Jonny’s research explores representations of absence in the “Divine Comedy”. Despite its being a poem that seeks to contain the universe in a single volume, it consistently draws attention to what it does not (and cannot)  contain. In his doctoral study, Jonny is examining the ways in which Dante makes absences conspicuous in his poem, and the cumulative effect of the resultant empty spaces which permeate the text.

Scholarships/Prizes

• Jebb Studentship, 2020-present
• Cecil Roth Memorial Prize, 2019
• DART Poetry Prize, 2019
• Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Prize, 2012

Conference Papers

• Forthcoming: “AAA Cercasi: Absence, Affect Antiquity in the Commedia” Cambridge 2023 SIS Conference.
• “La trama, l’ordita, e il vano: weaving and emptiness in Dante’s Commedia,” Text and Techne: Textual Poetics, Poetic Textiles, June 2023.
• “‘(D)ov’è?’: Prospettive sulla perdita fra l’Inferno e il Paradiso,” Alma Dante, Università di Bologna, May 2023.
• “‘Vegna Medusa’: Raffigurando gli spazi ‘vuoti’ della Commedia, University of Palermo, October 2022.
• “‘Quel gran seggio: Approaching Absence in Paradiso,” Dante’s Futures, University College Cork, November 2022.
• “Scemare, o come la Commedia si svirgilia” Alma Dante, Università di Bologna, June 2022.
• “‘Scemare,’ or approaching ‘Virgilessness’,” Dante’s Futures: A Centenary Celebration of New Voices in UK and Irish Dante Studies, November 2021.
• “‘Non posso tacere’: la materialità della confessione in Inferno 13,” Alma Dante, Università di Bologna, September 2021.
• “Inferno 23: Voice, Velocity, and the Pursuit of Gappiness” Canto per Canto: Conversations with Dante in Our Time, New York University and the Dante Society of America, July 2021. Co-presented with Robin Kirkpatrick.
• “Ov’è? Absence, Desire, and the Meaning of Narrative in Dante’s Commedia,” Dante’s Afterlives, In Via Dante Network, June 2021.