Associate Professor Thomas McLean, Our people, English and Linguistics

BA (Loyola), MA (Boston College), PhD (Iowa)

Contact details

Email thomas.mclean@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 8635

Room 1S7. First Floor, Arts Building
Albany Street, Dunedin

English and Linguistics
University of Otago
PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054
New Zealand

External webpages

Expertise

Romanticism, nineteenth-century literature and culture, the historical novel, literature and nationalism.

Teaching

ENGL 220 Creative Writing: Reading for Writers
ENGL 241 Irish-Scots Gothic and the Gothic as Genre
ENGL 313 Victorian Literature
ENGL 335 Romantic Literature
ENGL 341 Irish-Scots Gothic and the Gothic as Genre
ENGL 404 Writing for Publication
ENGL 471 Romantic Masterworks

Possible supervision

Nineteenth-century British and American literature.

Current research

Frances Browne’s ‘Legends of Ulster’: The First Critical Edition. The blind Irish author Frances Browne (1816–1879) published a series of short stories called 'The Legends of Ulster’ between 1847 and 1852. Supported by an Otago Prestigious Writing Grant, Associate Professor McLean will produce the first critical edition of these Gothic stories, which mix historical events with ghostly or mysterious occurrences.

Global Romantics: How the Porter Family Changed Nineteenth-Century Art and Literature. This project, funded by a three-year Marsden grant, will examine the lives and works of nineteenth-century British novelists Jane and Anna Maria Porter and their brother, the artist and traveller Sir Robert Ker Porter.

Recent awards and fellowships

University of Otago Prestigious Writing Grant, 2025
Frances Browne Award, Frances Browne Literary Festival, 2024
Marsden Fund Grant, Global Romantics: How the Porter Family Changed Nineteenth-Century Art and Literature, 2014–2017
New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, December 2011
Australian National University Humanities Research Centre Fellowship, 2011
University of Otago Research Grants, 2006, 2008
James M. Osborn Fellowship, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, January 2006
Houghton Mifflin Fellowship in Publishing History, Houghton Library, Harvard University, December 2005

Books

Further letters of Joanna Baillie

The Other East and Nineteenth-Century British Literature

Thaddeus of Warsaw

Publications

McLean, T. (2024). Commanding attention. New Zealand Listener, (9 November), 28-32. Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2024, November). Eleanor Waymouth Hughes: The New Zealand years. Visual Studies Seminar Presentation, Dunedin School of Art, Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Research Presentation]. Other Research Output

McLean, T. (2024, October). Lives from letters. Workshop presentation at the Frances Browne Literary Festival, Ballybofey-Stranorlar, Ireland. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2024, October). Frances Browne Literary Festival Launch. Keynote presentation at the Frances Browne Literary Festival, Ballybofey-Stranorlar, Ireland. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2024, October). The Frances Browne Lecture: A new edition of Frances Browne's ‘Legends of Ulster’. Keynote presentation at the Frances Browne Literary Festival, Ballybofey-Stranorlar, Ireland. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

2024

Chapter in Book - Research

McLean, T. (2024). Jane Porter, Thaddeus of Warsaw. In D. Cook, D. Robinson & E. Rohrbach (Eds.), Literary encyclopedia (Vol. 1.2.1.06). Literary Dictionary Company. Retrieved from https://www.litencyc.com

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2024). [Review of the book Bath: An adumbration in rhyme]. A critical edition for readers of Jane Austen. Romantic Circles. Retrieved from https://romantic-circles.org/reviews-and-resources/reviews/bath-adumbration-rhyme-john-matthews-critical-edition-readers-jane#

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2024). Commanding attention. New Zealand Listener, (9 November), 28-32.

McLean, T. (2024). Follow your art. New Zealand Listener, (5 October).

McLean, T. (2024). When Friends star Courtney Cox danced with the Boss. New Zealand Listener, (29 June).

McLean, T. (2024). Good Lord, he was scandalous [Review of the book Byron: A life in ten letters]. New Zealand Listener, (4 May), 38-39. [Book Review].

McLean, T. (2024). Webb of intrigue. New Zealand Listener, (6 April), 26-29.

McLean, T. (2024). Art in high places. New Zealand Listener, (10 February), 34-37.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2024, October). Lives from letters. Workshop presentation at the Frances Browne Literary Festival, Ballybofey-Stranorlar, Ireland.

McLean, T. (2024, October). Frances Browne Literary Festival Launch. Keynote presentation at the Frances Browne Literary Festival, Ballybofey-Stranorlar, Ireland.

Other Research Output

McLean, T. (2024, 19 April). Two hundred year anniversary of poet Lord Byron's death. Nights with Emile Donovan, Radio New Zealand. Retrieved from https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nights/audio/2018935050/two-hundred-year-anniversary-of-poet-lord-byron-s-death

2023

Chapter in Book - Research

McLean, T. (2023). "Poland has no claim on you”: By Celia’s Arbour and British representations of Poland in the Victorian era. In M. A. Bowers & B. Dew (Eds.), Polish culture in Britain. Literature and history, 1772 to the present. (pp. 113-133). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-32188-7_6

McLean, T. (2023). Jane Porter (1775-1850). In A. R. Hawkins, C. S. Blackwell & E. L. Bonds (Eds.), Routledge companion to romantic women writers. (pp. 397-405). London, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315613536-43

McLean, T. (2023). Anna Maria Porter (1778–1832). In A. R. Hawkins, C. S. Blackwell & E. L. Bonds (Eds.), Routledge companion to romantic women writers. (pp. 391-396). London, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315613536-42

McLean, T. (2023). Gorse is people. In T. Ballantyne (Ed.), The making and remaking of Australasia: Mobility, texts and 'southern circulations'. (pp. 183-196). London, UK: Bloomsbury. doi: 10.5040/9781350283862.ch-010

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2023). Engravings & more: The curious career of Rona Dyer (1923–2021). Art New Zealand, 185, 84-88. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A740914903/ITOF?u=otago&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8ca1b845

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2023). [Review of the book L.E.L.: The lost life and scandalous death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the celebrated 'female Byron']. Romanticism, 29(1), 102-105. doi: 10.3366/rom.2023.0588

McLean, T. (2023). The costs of women's writing: On Devoney Looser's 'Sister novelists' [Review of the book Sister novelists: The trailblazing Porter sisters, who paved the way for Austen and the Brontës]. Los Angeles Review of Books, (2 February). Retrieved from https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-costs-of-womens-writing-on-devoney-loosers-sister-novelists/

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2023). The kids are all right. New Zealand Listener, (26 August), 3.

McLean, T. (2023). The criminal's art [Review of the book The art thief]. New Zealand Listener, (7 October), 44-45. [Book Review].

McLean, T. (2023). A final walk with Olds. New Zealand Listener, (7 October), 35-37.

McLean, T. (2023). Beyond the frame. North & South, (June), 50-55.

McLean, T. (2023). Returning to the scene of the crime [Culture etc.]. North & South, (March), 68-71.

McLean, T. (2023). Gorse! What is it good for? [Culture etc.]. North & South, (February), 67-69.

2022

Chapter in Book - Research

McLean, T. (2022). Porter, Anna Maria. In N. Duquette (Ed.), The Palgrave encyclopedia of romantic-era women's writing. (Living ed.) (pp. 1-5). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-11945-4_90-1

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2022). Beyond Steampunk. North & South, (November), 80-81. Retrieved from https://northandsouth.co.nz/2022/11/20/oamaru-tourism-steampunk-whitestone-city-lear-artist

McLean, T. (2022). Cromwell, warts and all [Four corners]. North & South, (March).

McLean, T. (2022). Almost famous [Culture etc.]. North & South, (September), 65-69. Retrieved from https://northandsouth.co.nz/2022/09/10/burns-keats-joyce-bronte-links-to-new-zealand

McLean, T. (2022). The art of giving [Culture etc.]. North & South, (May). Retrieved from https://northandsouth.co.nz/2022/06/10/public-art-gallery-collections-new-zealand

Other Research Output

McLean, T. (2022, June). Writings of Robert Louis Stevenson: Gothic novels, Jekyll and Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson. University of the Third Age, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Research Presentation].

McLean, T. (2022, 2 August). The art of giving. Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan, Radio New Zealand. Retrieved from https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018851814/the-art-of-giving

2021

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2021). Lover of art and life important to nation. Otago Daily Times, (25 March). Retrieved from https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/arts/lover-art-and-life-important-nation

McLean, T. (2021). The gifts of Gary Blackman. Newsroom: Ideasroom, (1 May). Retrieved from https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/the-gifts-of-gary-blackman

McLean, T. (2021). Finding a forgotten artist [Essay]. Los Angeles Review of Books, (13 February). Retrieved from https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/finding-a-forgotten-artist

McLean, T. (2021). Remembering Peter Nicholls [Interview]. Los Angeles Review of Books, (3 July). Retrieved from https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/remembering-peter-nicholls

2020

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2020). Following Colin McCahon [Essay]. Los Angeles Review of Books, (18 November). Retrieved from https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/following-colin-mccahon/

McLean, T. (2020). Evil turns to statues: Paul Weller's Style Council years [Short-takes]. Los Angeles Review of Books, (2 December). Retrieved from https://lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/evil-turns-statues-paul-wellers-style-council-years

2019

Edited Book - Research

McLean, T., & Knezevich, R. (Eds.). (2019). Jane Porter: Thaddeus of Warsaw: A Novel. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 440p.

Chapter in Book - Research

McLean, T. (2019). Family news: Poland, South America, and the Porter family. In J. Macleod, W. Christie & P. Denney (Eds.), Politics and emotions in Romantic periodicals. (pp. 195-210). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-32467-4_10

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2019). Brexit Britain: Was Jane Austen an original little Englander? The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/brexit-britain-was-jane-austen-an-original-little-englander-128478

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2019). Dunedin keeping poet alive. Otago Daily Times, (3 June). Retrieved from https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/dunedin-keeping-poet-alive

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2019, December). Imagining gorse. Verbal presentation at the Southern Circulations Symposium: Texts, Mobility, and the Production of Australasia, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Other Research Output

McLean, T. (October, 2019) Creating lives from letters? And what business do we even have looking at them? MindJam. Yonder, Queenstown, New Zealand. [Public Discussion].

2018

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2018). Family portraits: The life and art of Alice Mary Chambers. Victorians, 133, 69-83. doi: 10.1353/vct.2018.0006

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2018). [Review of the book Poland in the Irish Nationalist Imagination, 1772-1922: Anti-Colonialism within Europe]. English Historical Review, 133(563), 992-994. doi: 10.1093/ehr/cey197

McLean, T. (2018). Introduction: Family ties. Victorians, 133, 1-6. doi: 10.1353/vct.2018.0001

Exhibition

Moore, G. (co-curator), & McLean, T. (co-curator) (2018, 15 June-31 August). All the year round: Exploring the Nineteenth-century periodical. De Beer Gallery, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Exhibition].

Other Research Output

McLean, T. & Moore, G. (2018, 17 June). Victorian popular press. Standing Room Only with Simon Morris, Radio New Zealand. Retrieved from https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018649674/victorian-popular-press-dr-tom-mclean-and-dr-grace-moore

Lederer, S., Jones, G., McLean, T., & Ramaeker, P. (October, 2018). Frankenstein 200th anniversary. Otago College of Education Auditorium, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Public Discussion].

2017

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T., & Moore, G. (2017). The concluding page of an Angrian story by Branwell Brontë. Notes & Queries, 64(4), 607-611. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjx159

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2017, November). On the margins of genre and history: Sir Edward Seaward's Narrative. Verbal presentation at the 115th Annual Conference of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), Honolulu, USA.

McLean, T. (2017, September). Family news: The Porters and South America. Verbal presentation at the Politics, Emotions, and the Periodical Press, c. 1760-1830 Conference, Canberra, Australia.

McLean, T., & Knezevich, R. (2017, February). Global romantics: How the Porter family shaped nineteenth-century art and literature. Verbal presentation at the Family Ties Symposium: Exploring Kinship and Creative Production in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Dunedin, New Zealand.

2016

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2016). Donation and collaboration: Joanna Baillie's A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript and From Living Authors, April 1823. BRANCH. Retrieved from http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=thomas-mclean-donation-and-collaboration-joanna-baillies-a-collection-of-poems-chiefly-manuscript-and-from-living-authors-april-1823

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2016). [Review of the book Romantic feuds: Transcending the 'age of personality']. Keats-Shelley Review, 30(2), 171-173. doi: 10.1080/09524142.2016.1205882

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2016). Culture a tourist drawcard. Otago Daily Times, (7 December). Retrieved from https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/culture-tourist-drawcard

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2016, July). A new portrait of Mary Anderson by Alice Mary Chambers. Verbal presentation at the Australian Historical Association Conference: From Boom to Bust, Ballarat, Australia.

McLean, T. (2016, August). Discontented donors: Sir Robert Ker Porter's gifts to the nation. Verbal presentation at the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR) Annual Conference: Romanticism and Its Discontents, Berkeley, USA.

McLean, T. (2016, April). The Porter family panorama. Verbal presentation at the 37th Annual Nineteenth Century Studies (NCS) Conference: The New and the Novel in the Nineteenth Century/New Directions in Nineteenth Century Studies, Lincoln, USA.

McLean, T. (2016, September). Global romantics: How the Porter family shaped nineteenth-century art and literature. Verbal presentation at the Matariki Humanities Colloquium: Literatures, Durham, UK.

Exhibition

Knezevich, R. (co-curator), & McLean, T. (co-curator) (2016-2017). Keeping it in the Family: British and Irish Literary Generations, 1770-1930. De Beer Gallery, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Exhibition].

2015

Chapter in Book - Research

McLean, T. (2015). Russia. In D. Felluga, P. K. Gilbert & L. K. Hughes (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Victorian literature. Chichester, UK: Blackwell. doi: 10.1111/b.9781118405383.2015.x

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

McLean, T. (2015). Plenty here to celebrate. Otago Daily Times, (21 October). Retrieved from https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/plenty-here-celebrate

2014

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2014). In their hands: Students editing eighteenth-and nineteenth-century letters. ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830, 4(2), 2. doi: 10.5038/2157-7129.4.2.2

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2014, September). From Babylon to the British Museum: Robert Ker Porter's Near Eastern gambit. Verbal presentation at the International Conference on Romanticism (ICR): Romantic Reflections: Twins, Echoes, and Appropriations, Minneapolis, MN.

2013

Chapter in Book - Research

McLean, T. (2013). Dracula's blood of many brave races. In M. Tromp, M. K. Bachman & H. Kaufman (Eds.), Fear, loathing, and Victorian xenophobia. (pp. 331-346). Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2013, September). Byron, Russia, and Sardanapalus. Verbal presentation at the 20th International Conference on Romanticism: Romantic Relations, Rochester, MI.

2012

Chapter in Book - Research

McLean, T. (2012). Porter, Jane. In F. Burwick (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic literature. Chichester, UK: Blackwell. doi: 10.1111/b.9781405188104.2012.x

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2012). Jane Porter and the wonder of Lord Byron. Romanticism, 18(3), 250-259. doi: 10.3366/rom.2012.0096

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2012). [Review of the book The collected poems of Amelia Alderson Opie]. Keats-Shelley Journal, LXI, 157-159. [Book Review].

McLean, T. (2012). [Review of the book Writing the lives of painters: Biography and artistic identity in Britain 1760-1810]. Review 19. Retrieved from http://www.nbol-19.org/view_doc.php?index=256

2011

Authored Book - Research

McLean, T. (2011). The other East and nineteenth-century British literature: Imagining Poland and the Russian Empire. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 216p. doi: 10.1057/9780230355217

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2011). Jane Porter's later works, 1825-1846. Harvard Library Bulletin, 20(2, Summer 2009), 45-62.

McLean, T. (2011). Offstage dramas: Jane Porter, Edmund Kean, and the tragedy of Switzerland. Keats-Shelley Review, 25(2), 147-159. doi: 10.1179/095241411x13089108037409

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2011, February). Climate change: Scottish writers and Poland, 1830-1849. Verbal presentation at the Centre for Irish & Scottish Studies Symposium on the History and Literature of the Scottish Diaspora: Global Scots, Dunedin, New Zealand.

2010

Edited Book - Research

McLean, T. (Ed.). (2010). Further letters of Joanna Baillie. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 296p.

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2010). Two new Elizabeth Gaskell letters from a New Zealand collection [Note]. Gaskell Journal, 24, 128-130.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2010, August). Jane Porter's lives. Verbal presentation at the 18th Annual North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference: Romantic Mediations, Vancouver, Canada.

2008

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2008). A new work by Margaret Hodson. Notes & Queries, 253(4), 434-435. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjn154

McLean, T. (2008). One from many: A new chronology of Joanna Baillie's letters. Romantic Circles Praxis Series: Utopianism and Joanna Baillie, July. Retrieved from http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/utopia/mclean/mclean.html

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Marshall, S., McLean, T., & Tribble, L. (2008, September). CVs and job search. Verbal presentation at the University of Otago, Department of English Graduate Forum, Dunedin, New Zealand.

McLean, T. (2008, August). Joanna Baillie: New letters and a new chronology. Verbal presentation at the 16th Annual North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference, Toronto, Canada.

2007

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2007). Nobody's argument: Jane Porter and the historical novel. Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, 7(2), 88-103.

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

McLean, T. (2007). Sardanapalus and his (C)zarina: Byron and Russia. Proceedings of the Thirteenth David Nichol Smith Seminar in Eighteenth-Century Studies. English Department, University of Otago. Retrieved from http://www.otago.ac.nz/English/DNS13/programme.html

2005

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2005). Joanna Baillie in New Zealand: Eight new letters. Keats-Shelley Journal, 54, 33-42.

2004

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2004, April). Offstage dramas: Jane Porter, Edmund Kean, and Switzerland. Verbal presentation at the 19th Annual Conference of Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies, Iowa, USA.

McLean, T. (2004, September). ′That Woman, lovely Woman! may have dominion′: Catherine II and Blake′s Europe. Verbal presentation at the 12th Annual North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference, Boulder, CO, USA.

Awarded Doctoral Degree

McLean, T. E. (2004). The other East: Poland, Russia, and British romanticism (PhD). University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA. 188p.

2003

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2003). Jane Porter's portrait of Benjamin West. Huntington Library Quarterly, 66(1/2), 169-175.

McLean, T. (2003). Arms and the Circassian woman: Frances Browne's ″The Star of Attéghéi″. Victorian Poetry, 41(3), 295-318.

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

McLean, T. (2003). William Aytoun's ″Poland″: 1832-1849. Proceedings of the Legacy of History: English and American Studies and the Significance of the Past. 1, (pp. 290-303). Krakow, Poland: Jagiellonian University Press. [Full Paper]

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2003, August). From Poland to Scotland: Jane Porter and the historical novel. Verbal presentation at the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference, New York, NY, USA.

2001

Journal - Research Article

McLean, T. (2001). ″Transformed, not inly altered″: Kosciuszko and Poland in post-Waterloo Britain. Keats-Shelley Journal, 50, 64-83. Retrieved from http://www.luc.edu/publications/keats-shelley/toc.htm

Journal - Research Other

McLean, T. (2001). [Review of the book L′Arbre de Cracovie: Le mythe polonais dans la littérature française]. SubStance, 30(1-2), 266-271.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

McLean, T. (2001, July). Selling a King′s collection: The French and Polish sources of the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Verbal presentation at the Textual Intersections in the Nineteenth Century Conference: European Literatures, Histories, Arts, Cardiff, UK.

McLean, T. (2001, June). Jane Porter′s Polish hero. Verbal presentation at the Romantic Nationalisms 1750-1850 Conference, Roehampton, UK.