What are you currently working on?

I have several projects underway right now, both fiction and nonfiction. The main one is a new book on Wyndham Lewis and Colin Wilson, an essay collection titled The Outsider and the Enemy. Lewis and Wilson strike me as the two most underrated English writers of the past century, yet they’re rarely discussed together. On the fiction side, I’ve just finished writing a novel—a philosophical thriller in the Colin Wilson tradition—called “The Venatio”, which I’m preparing to publish early next year. I’ve also begun a second novel, “Roses of Shadow”, set in a monastery in future Europe; its title, as you might have guessed, nods to Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose.

What qualities must a successful researcher possess?

I'm not sure if this is the formula for a successful researcher, but to me, the mark of a good researcher—and of a good writer generally—is their willingness to seek out better approaches to established truths. They're prepared to work with large hypotheses that arise from real questions—questions that have no easy answers and may lead to no firm conclusions. The value of a strong research hypothesis, like that of a compelling novel, is that whether everything unfolds more or less as expected, or entirely contrary, the minds of both reader and author are nonetheless enriched. Put another way, good research opens up new questions—more complex questions, questions that are harder to answer. To paraphrase Norman Mailer, the true purpose of a researcher may be to find higher, better questions.

What advice would you give to yourself if you were just starting out your studies?

Don’t look for quick answers. The most valuable research comes from the ability to live with difficult questions.

Which three books have had an influence on you?

Dante, “The Divine Comedy”
Anthony Burgess, “Earthly Powers”
Keith Roberts, “Pavane”

How important is a printed book for you?

Irreplaceable. I find most digital content tends to blur and become very forgettable—even when it’s well written. This might go some way to explaining the recent resurgence of print-only publishers and journals: it’s as if the sheer volume of digital content has raised the premium on printed work. Similarly, I suspect that an unintended consequence of AI-generated writing will be to raise the value of the most distinctive and human thinkers.

Why did you write your book?

I wrote "Wyndham Lewis: Modernism and the New Radical Right" for two reasons: first, to use Lewis's work as a lens through which to understand the increasingly influential philosophy of the Radical Right; and second, to reassess his legacy and relevance to our world today. Most scholars assume the New Right to be merely "reactionary," thus overlooking its radical modernist roots—and of all the modernists, Lewis seems best placed as an insider-critic of the movement. By reimagining him as our intellectual contemporary, the book shows Lewis was more than just the 'lonely old volcano of the right,' as Auden called him. Hugh Kenner was nearer the truth when he described Lewis as 'the necessary antidote to everything'—which is precisely why he remains such an essential thinker in a political culture as polarised as ours, where there is so little room for nuance.

Does academia need publishers?

Yes, and even more so with the rise of self-publishing: a publisher serves as a mark of quality. That said, publishing houses will only survive as gatekeepers of quality if, like self-publishers, they are willing to take risks. This is where independent publishers are ideally positioned—they can publish the kind of research that major houses often shy away from.