Dr Leo Kadokura

Research Interests: Modern Literature, World Literature, Postcolonial Studies, the ethics and epistemology of identity

Leo Kadokura is a lecturer in modern English Literature at St John’s College, University of Oxford. He teaches Prelims Paper 3 (1830-1910), Prelims Paper 4 (1910-present) and Finals Paper 5 (1760-1830).

His forthcoming book examines how the always contested idea of Englishness has shifted as writers have developed new, or different, modes of writing across the long twentieth century. The project considers in particular the work of Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, V.S. Naipaul and Kazuo Ishiguro. The vital but often neglected two-way interaction between intellectual history and literary form is central to this project. He completed his DPhil in English, MSt in World Literatures in English and BA in English Language and Literature at Oxford.

He is organising a conference at St John's College (Oxford) on Thursday 10th September 2026. The theme is Modernist Nationalisms. The Call for Papers can be found here: https://www.cfplist.com/CFP/47540

He has worked extensively on Olive Schreiner, John Galsworthy, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Henri Bergson, Henry Green, Paul Ricoeur, V.S. Naipaul, Charles Taylor, Kwame Anthony Appiah, J.M. Coetzee, W.G. Sebald, Kazuo Ishiguro and Kirsty Gunn.

He welcomes dissertation proposals on various topics in Victorian, modern and postcolonial literature, especially those interested in intersecting literary/formalist concerns with political/intellectual history. He has previously supervised nine dissertations on various topics such as: 

- Life Writing and the Visual Arts: Rachel Cusk and Virginia Woolf

- Religion, Philosophy and Preaching: D.H. Lawrence

- Scepticism and Violence: Cormac McCarthy

- Packaging Identities: Hanif Kureishi, Bernardine Evaristo and Natasha Brown.

- Rewriting Voice: Sam Selvon, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Percival Everett.

- Terror and Narrative Time: Ian McEwan and Don DeLillo.

Publications: 

- "Weak Positions: Olive Schreiner's Elusive Politics." Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 61, no. 3, 2025, pp. 343-356.

- "What One Is Worth: Leftovers of Identity and Value in V.S. Naipaul's Late Fiction." Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas, 2026, pp. 163-185.

- “Distant Chimeras: John Galsworthy, the Edwardian Novel and the Contradictions of Internationalism.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 72, no. 2, 2026, forthcoming.

- "Amidst the Wreckage: Joseph Conrad's Epistemology of Englishness and Empire." Journal of Modern Literature, 2026, forthcoming. 

Conference Papers:

- [Conference Organiser] Modernist Nationalisms Conference, University of Oxford (Oxford, UK; September 2026). 

- "Kazuo Ishiguro and the Canonisation of the World Writer." Taking a Shot at the Canon, Sorbonne University (Paris, France; June 2025).

- "Dating the Problematizing of National Representation in the English Novel." Modern and Contemporary Literature Forum, University of Oxford (Oxford, UK; October 2024).

- [Conference Panel Chair] "Half Knowledge: Identity, Philosophical Difficulty and the Remains of Value." 55th NeMLA Convention, Modern Language Association [MLA] (Boston, USA; March 2024).

- "What One Is Worth: Leftovers of Identity and Value in V.S. Naipaul's Late Fiction." 55th NeMLA Convention, Modern Language Association [MLA] (Boston, USA; March 2024).

- "Distant Chimeras: The After-Effects of John Galsworthy and the Edwardian Novel." Afterlives of Empire in the Public Imagination, University of Sapienza (Rome, Italy; September 2023).

- "Writing Doubtfully: Joseph Conrad's Nostromo." OEGC, University of Oxford (Oxford, UK; June 2023).