Dr Will Tattersdill

  • Senior Lecturer in Literature and Contemporary Fantasy Cultures (English Literature)

Biography

I wrote a PhD on science fiction in late-Victorian magazines at King's College London, following which I taught at the University of Birmingham for nearly a decade. After working both in Birmingham's literature and liberal arts and sciences departments, I moved to Glasgow in January 2023. At Glasgow I am closely affiliated with the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic and teach on the core course of our MLitt in Fantasy. I also lead the Literature and Science Lab.

My work focusses on the relationship between literature and science, especially as it is figured in and by popular culture from around 1850 to the present day. I am particularly interested in exchanges between genre fiction and the sciences, and my current main project explores the ways in which dinosaurs mediate this perceived boundary and open possibilities for multidisciplinary collaboration. My other work has explored museum display, animals in the Star Trek franchise, counterfactual history, polar exploration, and speculative evolution, and I am currently editing H. G. Wells's short stories for the Oxford World's Classics series.

Research interests

  • Magazine history / periodical studies
  • Genre fiction, especially fantasy and science fiction
  • Literature and Science
  • Museums and Museology
  • Dinosaurs and Geology in popular culture
  • Interdisciplinarity and Disciplinary relationships
  • Alternate history
  • Victorian literature, especially sci fi
  • Contemporary fantasy
  • Worldbuilding
  • H. G. Wells
  • Star Trek
  • Form, especially length, as a characteristic of genre
  • Interactive fiction, especially choose-your-own adventures

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2017 | 2016 | 2013
Number of items: 14.

2024

Tattersdill, W. (2024) Wells and periodical literature. In: Bell, D. and Cole, S. (eds.) Oxford Handbook to H. G. Wells. Oxford University Press. (Accepted for Publication)

2023

Witton, M. and Tattersdill, W. (2023) The ‘Spin’ in Spinosaurus: inventing a modern dinosaur superstar. In: Palaeontology in Public. UCL Press. (Accepted for Publication)

Tattersdill, W. (2023) Towards a counterfactual criticism: alternate history and the study of English literature. Textual Practice, (doi: 10.1080/0950236X.2023.2243905) (Early Online Publication)

Tattersdill, W. (2023) Foreword: On the usefulness of what didn’t happen. In: Quiroga Puertas, A. J. and Olabarria, L. (eds.) The Ancient World in Alternative History and Counterfactual Fictions. Bloomsbury: London. (Accepted for Publication)

2022

Tattersdill, W. (2022) Nonhumanoid alien life. In: Garcia-Siino, L., Mittermeier, S. and Rabitsch, S. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Star Trek. Routledge. ISBN 9780367366674

Burke, V. and Tattersdill, W. (2022) Introduction: Museums in Science Fiction, Science Fiction in Museums. Configurations, 30(3), pp. 247-256. (doi: 10.1353/con.2022.0016)

Burke, V. and Tattersdill, W. (2022) Science fiction worldbuilding in museum displays of extinct life. Configurations, 30(3), pp. 313-340. (doi: 10.1353/con.2022.0019)

2021

Naish, D. and Tattersdill, W. (2021) Art, anatomy, and the stars: Russell and Séguin’s dinosauroid. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 58(9), pp. 968-979. (doi: 10.1139/cjes-2020-0172)

2020

Tattersdill, W. (2020) Discovery and the form of Victorian periodicals. In: Mittermeier, S. and Spychala, M. (eds.) Fighting for the Future: Essays on Star Trek: Discovery. Liverpool University Press, pp. 145-164. ISBN 9781800341326 (doi: 10.3828/liverpool/9781789621761.003.0009)

2019

Kistler, J. and Tattersdill, W. (2019) What’s your dinosaur? Or, imaginative reconstruction and absolute truth in the museum space. Museum and Society, 17(3), pp. 377-389. (doi: 10.29311/mas.v17i3.3219)

2017

Tattersdill, W. (2017) Work on the Victorian dinosaur: Histories and prehistories of 19th-century palaeontology. Literature Compass, 14(6), e12394. (doi: 10.1111/lic3.12394)

Tattersdill, W. (2017) Looking at the issues: science and fiction as genres in the fin de siècle magazine. Textual Practice, 31(2), pp. 417-431. (doi: 10.1080/0950236X.2016.1249706)

2016

Tattersdill, W. (2016) Science, Fiction, and the Fin-de-Siècle Periodical Press. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107144651

2013

Tattersdill, W. (2013) Periodicity, time travel, and the emergence of science fiction: H. G. Wells's temporal adventures in the pages of the New Review. Victorian Periodicals Review, 46(4), pp. 526-538.

This list was generated on Thu Apr 18 15:54:39 2024 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections
Number of items: 14.

Articles

Tattersdill, W. (2023) Towards a counterfactual criticism: alternate history and the study of English literature. Textual Practice, (doi: 10.1080/0950236X.2023.2243905) (Early Online Publication)

Burke, V. and Tattersdill, W. (2022) Introduction: Museums in Science Fiction, Science Fiction in Museums. Configurations, 30(3), pp. 247-256. (doi: 10.1353/con.2022.0016)

Burke, V. and Tattersdill, W. (2022) Science fiction worldbuilding in museum displays of extinct life. Configurations, 30(3), pp. 313-340. (doi: 10.1353/con.2022.0019)

Naish, D. and Tattersdill, W. (2021) Art, anatomy, and the stars: Russell and Séguin’s dinosauroid. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 58(9), pp. 968-979. (doi: 10.1139/cjes-2020-0172)

Kistler, J. and Tattersdill, W. (2019) What’s your dinosaur? Or, imaginative reconstruction and absolute truth in the museum space. Museum and Society, 17(3), pp. 377-389. (doi: 10.29311/mas.v17i3.3219)

Tattersdill, W. (2017) Work on the Victorian dinosaur: Histories and prehistories of 19th-century palaeontology. Literature Compass, 14(6), e12394. (doi: 10.1111/lic3.12394)

Tattersdill, W. (2017) Looking at the issues: science and fiction as genres in the fin de siècle magazine. Textual Practice, 31(2), pp. 417-431. (doi: 10.1080/0950236X.2016.1249706)

Tattersdill, W. (2013) Periodicity, time travel, and the emergence of science fiction: H. G. Wells's temporal adventures in the pages of the New Review. Victorian Periodicals Review, 46(4), pp. 526-538.

Books

Tattersdill, W. (2016) Science, Fiction, and the Fin-de-Siècle Periodical Press. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107144651

Book Sections

Tattersdill, W. (2024) Wells and periodical literature. In: Bell, D. and Cole, S. (eds.) Oxford Handbook to H. G. Wells. Oxford University Press. (Accepted for Publication)

Witton, M. and Tattersdill, W. (2023) The ‘Spin’ in Spinosaurus: inventing a modern dinosaur superstar. In: Palaeontology in Public. UCL Press. (Accepted for Publication)

Tattersdill, W. (2023) Foreword: On the usefulness of what didn’t happen. In: Quiroga Puertas, A. J. and Olabarria, L. (eds.) The Ancient World in Alternative History and Counterfactual Fictions. Bloomsbury: London. (Accepted for Publication)

Tattersdill, W. (2022) Nonhumanoid alien life. In: Garcia-Siino, L., Mittermeier, S. and Rabitsch, S. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Star Trek. Routledge. ISBN 9780367366674

Tattersdill, W. (2020) Discovery and the form of Victorian periodicals. In: Mittermeier, S. and Spychala, M. (eds.) Fighting for the Future: Essays on Star Trek: Discovery. Liverpool University Press, pp. 145-164. ISBN 9781800341326 (doi: 10.3828/liverpool/9781789621761.003.0009)

This list was generated on Thu Apr 18 15:54:39 2024 BST.

Supervision

  • Lewis, Rachel
    Magic, Medicine, Metamorphosis: Representations of Medicine in the Victorian Fairy Tale

Teaching

  • L3 Contexts and Methods: Text, Time, Performance (co-convenor)
  • L4 A Periodical History of the Fantastic: Science Fiction and Fantasy in Magazines, 1880-Present (convenor)
  • L5 Fantasy 2 (convenor)
  • L5 World-building (convenor)

I also lecture on L1 The Novel and Narratology, L2 Writing the Body, and L4 Literature 1830-1914.

At previous institutions, I have taught (for instance) alternate history, the literature of the fin de siècle, the history of science fiction, victorian literature and science, interdisciplinary theory, and a survey course on prose.


A picture of a scholar, Will Tattersdill, standing by night in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.