Alfred Thomas, PhD
Professor
English
Contact
Building & Room:
2009 UH
Address:
601 S Morgan St.
Office Phone:
Email:
About
My research focuses on the connections between England and Europe in the late-medieval and early modern periods. In particular I have published extensively on the cultural and political links between Ricardian England and Luxembourg Bohemia and the pivotal role of Anne of Bohemia, queen consort of King Richard II ( r. 1377-99) in the development of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Gawain Poet as cosmopolitan writers.
Another area of interest is the reception of Shakespeare in Central and Eastern Europe, especially during the Cold War.
These research interests are reflected in my comparative approach to teaching. In Spring 2025 I shall teach two courses: the Introduction to Shakespeare seen through the lens of anglophone and non-anglophone cinema from the US, Britain, Russia and Japan; and Violence and Masculinity in Medieval Arthurian Literature-- a comparative course based on my new book project Wounded Knights: Violence, Masculinity, and Medieval Courtly Love.
Research Areas
Comparative Literature | Early Modern/Renaissance British Literature | Gender and Sexuality Studies | Medieval British and European Literature
Selected Publications
Wounded Knights: Violence, Masculinity, and Medieval Courtly Love (October 2025)
The Czech Legend of St Catherine of Alexandria: The Text and its Contexts
Writing Plague: Language and Violence from the Black Death to COVID-19 (2022)
Shakespeare, Catholicism, and the Middle Ages
Reading Women in Late Medieval Europe
Shakespeare, Dissent and the Cold War
Prague Palimpsest: Writing, Memory and the City
A Blessed Shore: England and Bohemia from Chaucer to Shakespeare
The Bohemian Body: Gender and Sexuality in Modern Czech Culture