Sean O'Neill, St Catharine's

Biographical Information

Originally from Shropshire, I completed a BA in English at Christ's College, Cambridge in 2021, followed by a MPhil in Renaissance Literature, also at Christ's and funded by a Judith E. Wilson Studentship. I then spent three years training and practicing as a Social Worker in West London while completing a part-time MSc in Advanced Relationship Based Social Work Practice with Children and Families at the University of Lancaster. I returned to Cambridge and matriculated at St Catherine's College in 2025. My doctoral research is supervised by Professor Jason Scott-Warren and funded by the Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholars Programme. 

Research Interests

My research looks at satirical and polemical prose (and the occasional bit of verse) in English between 1588 and 1642. Specifically, I am investigating the role of literary style(s) and imitation in the pre-history of the ‘bourgeois public sphere’ in England. Drawing on fields such as book history, the history of reading, and anthropology, my project uses early modern ephemera to interrogate the historical precedents of ‘democratic’ critical reading.

Interests include: The history of the book/reading; English and European Renaissance literature and intellectual history; satire, pastiche and imitation; Posthumanism and Actor-Network Theory

Selected Publications

Seán O’Neill, ‘“The Foole Within Marres Our Play Without:” Models of Self-Realisation in the Parnassus Plays,’ Oxford Research in English, 15, Spring 2023, pp.66-89.