The Pandemic Phd Programme Reading And Thinking About the Celebrity Intellectual (And Covid-19)

Abstract

This article presents an unusual study of a reading group conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown, shutdown and social isolation. The international collectivity created through this reading community probed not only scholarly monographs but the nature of a celebrity intellectual. As the higher education sector suffers redundancies, cutbacks and restructures, how does the precariat adjunct academy manage the celebrity intellectual and Quit Lit? More importantly, what is the use of academic reading and writing in a PhD programme confronting a pandemic?