Professor Ceri Sullivan

Publication

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Research

I am currently finishing a book on managerial techniques presented in Shakespeare's histories. The first chapter looks at the use of fiction in managerial training today, at the aesthetics of management, and at Shakespeare-based training, contrasting visionary and pragmatic leadership. The second chapter collects, for the first time, discussion in early modern texts about how to run an institution, suggesting that organisational behavour theory exists in prescriptive texts, but not in comprehensive form. A frankly presentist approach, assuming that managerial methods will persist across time in dealing with enduring group behaviour, is used in subsequent chapters on four specific managerial approaches in Shakespeare’s histories. Chapter three looks at methods of external and internal consultation, and the nudges which management give to get their preferred result, whether using meetings, surveys, or surveillance. Chapter four looks at two influential models of decision-making (groupthink and garbage can), both of which use a logic of appropriateness while claiming to take a rational approach. Chapter five examines research into negotiating techniques, which either claim or create value. Chapter six looks at how goal-setting theory coalesces motivation based on needs, expectancy, and equity. The book concludes wtih the sceptical way in which subordinates respond to inspirational leadership.

My earlier monographs relish such pragmatism in literary texts. My first book deals with how to persuade oneself in devotion, focusing on Catholic texts (Dismembered Rhetoric: English Recusant Writing 1580-1603). The second considers how a merchant represents himself and reads others' writings (The Rhetoric of Credit: Merchants in Early Modern Writing). The third asks whether, if the conscience is structured as a language, the consequence of the divine I AM is YOU AREN'T (The Rhetoric of the Conscience in Donne, Herbert and Vaughan). The fourth, Literature in the Public Service: Sublime Bureaucracy, reassesses Weber's understanding of the individual in the ideal bureaucracy, and the past and current relationship between creativity and bureaucracy.The fifth, Shakespeare and the Playscripts of Private Prayer, argues that private prayers involve scripting and acting an ideal self, and that Shakespeare takes advantage of such dramatic action. The sixth, George Herbert and the Business of Practical Piety: Nudging Towards God, finds that Herbert creates a social, written, and physical environment to overcome the doleful conclusions of predestination. 

Reviews 

Shakespeare and the Play Scripts of Private Prayer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). Reviewed as: ‘clarity and originality’, ‘generative… fruitful’, ‘vast range of sources’, ‘strong historical evidence’ (Comitatus 52); ‘overdue and very welcome’, ‘argues compellingly’, ‘thorough, useful, and entertaining’, ‘brilliantly complicating’, ‘enjoyably stirred through with historical anecdotes’ (Review of English Studies 72.307); ‘original perspective of private prayer’, ‘expertly negotiates the current research’, ‘fascinating and thought-provoking’, ‘compelling’, ‘clear and engaging’ (Early Modern Literary Studies 22.1); ‘sustained treatment’, ‘engaging’, ‘significant contribution to… performance studies’, ‘brilliant insight’, fascinating insights and dizzying details’ (Bunyan Studies 25); ‘a shift in methodology… to a refreshingly innovative literary and rhetorical analysis’, ‘impressively researched’, ‘a compelling case’, ‘searching and persuasive’ (Spenser Review 52.2); ‘surprising’, ‘thoughtfully researched’, ‘intriguing case studies’, ‘a robust contribution’; ‘its primary arguing is convincing’, ‘compelling approaches’ (Shakespeare Quarterly 72.3-4); ‘remarkable number of prayer texts’ , shows ‘how the theatrical and narrative power of prayer, and its performative energies, promote counterfactual thinking’, ‘an invaluable contribution to early modern literary studies’ (Renaissance Quarterly 76.1).

Literature in the Public Service: Sublime Bureaucracy (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). Shortlisted for Best Book of 2012 and 2013, European Society for the Study of English.

The Rhetoric of the Conscience in Donne, Herbert, and Vaughan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). Reviewed as: ‘intelligent and entertaining’, ‘witty’, ‘keen sense for when the pursuit of piety veers into sardonic comedy’ (Review of English Studies 60.247); ‘extremely interesting, if stomach-churning’, ‘excellent close readings’, ‘subtle, interesting… valuable and welcome’ (MLR 104.3); ‘rich and stimulating, dense but readable’, ‘innovative, sustained, and illuminating rhetorical analyses [of] a vital subject in our intellectual history’ (Rhetorica 28); ‘brilliant insights through unusual juxtaposition and deft assimilation’ (Seventeenth Century Journal  25.1); ‘expands our knowledge of theological and tropological connections in early modern devotional texts’, ‘surprising and valuable’ (Year’s Work in English Studies  89); ‘insightful... sharp… probing’ (George Herbert Journal 32.1); ‘engaging intellectual descant… lively energy… wit… conceptual daring’ (Modern Philology 110.2); ‘densely written… impressively compact… playfulness… adventurous wit’ (Notes and Queries 61.3).

The Rhetoric of Credit. Merchants in Early Modern Writing (Madison/London: Associated University Presses, 2002). Reviewed as: ‘incisive and learned’, ‘fascinating’, ‘an important book’ (Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies  4.2); ‘redresses deficienc[ies]’, ‘historically specific’, ‘disdains previous interpretations’, ‘drives home her point’ (The Historical Journal  49.4); ‘original and complex’, ‘unusually productive combination of professional skills’, ‘testing but welcome factual ballast to usual critical tendencies’ (Notes and Queries  3/2004); ‘succinct, informed… fresh’, ‘learned… and important’ (Renaissance Forum 7); ‘double expertise’, ‘fascinating’, ‘provocative and very important’ (Business History  46.1); ‘welcome corrective’, densely detailed’ (Review of English Studies  55); ‘palpable irritation [which]… is engaging, not off-putting, inspiring, not reactionary’ (Sixteenth-century Journal 34.3).

Dismembered Rhetoric. English Recusant Writing 1580‑1603 (Madison/London: Associated University Presses, 1995). Reviewed as: ‘timely… controversial… strong’, ‘intriguing and compelling’, ‘subtle, learned, and interesting’ (MLR  93.1); ‘fascinating’ (Shakespeare Quarterly ); ‘wonderful’, ‘should be received warmly and enthusiastically’, ‘densely argued’ , ‘rock solid and satisfying’ (Sixteenth-century Journal  27.2); ‘bring[s] sub-cultures into dialogue… interesting patterns’ (Studies in English Literature  36.1).

Authors at Work: the Creative Environment (English Association, Essays and Studies), intro, and co-ed. with Graeme Harper (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2009). Reviewed as: ‘deliciously voyeuristic’ (Guardian  15/8/09); ‘rewards curiosity’ (TLS 26/6/09).

Writing and Fantasy , co‑ed. with Barbara White (London: Longman, 1999). Reviewed as: ‘theoretically sophisticated’, ‘sureness of touch’, ‘impresses’ (Gothic Studies); ‘outstanding in its range and breadth’; ‘far-reaching and important… fresh and interesting’, ‘none of the usual archetype-hunting and no facile claims’ (Journal of the Fantastic).

Grants and fellowships awarded

• Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship
• AHRC Research Leave (twice)
• HRC Knowledge Transfer Catalyst Grant
• British Academy-Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant (four times)
• British Academy/Huntington Library fellowship 
• Folger Library Fellowship 
• CRASSH (Cambridge), visiting fellowship
• St. Catherine's College, Oxford, visiting fellowship
• Corpus Christi College, Oxford, visiting fellowship
• English Subject Centre, teaching grant (twice)
• HEFCW Collaboration and Reconfiguration Fund
• British Academy block grant for conference participants 
• University of Wales Collaboration Fund
• University of Wales Equipment Fund
• Society for Renaissance Studies conference grant
• British Academy postgraduate award

Teaching

My research into how early modern and contemporary literature is activist - training its readers to be change-makers - is expressed in my teaching and reflects my three-part career. Seminars for such modules necessarily co-create meaning between their participants, and draw on lived experience.

Modules I have created and taught at Cardiff include:

• BA: Contemporary British Political Drama (studying today's plays exploring how to deal with the climate catastophe, large scale migration, violent conflict, and the financial crisis)
• MA: Learning to Lead with Shakespeare (a presentist module, drawing on current management approaches to trait and situation analysis, and tracing the managerial techniques of Shakespeare's leaders)
• BA: Planning your Future: the ENCAP Employability Module (co-created and taught with colleagues from literature, linguistics, philosophy, and Student Futures; included placements)
• BA: The High Drama of Work in Early Modern Writing (an historicist module, studying fictions which present work as  role-playing of work, and using the period's prescriptive texts in Cardiff's Archives and Special Collections)

At Cardiff, I have also taught historicist literary modules on canonical texts:

• BA:  Elizabethan Shakespeare
• BA:  Jacobean Shakespeare
• BA:  Texts in Time 1500-1700
• BA:  Renaissance Poetry, Prose, and Drama
• BA:  The Dissertation
• MA:  Talking to God in Metaphysical Verse

Biography

Educated locally (Cardinal Newman Catholic Comprehensive School, Pontypridd), then at Hertford College, University of Oxford (English literature BA and PhD).

First career in the City of London, with KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock, as senior charterted accountant and banking analyst (leading on such clients as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Gulf International Bank, and First National Bank of Taiwan).

Second career in NGOs, as a Finance Director (through V.S.O.) for the Zambian Council for the Handicapped (a parastatal), with Oxfam Head Office as the senior overseas accountant for Mozambique (with additional field work in the Sudan, Zambia, and the DRC), and in the City of London in the Binder Hamlyn charities unit.

Third career in universities: Oxford, the Open University, Bangor, and here in Cardiff, with a focus on experiential learning, presentist approaches to early modern literature, and political activism.

Honours and awards

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Higher Education Academy.

Professional memberships

The Society for Renaissance Studies.

Committees and reviewing

External Committees

• European Research Council, expert reviewer for Horizon 2020 applications (2017-2020)
• JISC Historic Books, Advisory Board (2012-19)
• English Association, Higher Education Committee (2009-19)
• AHRC Peer Review College member (2004-14)
• Quality Assurance Agency, English Benchmark Statement review group, member (2014)
• Society for Renaissance Studies, Council member (also 1996-03, 2005-07, 2012-18); judge then chair of fellowship competition (2016-2017); judge of biennial book prize (2016)
• Council for College and University English, Executive member (2011-14)
• International Society for History of Rhetoric, U.K. representative (2004-08)

Internal Committees

• Senate (2014-23)
• Governance (2020-23)

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising work on the representation of religion and of management (all periods).

To cite Raymond Williams, 'culture is ordinary'; as Michel de Certeau argues, even banal situations can exhibit a resistant, alternative micro-politics in which individuals claim autonomy. Students who want to reconceive of creativity as a quality of ordinary people - shown in the way they produce extraordinary things in common places - are particularly welcome. Literature is not ethically superior to prescriptive management theory, but it is often more methodologically productive...

Current PhD students are Wendy Hill (thesis title: 'Cognitive modelling of the representation of sexual deviance in Jacobean fiction and a presentist study of the reception of such fiction') and Luka Peart (thesis title: 'Readings of race in Shakespeare by Year 10 pupils in the UK').