Christopher Lynch Becherer

email - c.lynch.2@research.gla.ac.uk 

 

twitter - @hopefulmirrlees

Research title: The Development of World Building in Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series

Research Summary

My research is a study of the development of world building in the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett.

I read Pratchett’s Discworld through the lens of Neo-Victorianism, ecocriticism, cartographic theories, and the politics of space. I pay particular focus to the relationship between imperialism, technology, and fantasy in Pratchett’s work, as well as his texts’ ambivalence toward the State.

Publications

  • Review of Mark Doyle's Utopian and Dystopian Themes in Tolkien’s Legendarium in The Journal for the Society of Utopian Studies, 33.1, 2022.

  • 'Neglected Fantasy Gems' at the University of Glasgow's Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic blog, contributor, 2021, https://fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2021/12/07/neglected-fantasy-gems/ 

  • Review of Anna Vaninskaya’s Fantasies of Time and Death in The Journal for the Society of Utopian Studies, 32.1, 2021.

  • ‘Kaleidoscopic Temporality and the Future’ in Temporal Discombobulations: Time and Experience of the Gothic anthology, August 2016.

Grants

  • £223, Research Support Award, Senate House archive research, August 2022.

  • £200, Research Support Award, Temporal Discombobulations Conference, August 2016.

  • £1,000, co-writer of funding application for Collaborative Research Award for Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations symposium, June 2016.

  • £1,000, The Thomas Reid Bursary, September 2015.

Conference

Most recent conference papers:

  • 'Terry Pratchett in an ACAB World', International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts' Once and Future Fantasies Conference, July 2022.

  • 'Schisms in the Discworld Fandom, or, Who Watches The Watch', Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations Conference, April 2022.

  • Plus various other papers on Terry Pratchett and Ursula Le Guin at academic conferences, including at the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Sussex, 2016 onward.

 

Teaching

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant on English Literature Fantasy MLitt, 2021/2022.

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant on Fantastic texts and Where to Find Them, University of Glasgow International Summer School, 2021.

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant on English Literature 2B Writing and Text, 2020/2021.

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant on English Literature 2B Writing and Text, 2019/2020.

Additional Information

  • Associate Fellowship of Recognising Excellence in Teaching, 2021.

  • Founder and producer of Puck's Players Theatre Company, 2020 onward (productions include Terry Prachett's The Truth, August 2022, and filmed scenes from Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, December 2021).

  • Co-Curator Academic Strand, CYMERA Festival, June 2019.

  • Co-Founder, Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations symposium, 2016-2017.

  • Co-Editor, From Glasgow to Saturn creative writing journal, 2015-2016.

  • Contributor, The Skinny - book reviews, feature writing, interviews, 2014-2016.