Dr Bethany Dubow

Research Interests

My research tracks relations – and agitations – between geometry, ecology, and early modern English poetics. I am currently revising my first monograph, Shape Misshaped: Poetics, Mathematics and The Faerie Queene, for publication. Arguing for the ‘stranger mathematics’ of The Faerie Queene, the book reveals how Spenser’s verse geometries shape a poetic world that qualifies, even rivals, contemporary cosmic models. I have also begun work on my second major research project: Early Modern Ecopoetics, c.1540-1690. In 2023, my study of Spenser’s ‘toadstool poetics’ was awarded the ISS Isabel MacCaffrey Prize for the best essay on Spenser published in 2021-22.

Bio

I did my undergraduate in English at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, before joining Somerville College, University of Oxford, for a Masters in English Literature (1550-1700). I returned to the University of Cambridge for my PhD, this time a member of King’s. Before joining New College as Salvesen Junior Research Fellow (2023-present), I held a Stipendiary Lectureship in English at Oriel College (2023-2025) and an AHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in English at the University of Cambridge (2023). In 2021, I held a Wiener-Anspach Doctoral Research Fellowship at the Université libre de Bruxelles.