Jason Camlot, PhD

Jason Camlot’s critical works include Phonopoetics: The Making of Early Literary Recordings (Stanford 2019), Style and the Nineteenth-Century British Critic (Routledge 2008), and the co-edited collections, CanLit Across Media: Unarchiving the Literary Event (with Katherine McLeod, McGill Queen’s UP, 2019) and Language Acts: Anglo-Québec Poetry, 1976 to the 21^st Century (Véhicule 2007).  He is also the author of four collections of poetry, Attention All Typewriters, The Animal Library, The Debaucher, and What the World Said. He is the principal investigator and director of The SpokenWeb <www.spokenweb.ca>, a SSHRC-funded partnership that focuses on the history of literary sound recordings and the digital preservation and presentation of collections of literary audio.  He is Professor of English and Concordia University Research Chair (CURC, Tier I) in Literature and Sound Studies.

Education

PhD (1998)—Department of English, Stanford University, Stanford, California, U.S.A.
MA (1991)—Graduate Program in English, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
BA (1990)— English (Major), Western Civilization Studies (Major) & Creative Writing (Minor), Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Research and teaching interests

Literature and Sound Studies, Victorian Literature and Culture, Nineteenth Century Print Culture and Rhetoric, Media History, Sound Recording, Elocution and Recitation, Contemporary American and Canadian Poetry, Poetry as a Genre, Romantic Literature, Creative Writing: Poetry.

Grants / research projects / honors and awards

ACTIVE FUNDING

·       Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Insight Development Grant, (Jason Camlot, PI), “Archive of the Digital Present for Online Literary Performance in Canada (COVID-19 Pandemic Period),” 1 July 2021 – 31 August 2023. ($71,185)

·       Tier 1 Concordia University Research Chair in Literature and Sound Studies, (Jason Camlot, Chair), Concordia University Vice President Research and Graduate Studies, and Faculty of Arts and Science, 1 June 2019 – 31 May 2024 ($100,000: $20,000 per year for five years)

·       John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), (Jason Camlot, PI), “The Amplitude Lab (AMPLab) for Literary Sound Studies,” 1 May 2019-31 August 2020. ($200,000)

·       Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant (Concordia University), (Jason Camlot, PI, Steven High, Co-Applicant), “Oral Literary History: Archives of Literary Performance, Oral History and Sound Studies,” 1 June 2019 - 31 May 2021. ($40,000)

·       Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Partnership Grant, (Jason Camlot, PI).  “The SpokenWeb: Conceiving and Creating a Nationally Networked Archive of Literary Recordings for Research and Teaching,” 2018-2025.  ($2.5 million)

·       Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Partnership Grant LOI, (Jason Camlot, PI), “The SpokenWeb: Conceiving and Creating a Nationally Networked Archive of Literary Recordings for Research and Teaching.” Invitation to submit to the Partnership Grant competition, 2017-2018.  ($19,273)

·       Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Insight Grant, (Jason Camlot, PI), “The Richler Library Project: Historicizing, Processing, Developing and Theorizing the Author’s Personal Library as Collection,” 2017-2022.  ($227,713)

HONOURS AND AWARDS

 

·      Finalist for Awards for Excellence in Recorded Sound Research, for Phonopoetics: The Making of Early Literary Recordings (Stanford, 2019), Association for Recorded Sound Collections, June 2020.

·      Concordia University Research Chair in Literature and Sound Studies (Tier 1), 1 June 2019 – 31 May 2024.

·      Donald Gray Prize for Best Essay Published in the field of Victorian Studies (in 2015), for “Historicist Audio Forensics: The Archive of Voices as Repository of Material and Conceptual Artefacts,” 19: Interdiscplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century 21 (2015), North American Victorian Studies Association, 2016.

·      Prix L’Académie de la vie littéraire, for What The World Said, 2014

·      Finalist, ReLit Awards (Poetry), for What The World Said, 2014

·      Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow, Queen Mary University of London, May-June 2013

·      Concordia University Newsmaker of the Week, Concordia Communications Services, for coverage of The Victorianator in the New Yorker, Wired, Globe & Mail, etc.  August 2011.

·      Finalist, Expozine Alternative Press Awards 2009, Best English Book, for The Debaucher

·      Finalist, Gabrielle Roy Prize 2007 (Association for Canadian and Quebec Literatures), for Language Acts: Anglo-Québec Poetry, 1976 to the 21^st Century (Véhicule Press, 2007)

·      Finalist, Quebec Writer's Federation A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry 2000, for The Animal Library (DC Books, 2000)

RECENT COURSES TAUGHT

2020-2021

·      ENGL 604/4— Sound Studies, Poetics and the Beats Wider Circles (Directed Study)

·      ENGL 604B/2—Techniques of (Literary) Listening (Graduate Seminar)

·      ENGL 688/1—Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Humanities Pedagogy: CEGEP Teaching in History, Theory and Practice (Directed Study)

 

2019-20

·      ENGL 801-622/4—Literature and Sound Studies (Graduate Seminar)

 

2018-19

·      ENGL 688/4—The New Woman Gothic at the Victorian Fin-de-Siècle (Directed Study)

·      ENGL 480/1—Close and Distant Listening: Methodologies and Theories for Approaching the Literary Audio Archive (Directed Study)

Research related web links

Links to Books:

Criticism -

Unpacking the Personal Library: The Public and Private Life of Books (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2022)

Phonopoetics: The Making of Early Literary Reccordings (Stanford UP, 2019)

CanLit Across Media: Unarchiving the Literary Event (McGill-Queens UP, 2019)

Style and the Nineteenth-Century British Critic: Sincere Mannerisms (Routledge, 2008)

Language Acts: Anglo-Québec Poetry, 1976 to the 21st Century   (Vehicule 2007)

Poetry -

Vlarf (McGill-Queens UP, 2021)

What The World Said (Mansfield 2013)

The Debaucher   (Insomniac 2008)

Attention All Typewriters   (DC Books 2005)

The Animal Library   (DC Books 2000)

Books

Recent articles

“The First Phonogramic Poem: Conceptions of Genre and Media Format, circa 1888.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. (February 2020): Web. [5800 words].

http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=jason-camlot-the-first-phonogramic-poem-conceptions-of-genre-and-media-format-circa-1888

 

 “Archival Spectres and Formats of the Event: The Foster Poetry Conference, 1963.” CanLit Across Media: Unarchiving the Literary Event.  Ed. Jason Camlot and Dr. Katherine McLeod.  Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2019. 141-164.

 

  “Morrisian Spectres of Working and Learning in the Context of “The New Division of Labour.”  Socialist Studies Etudes Socialistes 13.1 (Spring 2018): 57-66.

 

 "Robert Creeley in Transition 1967/1970: Changing Formats for the Public Poetry Reading,” English Studies in Canada (ESC) 43.2-3 (June/December 2017): 215-245.

 

“Historicist Audio Forensics: The Archive of Voices as Repository of Material and Conceptual Artifacts.” 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century 21 (2015): 1-21. Web [9500 words]. https://www.19.bbk.ac.uk/articles/10.16995/ntn.744/

 

“Prose, Non-Fiction.”  The Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature, ed. Dino Franco Felluga, Pamela K. Gilbert, and Linda K. Hughes. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), 1351-1360.

 

 “Le Foster Poetry Conference, 1963.” Littérature Québécoise: Voix et Images 40.2 (hiver 2015): 59-75.





Articles and Chapters Soon Forthcoming:

 

[article] “Pandemic Listening: Critical Annotations on a Podcast made in Social Isolation.” Co-Author with Katherine McLeod. Canadian Literature (submitted, accepted, under contract, forthcoming 2021).

 

[article] “Phonographs,” Cambridge Critical Concepts: Technology and Literature, Ed. Adam Hammond (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), submitted, accepted and forthcoming, 2021.

 

[article] “Hearing Trilby: A Phonographic Reading of Sonic Nostalgia,” under review with Victorian Review (submitted, accepted, under contract, forthcoming, 2021).

 

[chapter] “Culture, Criticism and the Serious Essay,” in preparation for The Cambridge History of the British Essay, ed. Jason Childs and Denise Gigante (2022).

 

[chapter] “Media Affordances of Literary Audio,” in preparation for Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Sound Studies, ed. Julian Murphet and Helen Groth (2022).

 

[article] “The Victorian Album as Blank,” Book History, in preparation for submission, fall 2021.

Recent conference papers / readings / talks

2021:

“Curating Entextualized Timeframes with AudioAnnotate: Rearranging the Audiotextual Features of Warren Tallman’s Retirement Speech.” Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH), Virtual Conference, 21 July 2021.

 

“Unarchiving the Gendered Voice: Affective and Embodied Listening.” Co-Authored with Katherine McLeod. Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE).  Congress 2021 (U Alberta/Virtual Conference), 29 May 2021.

2020:

 

“Dynamic Systems for Humanities Audio Collections: The Theory and Rationale of Swallow.” 30 minute paper with Tomasz Neugebauer and Francisco Berrizbeitia. DH2020 (Ottawa/Virtual Conference), 24 July 2020.

 

“Ethical Soundings in Collaborative Digital Humanities Research Projects: Critical Scenarios from The SpokenWeb.” 2 hour session comprised of 6 papers, and nine co-authors: Tanya Clement, U Texas; Klara du Plessis, Concordia U; Liz Fisher, U Texas; Deanna Fong, Concordia U; Yuliya Kondratenko, Concordia U; Emily Murphy, UBCO; Annie Murray, U Calgary; Michael O’Driscoll, I Alberta; Karis Shearer, UBCO.  DH2020 (Ottawa/Virtual Conference), 24 July 2020.

 

2019:

 

“Early Genres of Recorded Speech: What the Catalogues Said,” North American Victorian Studies Association Conference, Columbus, OH, 17-19 October 2019.

 

“Early Recorded Cowboy Poetry: Audiotextual Forms and Formats of “Lasca,” PCA/ACA Conference, Wilmington, NC, 26-28 September 2019.

 

“Documenting Humanities-Oriented Spoken Collections,” 1.5 hour presentation with Michael O’Driscoll, Sean Luyk, Holly Pickering, Ali Azarpahah (all U Alberta), CSDH/SCHN Digital Humanities Conference, University of British Columbia, 2-4 June 2019.

 

“Situating Patrimony: Audiotextual Features of Warren Tallmen’s Retirement Speech,” The Soundbox Sessions, UBC Special Congress Programming, University of British Columbia, 1 June 2019.

 

“Disciplinary Listening,” Resonant Practices in Communities of Sound, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, 30-31 May, 2019.

 

“The Afterlife of Performance: A metahistory of production and circulation,” 8000-word paper written and presented with Annie Murray (U Calgary) and Darren Werslher (Concordia U), Text/Sound/Performance: Making in Canadian Space, University College Dublin, Ireland, 25-27 April 2019.

 

2018:

 

“Preparing for Analysis: Seeking Feedback on SpokenWeb’s First Steps,” Great Lakes Association of Sound Studies (GLASS), Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, 27 October 2018.

 

“Vocalic Bodies in Generic Lists: An Anatomy of Early Record Catalogues,” Victorian Studies Associate of Western Canada / Research Society for Victorian Periodicals, “The Body and the Page” Conference, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, 25-29 July 2018.

 

“Collection Thinking,” Collection Thinking Conference, Concordia University, Montreal, 12-14 June 2018.

 

“Curating the Signal,” Kanada Koncrete: Verbi-Voco-Visual Poetries in the Digital Age (The Canadian Literature Symposium), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, 4-6 May 2018.

 

“Voice” (Panel Moderator), The International Conference on Narrative, McGill University, Montreal, 18 April 2018.

2017:

     

“Dramatic Recitation with Orchestral Accompaniment.” North American Victorian Studies Association Conference, Banff, Alberta, 16-19

November 2017.

 

“Media Archeology, Affordances and Portability in a Medieval Frame: A Response,” Old Media

and the Medieval Concept” (a SSHRC-funded conference, PI, Stephen Yeager), Concordia

University, Montreal, 5-6 June 2017.

 

“The Victorian Album as Blank,” North American Victorian Studies Association Supernumerary

Conference, Florence, Italy, 17-19 May 2017.

 

“Media Format and Modernist Poetry Performance,” Modernist Soundscapes Panel, Modern

Language Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, 6 January 2017.

 

“Aural Frost in a Digital Environment,” Digital Frost Panel, Modern Language Association

Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, 5 January 2017.

I am the director of The SpokenWeb, an international partnership that that develops and explores archives of literary sound recordings (see: spokenweb.ca) and of the AMPLab at Concordia University, and hold the position of Tier I Concordia University Research Chair in Literature and Sound Studies.

Other Publications and Events Across Media

Interviews

“Phonographic Imaginaries: A Conversation with Renée Altergott.” [Interview] 21 May 2022, SPOKLENWEBLOG, <https://spokenweb.ca/phonographic-imaginaries-a-conversation-with-renee-altergott/>

“Extending Genetic Criticism to Audiotexts: A Conversation with Jason Wiens.” [Interview] 19 December 2021, SPOKENWEBLOG, <https://spokenweb.ca/extending-genetic-criticism-to-audiotexts-a-conversation-with-jason-wiens/>

 

“Sound Pedagogy – Teaching the Audible Dimensions of Poetry: A Coversation (plus clips and sample syllabus) with Chris Mustazza.”  [Interview] 25 September 2020, SPOKENWEBLOG,

< https://spokenweb.ca/sound-pedagogy-teaching-the-audible-dimensions-of-poetry-a-conversation-plus-clips-and-sample-syllabus-with-chris-mustazza/>

 

Jason Camlot, Deanna Fong, Katherine McLeod, “Clipping the Poetry Series: Selections form the Sir George Williams Poetry Series, 1965-1974,” Jacket2 (24 October 2018): Web.

https://jacket2.org/commentary/clipping-poetry-series-selections-sir-george-williams-poetry-series-1965%E2%80%931974

  

Podcasts

“Podcasting as a Field of Critical Study.” Produced by Jason Camlot, with content by Hannah McGregor, Dario Llinares, Elena Razlogova, Kim Fox, Stacey Copeland, Michael O’Driscoll and Deanna Fong.  SpokenWeb Podcast Series (forthcoming).

 

“Cylinder Talks: Pedagogy in Literary Sound Studies.” Co-Written and Produced with Stacey Copeland (SFU).  SpokenWeb Podcast Series 1 February 2021.

https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/cylinder-talks-pedagogy-in-literary-sound-studies/

 

“Deep Curation: Experimenting with the Poetry Reading as Practice.” Written by Klara Du Plessis, Produced by Jason Camlot.  SpokenWeb Podcast Series 5 October 2020.

https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/deep-curation-experimenting-with-the-poetry-reading-as-practice/

 

“Ideas have feelings, too.  Voice, Feeling and Rhetoric in Podcasting.” Co-Written and Produced with Ali Barillaro, Sadie Barker and Emma Telaro.  SpokenWeb Podcast Series 3 August 2020. https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/ideas-have-feelings-too-voice-feeling-and-rhetoric-in-podcasting/

 

“How are we listening, now? Signal, Noise, Silence.” Co-Written and Produced with Katherine McLeod. SpokenWeb Podcast Series 4 May 2020. https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/how-are-we-listening-now-signal-noise-silence/

 

“Sound Recordings Are Weird.” Written by Jason Camlot; Co-Produced with Cheryl Gladu. SpokenWeb Podcast Series, 4 November 2019. https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/sound-recordings-are-weird/

Exhibitions

“Clipping the Poetry Series: Selections from the Sir George Williams Poetry Series, 1965-1974,” with Deanna Fong and Katherine Mcleod, Concordia University Webster Library, December-January 2018-2019.

“The Author as Collector: Constellations from the Mordecai Richler Library Collection,” curated with Jennifer Breaux, Alisha Dukelow, Sean Gallagher, Kaitlyn McCuaig, and Chalsley Taylor, Concordia University Webster Library, June-September 2018.

Conference Organization

·     Listening, Sound, Agency: An International Symposium in Literature and Sound Studies. 18-23 May 2021 (online). Organizer and PI on SSHRC Connections Grant received to fund this international symposium featuring scholars and artist from six continents and attended by over 500 scholars from across the world. Publications to be developed from work presented at this conference include a scholarly collection, a critical-creative collection, a podcast, a documentary film, and an audio collection. <https://spokenweb.ca/symposia/#/listening-sound-agency>

·     Mordecai Richler Against the World / Mordecai Richler contre le monde.  31 October – 1 November 2019. Lead Organizer with PDF Dr. Samuel Mercier.  Funded with SSHRC IG.  A two day bi-lingual conference that focused on Richler’s legacy, his forms of polemic and critique, and their place in contemporary literary and political culture.  With 20 presenters and plenary talks by Adam Gopnik, Emma Richler and Ruth Panofsky.  See: < https://richlerlibrary.ca/mordecai-richler-against-the-world-mordecai-richler-contre-le-monde/>

·      Collection Thinking.  12-14 June 2018.  Lead Organizer with co-applicants from “The Richler Library Project” SSHRC Insight Grant of a two-day international conference on the ontologies, agents and communities that define cultural collections.  The conference featured 30 presenters and the papers presented have been developed into a book to be published with Routledge.

See:< https://richlerlibrary.ca/collection-thinking/ >

·      The Literary Audio Symposium.  2-5 December 2016.  Organizer and PI on SSHRC Connections Grant received to fund this four-day international symposium featuring Literature and Sound Studies scholars, Oral Historians, Digital Humanists, and Librarians and Archivists, to present work and discuss the future of literary audio collections from the perspective of scholarly research, digitization and preservation, digital tools development, and pedagogy. 

Other Publications and Events Across Media

Interviews

“Phonographic Imaginaries: A Conversation with Renée Altergott.” [Interview] 21 May 2022, SPOKLENWEBLOG, <https://spokenweb.ca/phonographic-imaginaries-a-conversation-with-renee-altergott/>

“Extending Genetic Criticism to Audiotexts: A Conversation with Jason Wiens.” [Interview] 19 December 2021, SPOKENWEBLOG, <https://spokenweb.ca/extending-genetic-criticism-to-audiotexts-a-conversation-with-jason-wiens/>

 

“Sound Pedagogy – Teaching the Audible Dimensions of Poetry: A Coversation (plus clips and sample syllabus) with Chris Mustazza.”  [Interview] 25 September 2020, SPOKENWEBLOG,

< https://spokenweb.ca/sound-pedagogy-teaching-the-audible-dimensions-of-poetry-a-conversation-plus-clips-and-sample-syllabus-with-chris-mustazza/>

 

Jason Camlot, Deanna Fong, Katherine McLeod, “Clipping the Poetry Series: Selections form the Sir George Williams Poetry Series, 1965-1974,” Jacket2 (24 October 2018): Web.

https://jacket2.org/commentary/clipping-poetry-series-selections-sir-george-williams-poetry-series-1965%E2%80%931974

  

Podcasts

“Podcasting as a Field of Critical Study.” Produced by Jason Camlot, with content by Hannah McGregor, Dario Llinares, Elena Razlogova, Kim Fox, Stacey Copeland, Michael O’Driscoll and Deanna Fong.  SpokenWeb Podcast Series (forthcoming).

 

“Cylinder Talks: Pedagogy in Literary Sound Studies.” Co-Written and Produced with Stacey Copeland (SFU).  SpokenWeb Podcast Series 1 February 2021.

https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/cylinder-talks-pedagogy-in-literary-sound-studies/

 

“Deep Curation: Experimenting with the Poetry Reading as Practice.” Written by Klara Du Plessis, Produced by Jason Camlot.  SpokenWeb Podcast Series 5 October 2020.

https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/deep-curation-experimenting-with-the-poetry-reading-as-practice/

 

“Ideas have feelings, too.  Voice, Feeling and Rhetoric in Podcasting.” Co-Written and Produced with Ali Barillaro, Sadie Barker and Emma Telaro.  SpokenWeb Podcast Series 3 August 2020. https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/ideas-have-feelings-too-voice-feeling-and-rhetoric-in-podcasting/

 

“How are we listening, now? Signal, Noise, Silence.” Co-Written and Produced with Katherine McLeod. SpokenWeb Podcast Series 4 May 2020. https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/how-are-we-listening-now-signal-noise-silence/

 

“Sound Recordings Are Weird.” Written by Jason Camlot; Co-Produced with Cheryl Gladu. SpokenWeb Podcast Series, 4 November 2019. https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/sound-recordings-are-weird/

Exhibitions

“Clipping the Poetry Series: Selections from the Sir George Williams Poetry Series, 1965-1974,” with Deanna Fong and Katherine Mcleod, Concordia University Webster Library, December-January 2018-2019.

“The Author as Collector: Constellations from the Mordecai Richler Library Collection,” curated with Jennifer Breaux, Alisha Dukelow, Sean Gallagher, Kaitlyn McCuaig, and Chalsley Taylor, Concordia University Webster Library, June-September 2018.

Conference Organization

·     Listening, Sound, Agency: An International Symposium in Literature and Sound Studies. 18-23 May 2021 (online). Organizer and PI on SSHRC Connections Grant received to fund this international symposium featuring scholars and artist from six continents and attended by over 500 scholars from across the world. Publications to be developed from work presented at this conference include a scholarly collection, a critical-creative collection, a podcast, a documentary film, and an audio collection. <https://spokenweb.ca/symposia/#/listening-sound-agency>

·     Mordecai Richler Against the World / Mordecai Richler contre le monde.  31 October – 1 November 2019. Lead Organizer with PDF Dr. Samuel Mercier.  Funded with SSHRC IG.  A two day bi-lingual conference that focused on Richler’s legacy, his forms of polemic and critique, and their place in contemporary literary and political culture.  With 20 presenters and plenary talks by Adam Gopnik, Emma Richler and Ruth Panofsky.  See: < https://richlerlibrary.ca/mordecai-richler-against-the-world-mordecai-richler-contre-le-monde/>

·      Collection Thinking.  12-14 June 2018.  Lead Organizer with co-applicants from “The Richler Library Project” SSHRC Insight Grant of a two-day international conference on the ontologies, agents and communities that define cultural collections.  The conference featured 30 presenters and the papers presented have been developed into a book to be published with Routledge.

See:< https://richlerlibrary.ca/collection-thinking/ >

·      The Literary Audio Symposium.  2-5 December 2016.  Organizer and PI on SSHRC Connections Grant received to fund this four-day international symposium featuring Literature and Sound Studies scholars, Oral Historians, Digital Humanists, and Librarians and Archivists, to present work and discuss the future of literary audio collections from the perspective of scholarly research, digitization and preservation, digital tools development, and pedagogy.