Staff profile

I came to Durham following a PhD and a Research Fellowship at Cambridge University. My research is mostly focused on twentieth-century American literary and cultural history. I'm also a member of the Affective Experience Lab in the Institute for Medical Humanities.

My current research project concerns the intellectual history of psychotherapy in the USA between the passage of the National Mental Health Act in 1946 and the publication of DSM-III in 1980. I am particularly interested in the pluralisation of the therapy field during this period, and the ways in which new therapeutic modalities—often neglected by the humanities—revised or departed from classical psychoanalysis. Recent publications of relevance include ‘Reading and Relating with Joanne Greenberg and Frieda Fromm-Reichmann’, Critical Quarterly (2025). Beyond my academic work in this area, I am also a trainee psychodynamic psychotherapist, and a listening volunteer with Samaritans.

A second and longstanding research interest is in the history and sociology of literary institutions. My doctoral work considered the changing positions of literary magazines, publishing houses and creative writing programs in the American literary field since 1960, drawing on Max Weber’s sociology of charismatic authority. Recent outputs in this area include a chapter on online publishing for the Cambridge Companion to the British Essay. 

Broader areas of interest include psychoanalysis, continental philosophy, the intellectual history of literary criticism since the early twentieth century, and various forms of creative nonfiction, especially autotheory, the lyric essay, and personal narratives of trauma and recovery.

I welcome PhD applications in any of the above areas.

My teaching ranges widely across twentieth- and twenty-first century literature and theory. I currently run specialist modules on 'Life-Writing and Mental Health' (L3) and 'Creative Nonfiction' (MA), as well as co-convening 'Approaches to Literary Studies' (L1). In 2025/26 I am Director of Undergraduate Studies for Michaelmas and Easter terms. 

Authored book

• Infinite Fictions: Essays on Literature and Theory
  
  Pugh, D. (2015). Infinite Fictions: Essays on Literature and Theory. Zero Books.

Book review

• Making Literature Now
  
  Pugh, D. (2017). Making Literature Now. Cambridge Quarterly, 46(1).
• Digital Modernism
  
  Pugh, D. (2014). Digital Modernism. Modernism/Modernity, 21(4).
• Thinking in Literature
  
  Pugh, D. (2012). Thinking in Literature. Textual Practice, 26(2).
• Continental Divide
  
  Pugh, D. (n.d.). Continental Divide. Radical Philosophy, 172.

Chapter in book

• Blogging in Britain: The Essay in a Digital Age
  
  Pugh, J. (2024). Blogging in Britain: The Essay in a Digital Age. In D. Gigante & J. Childs (Eds.), The Cambridge History of the British Essay (pp. 696-711). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030373.052

Edited book

• The Digital Critic: Literary Culture Online
  
  The Digital Critic: Literary Culture Online. (2017). O/R Books.

Journal Article

• Reading and relating with Frieda Fromm‐Reichmann and Joanne Greenberg
  
  Pugh, J. (2025). Reading and relating with Frieda Fromm‐Reichmann and Joanne Greenberg. Critical Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/criq.70020
• Theory on Theory
  
  Pugh, D. (2015). Theory on Theory. The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory, 23(1).
• Theory on Theory
  
  Pugh, D. (2014). Theory on Theory. The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory, 22(1).

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Read. Like. Refresh
  
  Pugh, D. (2019). Read. Like. Refresh. Times Literary Supplement.
• Cobbling Together
  
  Pugh, D. (2018). Cobbling Together. Times Literary Supplement.
• Mr Surface Reader
  
  Pugh, D. (2016). Mr Surface Reader. Times Literary Supplement.

Other (Print)

• An Interview with Lydia Davis
  
  Pugh, D. (2014). An Interview with Lydia Davis. The White Review.
• An Interview with Ben Marcus
  
  Pugh, D. (2012). An Interview with Ben Marcus. The White Review.