David Watt

• ENGL 2620 - Introduction to Print Culture and Book History
• ENGL 4630/7860 - Books about Books

I love studying literature and the technologies that have been used to share it. I have a special place in my heart for manuscripts and early printed books, which constantly remind me of the commitment needed to create and share opportunities for learning. It is not easy to make a book by hand, nor is it easy to set type and cast off pages on a printing press, yet people have devoted countless hours to these activities. By so doing, those who make books reveal their commitment not only to the ideas they wish to share but to the audiences with whom they hope to share them. I try to show a similar level of commitment when I write, whether alone or with others, and I take the same approach to course design, campus events, and even meetings. As a teacher, editor, and colleague, I value the opportunity to learn from and with others and I have found books to be an excellent catalyst for doing that and for explaining why I think it is so important.

• D.Phil (English), University of Oxford, 2004
• M.St (English)(Medieval), University of Oxford, 2001
• MA (English), University of Alberta, 1999
• BA (Hons) (English), University of Alberta, 1998

Research interests

• Medieval English literature
• Thomas Hoccleve
• Book history
• Manuscript studies
• Books about books

Research summary

My research focuses on the different ways that books are meaningful. For example, my research into laughter and awkwardness examines the techniques through which literary texts generate a range of reader responses. I am also interested in the way that literary texts both shape and can help us to understand our conception of books as meaningful objects. This part of my research is grounded in my study of the manuscripts and rare books now held at the University of Manitoba (including those that belong to St John's College), which speak volumes about the history of books in Western Europe as well as the place of books in settler-colonial culture. I am currently trying to understand how the meaning of these books has changed over time and what that might mean for a present and future grounded on the principle of reconciliation with Indigenous and Métis peoples.

Research affiliations/groups

• Editor - Florileg ium
• Special Projects Co-Coordinator - International Hoccleve Society

• "Laughter & Awkwardness in Late Medieval England: Social Discomfort in the Literature of the Middle Ages." London: Bloomsbury, 2023.
• "The Making of Thomas Hoccleve’s Series. Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies." Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2013.
• "Thomas Hoccleve: New Approaches." Co-edited with Jenni Nuttall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022. 
• “‘Mescreauntz,’ Schism, and the Plight of Constantinople: Evidence for Dating and Reading London, BL Additional MS 59495.” John Gower in Manuscript and Early Printed Books. Ed. R. F. Yeager, Martha Driver, and Derek Pearsall, 131-51. Cambridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2020. 
• “The Collegiate Gothic: Legitimacy and Inheritance in Robertson Davies’ The Rebel Angels.” English Canadian Medievalism: Romance and Allegory. Ed. Anna Czarnowus and Jane Toswell, 97-112. Cambridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2020. 
• With Elizabeth-Anne Johnston. “Two Gilbertine Fragments at the University of Manitoba.” in Florilegium, vol. 36 (2018): 105-125.
• “Introduction: What do we study when we study manuscripts in Canada?” Florilegium, vol. 33: Medieval Manuscripts in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019 (for 2016): 1-14. 
• With Spencer Sealy and Mélanie F. Guigueno. “Antoine Joseph Lottinger’s first book on the cuckoo and its fosterers: a rare book with three title-pages.” Archives of natural history 42.2 (2015): 253-64.
• With Sharon Wright and Paul Dyck. “The Study of Renaissance and Reformation Books on the Canadian Prairies.” Renaissance and Reformation Studies 37.3. (2014): 235-262. 
• “Thomas Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes.” A Companion to Fifteenth-Century English Poetry. Eds. Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, 47-57. Cambridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2013. 

• 2023 - Students' Teacher Recognition Award
• 2022 & 2013 - Fellow of the Year, St John's College
• 2011 - University of Manitoba Graduate Students' Association Teaching Award
• 2009 - Arts Teaching Excellence Award, New Faculty
• 2009 - University 1 Teaching Excellence Award

• “Medieval Manuscripts in Canada: The Place of Old Books on Treaty Land.” Public Lecture Series. Mount Royal University: January 30, 2019.
• Host of Numerous Public Talks and Events as Director of the University of Manitoba Institute for the Humanities. 2012-18.
• With Cameron Burt and Jason Brown. “The Making of Thomas Hoccleve in Manitoba.” An Exhibition of Books at The Elizabeth Dafoe Library: University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, CAN): June 27-July 16, 2018.
• With the class of ENGL 7600. “The University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections Exhibition.” Elizabeth Dafoe Library: University of Manitoba. December 2013-January 2014. 
• With Paul Dyck, Shelley Sweeney, and Jason Peters. “This Booke of Starres:” 400 Years of the King James Bible. Elizabeth Dafoe Library: University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, CAN): October 2011-April 2012.