James Ee, Trinity

Biographical Information

I read English as an undergraduate at Emmanuel College, where I took a double starred first and the Betha Wolferstan Rylands Prize for the best performance in Part I of the Tripos. I then completed the MPhil in English Studies at Trinity College under a Dunlevie King's Hall Studentship, ranking first in my cohort; for my performance in the Renaissance strand of the MPhil I received the Jeremy Maule Memorial Award. My doctoral studies are generously funded by the Cambridge-AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership and Trinity College, and I also hold an honorary Cambridge International Scholarship from the Cambridge Trust.

This year I am one of two assistant organisers (with Anika Goddard) of 'For Lancelot Andrewes', a symposium to be held at Pembroke College and the Faculty of English on 23–24 September 2026. 

I have taught PCCP, Shakespeare, and English Literature and its Contexts 1500–1700, and have also supervised dissertations on John Donne and Thomas Browne. I welcome enquiries to supervise these papers as well as dissertations related to my research interests. 

Research Interests

My research examines the genres and contexts of literary consolation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Within this broad scope I am concerned with late medieval and early modern religion, moral philosophy and theories of the passions, classical and patristic reception, rhetoric, and translation. Particular writers of interest include Thomas More, Robert Southwell, the Sidneys, John Donne, George Herbert, Robert Burton, and John Milton.

Having worked on early modern scepticism and artificial languages, I maintain a wider interest in early modern intellectual history, and especially the works of Francis Bacon, Thomas Browne, and the early Royal Society.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

• 'Rhetorica Medici: Thomas Browne's Remedy for Babel', Studies in Philology, 124.2 (2027) (forthcoming; 20,000 words)
• 'The Fortunes of Pertinax: Burton and Johnson', Notes and Queries (2026), https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjaf136

Conference Papers

• 'Samson Agonistes: The Tragedy of Antiperistasis', Tragedy and Resistance Workshop, Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, Berlin, 17 April 2026
• 'Housman's Self-Parody', Graduate Research Flash Forum, Faculty of English, University of Cambridge, 12 March 2026
• 'Donne's Devotions and the Politics of Kairos', Renaissance Society of America 72nd Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 20 February 2026
• 'Bacon and the Beasts: The Virtues of Animals and the Wisdom of Man', Society for Renaissance Studies 11th Biennial Conference, University of Bristol, 3 July 2025
• 'Thomas More, Suicide, and the Discomforts of Dialogue', Renaissance Society of America 71st Annual Meeting, Boston, 20 March 2025
• 'Reforming Consolation in England: The Case of Robert Southwell', Trinity Postgraduate Symposium for Premodern History, Trinity College, Cambridge, 16 November 2024