Dr. Brian Lindsay Thomson
Via Teodoro Pateras 19, 00153 Roma
meaculpapix@gmail.com
Education
University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland	2002-2005	PhD
Thesis: Graham Greene and the Politics of Popular Fiction and Film
The dissertation investigates one of the central sources of anxiety in Greene studies, Greene’s status as a popular author, as well as the defenses mounted by scholars who have felt that his work somehow transcended ‘mere entertainment’.  The study situates the genesis of Greene’s ambiguous critical reputation in the contexts of New Critical mistrust of the masses, the mid-century growth of both the welfare state and transnational commerce, and the gradual absorption of popular genres into institutional canons via French and American auteur theory, structuralism, and new strains of cultural theory.  I argue that admiring critics fostered the perception of Greene as a kind of literary auteur, but that the very success of this enterprise has consistently undermined efforts to assess Greene’s work in any fashion save through antiquated (and often misleading) biographical exegesis. The dissertation not only challenges prevailing assumptions about Greene’s work, but also provides a working model for understanding authorship from a socio-historical perspective.

New York University GSAS, New York	1999-2000	MA
Thesis: Epistemology in the Short Fiction of Lytton Strachey
The thesis examined dialectical structures of knowledge formation in Ermyntrude and Esmeralda in the light of Strachey’s unorthodox historical methodology.
Taught Coursework: Structural linguistics and stylistics, Victorian literature and visual culture, crime and the American imagination, precursors of British modernism, British modernism, disease in history and literature, Shakespeare’s history plays and comedies
New York University CAS, New York	1994-1997	BA
Honors Thesis: Political and Aesthetic Revision in Shakespeare’s Histories
The thesis examines how Shakespeare’s treatment of kingship in Henry V problematizes his earlier vilification of Richard III.
Taught Coursework: English composition, literary theory, narratology, the 19th century British novel, Romantic poetry, Shakespeare, British literature from origins to the present, American literature from origins to the present, Brontë and Woolf (honors seminar), American romanticism (honors seminar), the medieval church from St. Francis to St. John, medieval technology, Renaissance literature (comparative literature), music composition

Other Training
Oxford Seminar	April 2009
Teaching English Grammar Specialization Module, awarded with honors
Oxford Seminar	March 2009
TEFOL/TESL Certification
NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies	Summer 2001
Certificate in Multimedia and Web Design

Academic and Professional Experience
English Instructor, Darby School of Languages	Rome	2009-Present
Formally and informally assess students for placement in CEFR defined English language courses, select appropriate course materials to help students meet educational and professional objectives, develop exercises and examination materials in order to assess progress throughout the course and furnish recommendations for future study Prepare students and industry professionals (ERG, ENI, AGI, etc.) for standardized examinations, particularly Cambridge ESOL (KET through CPE) and the TOEFL iBT, through structured study of the four modalities and intensive grammar instruction Coordinate schedules and materials for individual and group courses
Coeditor, IRIC (academic journal)	New York/Rome	2008-Present
Solicit article submissions, organize peer review of articles under consideration, make final selections with editorial board, write/commission prefatory material and prepare final manuscript for press (copyediting and typesetting)
Director, Mea Culpa Pictures LLC	New York	2006-2009
Operated a single-member limited liability corporation that oversaw production for a feature film intended for the US direct-to-DVD market Coordinated a cast and crew of 25 to complete a two and a half month production schedule comprising twelve days of principal photography Responsibilities included: screenwriting, web design, budgeting, scheduling, directing, editing, visual effects, musical scoring, audio engineering, and interactive DVD authoring Negotiated the lease of international DVD and VOD distribution rights to Maxim Media International
Editor, NYCLU Nassau Newsletter	New York	2006-2009
Worked closely with the NYCLU Nassau Chapter’s board of directors to ensure that the newsletter successfully promoted the organization’s goals Commissioned feature articles, editorials, and photographs from the organization’s local membership and board of directors and oversaw their timely delivery Produced design elements, performed copy-editing and layout, and coordinated pre-flight and proofs with print-house Designed and produced promotional materials consistent with the organization’s messaging
First-year Tutor in English Literature, UCD	Dublin	2004-2005
Designed syllabus and rubrics to reinforce concepts from a first-year literature survey and to familiarize students with standards of academic research and writing, including the use of databases, grammar, structure, style (MLA), proper citation, and revision Contributed to departmental revision of examinations and assessed both term papers and exams Areas/Topics covered: Greek theatre, Shakespeare, lyric poetry, American short story, 19th century British novel, Irish Revival, and the Theater of the Absurd, classical and Renaissance dramaturgy, narratology, modernism and postmodernism, deconstruction, ideology, genre, reader response, psychoanalysis, historicism
Third-year Seminar Instructor, UCD	Dublin	2004-2005
Designed, taught, and assessed student performance in a course entitled ‘Mean Streets and Promiscuous Blondes: Hard Boiled Fictions and American Dreams’ Assisted students in the selection of appropriate topics for research papers and presentations, provided guidance in the appropriate use of secondary sources and rubrics to ensure that students understood what I expected from them Topics covered: Literary/film genre (semantic/syntactic approaches); precursors; style and meaning in hard-boiled fiction; ideology and reader response; the politics of spectatorship; feminist readings of hard-boiled fiction and film; generic transformation in contemporary media Primary texts covered: Chandler, ‘The Simple Art of Murder’; Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Hemingway, ‘The Light of the World’; Hammett, Red Harvest; Chandler, The Big Sleep; Spillane, I, the Jury Secondary texts covered: Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism; Zinn, A People’s History of the United States; Davis, City of Quartz; Grant, Film Genre Reader; Rabinowitz, Before Reading; Butler, Gender Trouble; Galbraith, The Affluent Society Films covered: Your Town (NAM short,1940); The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1942); The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946); Chinatown (Polanski, 1974); Miller’s Crossing (Coen brothers, 1990); The Big Lebowski (Coen brothers, 1998); The Sopranos (TV series)
Tutor in Literary Theory (NYU SCPS)	New York	2001-2002
Provided weekly supplementary lectures and workshops on theoretical topics ranging from Plato through Post-Colonial Studies and Queer Theory Advised students on research, preparation, and composition of term papers (4,000 words)