Nick Groom

Nicholas Michael Groom FRSA (born 1966) is Professor of English Literature at the University of Macau, an author on subjects ranging from the history of the Union Jack, to Thomas Chatterton, has edited several books and regularly appears on television, radio and at literary festivals as an authority on English Literature, seasonal customs, J. R. R. Tolkien, the 'Gothic' and 'British' and 'English' identities. Due to his extensive work on the Goth subculture, especially on the history of vampires, he has become known as the 'Prof of Goth' in the media and has written several articles on the Goth scene, including essays on the singer, Nick Cave.

Early years

Nick Groom was born in 1966 and educated at Bedford Modern School and Hertford College, Oxford where he graduated with first class honours in 1988.

Career

Groom became a lecturer in English at the University of Exeter in 1994, a Senior Lecturer in Post-Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol in 2000 and Reader in English Literature at the University of Bristol in 2003. Following Mayall’s death in 2014, Groom was regularly interviewed to comment on Mayall’s unique contribution to English comedy.

Groom is a critically acclaimed author, has edited several books including four Gothic novels for Oxford University Press and a twelve volume edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare (London and Bristol: Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1995), has contributed over seventy chapters and articles to edited collections and academic journals was used for 'Creating a Countryside', the 2017 exhibition at Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park.

Personal life Groom lives on Dartmoor. He has a flock of sheep and is actively involved in local arts and music.

Selected publications

Books

Thomas Chatterton and Romantic culture. Published by London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin’s Press, 1999 Introducing Shakespeare (Cambridge: Icon, 2001), with illustrations by Piero. 176pp. The Forger’s Shadow: How Forgery Changed the Course of Literature (London: Picador, 2002; paperback, 2003). 350pp. The Seasons: An Elegy for the Passing of the Year (London: Atlantic, 2013), 400pp. Anniversary edition of Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (Oxford University Press, 2014) Edition of Matthew Lewis, The Monk (Oxford University Press, 2017) Edition of Ann Radcliffe, The Italian (Oxford University Press, 2017) Anniversary edition of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Oxford University Press, 2018) The Vampire: A New History (Yale University Press, 2018) Twenty-First Century Tolkien: What Middle-earth Means to Us Today (Atlantic Books, 2022)

Critical studies, reviews and biography Review of The seasons.