h/t Emily, Yasmin, Orianne!)

Screenshot of publisher's webpage with details of book: Romantic Devotion, Coming soon, expected publication date December 2026.

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Jun 8

She is a beautiful lemur of a cat!

Two ring tailed lemurs, with orange eyes and stripey tails

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Mar 23

Springtime friends and neighbours 🌱

Four alpacas look at the camera, daffodils in background

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Mar 19

Happy gotcha day Penny! Love from wild Django in a box

Django the tabby and white cat has a wild staring time with his toys in his box

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Feb 16

Ditto! I think they’re twins not cousins. Your boy is beautiful 🩶🧡

Jones the cat lies on his back and demands attention!

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Feb 16

hi cuz!

Jones the fluffy grey cat almost hidden in a green duvet

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Jan 15

🗣️🗣️🗣️ Brilliant CfP for Romantic Elements: Rocks, and Stones, and Soil, 1750–1850 Symposium at The University of Manchester, 25–26 June, 2026. Keynotes Jeremy Davies and Stephanie O’Rourke. Organised by two @cecs-york.bsky.social alumni! No conference fee! [full CfP in image alt texts]

Romantic Elements: Rocks, and Stones, and Soil, 1750–1850 Symposium at The University of Manchester, 25–26 June, 2026

Keynote Speakers Dr Jeremy Davies (University of Leeds) Dr Stephanie O’Rourke (University of St Andrews)

Earth and earthiness are ubiquitous in the period’s many modes of nature writing, but elements of the ground do not flow or yield their depths like water, nor mediate like air. Earth as physical entity obscures, obstructs, and sullies, proving a less tractable ground for what we might still think of as defining Romantic-era postures of idealism and spontaneity. What literary forms, what knowledge practices, does earthly matter press poetics into? Is the geological record hostile to the human and human expression in its radical alterity, as Heringman at times suggests? Or are there underground places of passage, sympathy, even love, as Mary Jacobus, Susan Wolfson, and Tristram Wolff have more recently proposed? Is there a whole spectrum of attachments to rocks and stones, amounting to (in Wolff’s phrase) a ‘gray romanticism’, in which writers can both resist and relish digging in the dirt?

‘Romantic Elements: Rocks, and Stones, and Soil, 1750–1850’ aims to explore these questions. We seek to go beyond the exhilarating stony subjects of mountains, deep time, and fossils, widening the remit of Romantic-era writing about the earth to include more particulate matter and more conceptual treatments. We want to add soil, dirt, dust, sand, and ashes to the Wordsworthian catalogue of Romantic elements; and we want to expand our theoretical and metaphoric range to excavate the implications of Barbauld’s and Shelley’s ‘unearthly forms’.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers on the theme of earth, unearthing, and the unearthly in Romantic-era poetry and prose (1750–1850). When engaging with the theme, prospective speakers may wish to explore topics such as the following:

Earth, earthiness, and literary form/genre
The subterranean/undercommons
The components of earth: mud, soil, clods, dust, sand
Earthy elements as sites of affect or criticality
Poetic and/or epistemological obscurity
Images or forms of burial and concealment
Images or forms of unearthing, unveiling, or revelation
Earth as generative, fertile, life-giving
Earth as a site of labour and resource extraction
Earth as gendered, queered/queering, racialized, classed
Formalist, ecocritical, queer, and affective approaches to earth, earthiness, and unearthing

Please send proposals for 20-minute papers in the form of a 250-word abstract and an author biography (150 words) to James Metcalf (james.metcalf@manchester.ac.uk) and Millie Schurch (millie.schurch@english.su.se) by Friday 30 January 2026.

Please note: this will be an in-person meeting only. With thanks to support from the Swedish Research Council, there will be no conference fee for speakers, other than to attend the optional conference dinner at the end of the first day. Food and refreshments will be provided on both days (coffee and pastries; lunch; tea-break snack).

We are particularly keen to encourage the participation of early career researchers and scholars on precarious employment contracts. We are pleased to be able to offer up to 10 bursaries to cover accommodation and travel within the UK for those without access to institutional support for research activities. Please indicate with your abstract submission if you do not have access to institutional financial support and would like to be considered for a bursary.

We hope to hear from you! Millie and James

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Dec 14

‘Tis the season, for tiny tree, enormous cat 🎄🩶

Jones the big grey cat sits next to a diminutive Christmas tree

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Dec 6

he has had one thousand kisses today! 🩶

Jones the big grey cat is in his favourite cupboard, rubbing his massive cheeks against the Weetabix

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Nov 26

William Blake’s The Ancient of Days image. His pose is just like Gonzo’s!

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Nov 22

TREATS!

Django the tabby and white cat waits to be offered a Bonkers heart-shaped lollipop for cats. His eyes dilate. The heart shape covers his nose

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Oct 22

sunset stroll season 🌅

The Leeds Liverpool canal at sunset, with reflections from n the water

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Sep 26

We had a flying visit to Munich in August so I’m no expert, but had amazing food and drinks in Blaue Libelle which was just down the road from Arena Kino, cool looking little cinema - both in the northern part of Glockenbachviertel gay district

Screenshot of Google Maps showing location of Blaue Libelle battle in Munich

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Sep 12

a small Friday gift

half a rainbow over Parson’s bridge, Leeds Liverpool canal

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· Aug 9

long but not forgotten

Statue of Long Boi the duck on the University of York campus. The plaque reads: In memory of our friend and campus celebrity Long Boi, who stood tall at a mighty 71cm before leaving us in 2023. Long, but not forgotten

Mary Fairclough@maryfairclough· May 21

Join us in York and online 27-28 June for our conference Anna Letitia Barbauld: Voicing Dissent. Fantastic speakers! Great value registrations, including free registration for York students! 🗣️🗣️🗣️ tinyurl.com/barbauld25