1. 1
PROFESSOR ROBERT FRASER
CURRICULUM VITAE
September 2015
1. HIGHER EDUCATION
Degrees
1984 PhD in English, University of London
1970 MA in Literature, University of Sussex
1968 BA in English, University of Sussex.
2. APPOINTMENTS AND EXPERIENCE
2008 to present: Professor of English, Open University (Emeritus since 2016)
1999 -2008: Senior Research Fellow in Literature, Open University.
1994 – 1999: Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for English Studies University of
London.
1993-1994: Lecturer in English, Royal Holloway College, University of London
1991-1993: Lecturer in English, Trinity College, Cambridge. (Director of Studies in English,
1992-3).
1990 (May-June): Visiting Professor and conference director, University of São Paulo,
Brazil.
1988 (January-June): Visiting Professor, Department of English, University of Kuwait.
1986-1990:Research Associate. Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of
London. Chair, Research Project “Sir James Frazer and English Literature”.
1983-1991:Lecturer, SOAS, University of London, Certificate in Comparative International
Studies. Convenor for courses in Western, African and Asian Literature.
1974-1978: Teaching and Research Fellow, School of English, University of Leeds.
1970-1974:Lecturer in English, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, West Africa

2. 2
3. EXTERNAL ACADEMIC ACTIVIVITIES:
Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, elected 2005
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, elected 2007
Fellow of the English Association, elected 2013. Member of Fellowship Committee. Founder
of the Special interest group in Life Writing, 2015.
Co-founder (1984) of Wasafiri (OU-sponsored magazine of international writing), Associate
Editor, 1984-2008, Director 2008-11, subsequently Advisory Editor, 2011-present.
4. EXPERIENCE OF ADULT EDUCATION:
I have almost forty years’ experience of teaching adults: notably at the Africa Centre in
London (Creative Writing, 1978-82); at Goldsmiths College (African Literature, 1982-6); in
South Africa (South African Committee for Higher Education, Soweto, 1986-7), and most
recently as an MA tutor for the Open University’s Region 01 (2004-7).
5. PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS
1. Fraser, Robert (2012). Night Thoughts: The Surreal Life of the Poet David Gascoyne.
Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-19-955814-8.
Top of Independent’s list of 10 Best Biographies, March 2012.
2. Fraser, Robert (2008). Book History Through Postcolonial Eyes: Rewriting the Script.
Routledge, ISBN 0-415-40294-8
3. Fraser, R.H. (2007) (With Howard Wollman, Cairns Craig and Benjamin Brahon): Re-
Imagined Communities: Four Essays on the Influence of Benedict Anderson (Edinburgh:
Merchiston Publishing, tbc pp. (PB) ISBN 978 0 9553561 1 7. 25% contribution.
4. Fraser, R.H. (2002) Ben Okri: Towards the Invisible City Writers and Their Work
(Tavistock: Northcote House, in association with the British Council,), xviii + 128pp. (HB)
ISBN 0-7463-1022-2; (PB) ISBN 0-7463-0993-7.
5. Fraser, R.H. (2001) The Chameleon Poet: A Life of George Barker (London: Jonathan
Cape; Sydney, Auckland, Canada and South Africa: Random House), xiv + 596pp. ISBN 0-
224-06242-5. Re-issued by Random House in a Pimlico paperback edition, 592 pp,
November 2002. ISBN 0-7126-9171-5.
Spectator Book of the Year, 2002.
6. Fraser, R.H. (2000) Lifting the Sentence: A Poetics of Postcolonial Fiction (Manchester:
Manchester University Press; New York: Palgrave),

3. 3
x + 254pp. (HB) ISBN 0 7190 5370 6; (PB) ISBN 0 7190 5371 4.
7. Fraser, R.H. (1998) Victorian Quest Romance: Stevenson, Kipling, Haggard, and
Conan Doyle Writers and Their Work (Plymouth: Northcote House, in association with the
British Council) xvi + 96pp. ISBN 0-7463-0904-X.
8. Fraser, R.H. (1994) Proust and the Victorians: The Lamp of Memory (London: The
Macmillan Press; New York: The St Martin's Press,), xii + 320 pp. ISBN 0-333-58473-2
9. Fraser, R.H. (1990) The Making of the Golden Bough: The Origins and Growth of an
Argument (Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press; New York: The St Martin's Press), xiv +
240pp. ISBN 0-333-49631-0. Re-issued as volume two of the Palgrave Archive Edition of the
full library text of J.G. Frazer’s The Golden Bough, 15 vols (New York and London:
Palgrave, 2002). ISBN 0-333-98684-9.
10. Fraser, R.H (1986) West African Poetry: A Critical History (Cambridge, New York
and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press,), vii + 351 pp. 20 musical examples. (HB)
ISBN 0 521 30993; (PB) ISBN 0 521 31223.
11. Fraser, R.H (1985) Edward Brathwaite's "Masks": A Critical View
(London; Rex Collings for the British Council "Nexus" Series, 1981), 40pp. ISBN 0 86036
137 3. Second Edition (London: Collins for the British Council "Nexus” Series,) vi + 54 pp.
ISBN 0 00326 343 6.
12. Fraser, R.H (1980) The Novels of Ayi Kwei Armah: A Study in Polemical
Fiction (London And Boston: Heinemann Educational Books, 1980), xiii +113pp. (HB)
ISBN 0 435 91300 X; (PB) ISBN 0 435 91301 8.
6. FORTHCOM ING
1. Culture and Diffusion: Essays in the History of Migration (Palgrave, 2016)
2. How to Write Biography: Twenty-one Historic Approaches to a Form (CUP, 2017)
3. Pascal’s Tears or How Not to Murder One’s Wife (memoir, currently with Georgina
Capel).
7. WORKS FOR THE THEATRE
1. "Itene, o miei sospiri": The Agony of Carlo Gesualdo: Workshop production, Lucca Opera
Theatre Festival, Lucca, Italy, July, 1997.

4. 4
2. The Parisian Painter [English Acting Version of Il pittor parigino, from the Italian of
Giuseppe Petrosellini, music by Domenico Cimarosa], The Buxton Opera Festival, 3-12,
August, 1989.
3. "Very Naughty O..." ["Pessimo O..."] Lord Byron and the Contessa Teresa Guiccioli, (Byron
Bicentenary Production), Newark - Clifton - Clipstone - Southwell - Hucknall - Ollerton -
Averham - Worksop - Grantham -London, November, 1988- January, 1989.
4. "God's Good Englishman": An Investigation into the Life and Opinions of Dr Samuel
Johnson (Johnson Bicentenary Production, with Timothy West as Johnson; David Ashton as
Boswell; Maureen O'Brien as Mrs Thrale, and Okon Jones as everybody else) The Oxford
Playhouse - The Arts Theatre, Cambridge - The Opera House, Belfast - Arundel Castle (for the
Duke of Norfolk) - The Kings Lynn Festival - The Epsom Playhouse, June - December, 1984.
5. A Mistress Not So Coy: A Dialogue for Two Torsos [Andrew Marvell and His
Disingenuous Girlfiend], The Swarthmore Centre, Leeds, May, 1978.
6. Something in the Air, University of Leeds Workshop Theatre, Lunch time Production, April,
1977.
7. January and May: A Chaucerian Carnival (a musical staging of Chaucer's 'The
Marchantes Tale'), Swarthmore Centre, Leeds, and tour of Yorkshire colleges of education, May
- June, 1976.
8. The Last Supper (Acting Version of the Baker's Guild Play from The York Cycle), Street
Production, University and City of Leeds, April 1975.
9. Gesualdo: The Life and Death of Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa A Madrigal Show for
Actor-Narrator and Voices, Welsh Theatre Company, Cardiff - Bristol, September - December
1974.
10. Soul Brother: A Rock Musical for Actors, Singers and Band with Orville Bell, Uwa
Hunwick, Israel Fummey and "Boombaya", British Council Theatre, Accra, December, 1972-
January, 1973.
11. Kwame's Aunt [An Africanisation of Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas], University
Theatre, Cape Coast, Ghana, June 1972.