About Duncan Wu
Born 1961. Duncan Wu is a British biographer, philologist and scholar of English.
Duncan Wu (born 3 November 1961 in Woking, Surrey) is a British academic and biographer.
Biography Wu received his D.Phil from Oxford University. From 2000 to 2008, he was Professor of English Language and Literature at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He is now the Raymond Wagner Professor of Literary Studies in the English Department at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Wu joined St Catherine's in 2000 as university lecturer, and in 2003 became Professor of English Language and Literature. Before that, he was reader and then professor of English literature at the University of Glasgow, 1995–2000, and before that he was a research fellow of the British Academy, 1991–4.
His first book, Wordsworth's reading 1770-1799, was published in 1993. His popular textbook, Romanticism: An Anthology, went to a third edition in 2005. Besides several other books about Wordsworth, he has written about contemporary British drama, the fiction of William S. Burroughs, and the non-fiction of Charles Lamb and William Hazlitt. He worked with Alasdair Gray on his Book of Prefaces and is a regular contributor to The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Guardian and other British newsprints. His latest volume, William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man, was published by Oxford University Press in the UK on 20 October 2008. He is also vice-chairman of The Charles Lamb Society, trustee of The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association, and a founder member and former chairman of The Hazlitt Society.
Wu's interests include music, books, and monster trucks. Wordsworth's reading 1770-1799 Cambridge University Press, 1993,
Selected Writings of William Hazlitt (9 vols., 1998)
Making Plays Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2000, Wordsworth: An Inner Life, Wiley, 2002, Wordsworth's Poets Carcanet, 2006,
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Frequently asked questions
Who is Duncan Wu?
British academic and biographer
When was Duncan Wu born?
Duncan Wu was born on 3 November 1961 in Woking.
What is Duncan Wu's occupation?
Duncan Wu is a biographer, philologist and scholar of English.
What nationality is Duncan Wu?
Duncan Wu is British.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Duncan Wu. https://biography.guide/duncan-wu/
MLA: "Duncan Wu." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/duncan-wu/.
Chicago: "Duncan Wu." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/duncan-wu/.
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