Prestigious research post in ancient literature in
A HIGH-ACHIEVING Guernsey academic is looking forward to developing his literary studies, after receiving a prestigious research fellowship at a Cambridge college.
Jack Colley, 25, was educated at Beechwood and Elizabeth College, where he developed a keen interest in Greek and Roman classical literature, which was encouraged by his grandfather – former Ladies’ College tutor Peter Colley.
Having achieved a double-first, a master’s degree and then a doctorate at Oxford, he moved to St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was inducted as a research fellow last week – one of only six to be chosen, among a field of more than 1,000.
In addition to his own written work, the election procedure involved the submission of a report from an external reader.
‘This is an amazing opportunity,’ he said. ‘I feel very privileged and a little lucky. It will allow me to work every day on my own research – all the work I have wanted to do – alongside my teaching and my involvement in the governance of the college.’
Dr Colley has become one of fewer than a dozen research fellows at St John’s, among a total of about 150 fellows, including those who are teaching, professorial or retired.
The college has just under 1,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.
His doctoral thesis focused on how newly-acquired Greek texts – and their translations – affected the development of English literature in the 15th century.
‘A lot of Greek works came in from eastern Europe after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, so there was an increasing awareness and this was soon accelerated by the development of the printing press,’ he said.
His work has sought to develop a greater understanding of western culture’s intellectual history and how it was influenced by classical literature.
He is currently investigating the evolution of English comedy from the 1430s to the 1620s.
‘My research tells one part of a wider story about why ancient texts matter, and how they’ve been made to matter, over the past 2,500 years,’ he said.
‘Focusing on translation in particular helps to unravel how English literary culture, past and present, fits into broader transnational and multilingual trends.’
Dr Colley credits the inspiring tutors he had at Jesus College, Oxford with giving him the impetus to reach his current position.
‘They introduced me to so much literature from the Renaissance period that I hadn’t known before,’ he said.
