Abstract

Join us for an evening with Gates Cambridge Scholar Marc Mierowsky [2011], author of A Spy Amongst Us: Daniel Defoe’s Secret Service and the Plot to End Scottish Independence. In conversation with fellow Gates Scholar Devani Singh [2011], Marc will explore the true story of Daniel Defoe and the network of political manipulation and “dirty tricks” that helped bring Scotland into union with England.

Marc Mierowsky is an ARC DECRA Fellow and Lecturer in English at the University of Melbourne, where he researches seventeenth- and eighteenth-century literature and intellectual history. He is Associate Editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Daniel Defoe and co-editor of the Oxford World’s Classics edition of The Fortunate Mistress (Roxana).

Devani Singh is a literary scholar and book historian specialising in the literature of medieval and early modern England. She currently holds a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione Research Fellowship at the University of Geneva, where she leads the To the Reader project, examining the emergence of printed letters to readers in English books.

Together, Marc and Devani will discuss A Spy Amongst Us as an academic-crossover work, considering its implications for intellectual history, political theory, literary history, and international relations. The conversation will also speak to contemporary questions about political campaigning, propaganda, and popular mobilisation, making the event relevant to both specialist audiences and anyone curious about the historical roots of modern political persuasion. Free of charge tickets are available: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marc-mierowsky-a-spy-amongst-us-book-talk-and-discussion-tickets-1974963878124?aff=oddtdtcreator