King's College London

Graduate Student, Department of English

Thesis Title: Realms of Eroticism: Georges Bataille, Modernist Literature, Architecture

About

I am studying for a PhD at King’s College London part-time and I work at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as Policy Manager, where my role is to influence government policy and the built environment industry to improve architectural quality.

My PhD project is a study of theories of eroticism, with a focus on the French theorist and pornographic writer Georges Bataille (1897-1962). I study the context of sexual and erotic theories in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries in which Bataille’s thought emerged. I then use his theory to examine eroticism as it is used in two practices. The first is erotic modernist literature, specifically the work of D. H. Lawrence and Anaïs Nin. The second is contemporary architecture by a range of urban designers including Le Corbusier and Bernard Tschumi who, although they do not form a specific body or movement together, share a common interest in Bataille as a source of theoretical and practical inspiration.

I completed my BA and MA, both in Philosophy and Literature, at Warwick University. My Masters Dissertation was a feminist reading of Georges Bataille’s theory of eroticism, with a view to formulating a female form of erotic transgression. Before joining the RIBA to lead on housing policy and manage policy programmes, I worked in research at Metropolitan Housing Partnership, in communications at John McAslan + Partners architectural practice, and I previously wrote monthly features articles for the Erotic Review.

Contact Information