I am a Reader in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University. My research interests include games (analogue and digital), narrative theory, and historiography. I am a general editor, with Andrew Biswell, of The Irwell Edition of the Works of Anthony Burgess (Manchester University Press), and a co-director, with Sam Illingworth, of the Manchester Game Studies Network.
Paul Wake completed his doctorate at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2004. He is a Fellow in Academic Practice.
Paul Wake joined the department as a full-time member of staff in 2005, following a year-long post as a Research Assistant.
Since joining Manchester Metropolitan University I have undertaken a number of roles including: Year One Stage Tutor; Undergraduate Admissions Tutor; Research Degrees Co-ordinator (English); Co-Director of the Humanities Research Centre; and Chair of the University Research Degrees Committee. I am currently the English Pathway Lead for the AHRC's North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, Co-Director of the Games Research Network, and an External examiner for the School of Cultures, Languages & Area Studies at Nottingham University.
I currently teach Approaches to Narrative (L4), Nineteenth-century Literature to Modernism (L5) and Reading and Writing Games (L6).
I am interested in supervising work on games and gaming, narrative theory, and the twentieth-century novel.
I am currently supervising the following PhDs:
The Mechanics of Decay: Exploring the Ludology of the Gothic.
Literary Representations of the Tudors, the Neoliberal Imagination and English National Identity.
Schizo-Narratives: In-between Experimental American Literature and the French Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze.
Narrative Structure in Crime Cinema.
Anthony Burgess and America.
Corrective Lenses: Reading the Neuro-Turn.
I have been on the supervisory teams of the following completed PhDs:
Creative Writing on Place and Nature, conferred 2016.
The Construction and (Re)negotiation of End-of-Empire National Identity in JRR Tolkien, conferred 2015.
Intertextual Poetics: Modernism and the Poet-Figure in the Work of Anthony Burgess, conferred 2013.
Absolute Risk and the Challenge of Responsibility, conferred 2013.
Narrative and literary theory; Interactive Fiction; Game Studies; Children’s literature; Late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century fiction, especially the works of Joseph Conrad.
C. Germaine, P. Wake (2022). Material Game Studies A Philosophy of Analogue Play.
A. Burgess, P. Wake (2018). Puma. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
P. Wake, S. Malpas (2013). The Routledge Companion to Cultural and Critical Theory. PF. Wake, S. Malpas. London: Routledge.
S. Malpas, P. Wake (2013). The Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory. P. Wake, S. Malpas. Routledge.
P. Wake (2007). Conrad's Marlow : Narrative and Death in 'Youth', Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and Chance. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
P. Wake, S. Malpas (2006). The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory. PF. Wake, S. Malpas. London: Routledge.
S. Illingworth, P. Wake (2021). Ten simple rules for designing analogue science games. PLoS Computational Biology. 17(6),
P. Wake (2011). 'A monster shapeless': equivocation and the treasonous imagination. Textual Practice. 25(5), pp.941-960.
P. Wake (2009). Waiting in the Hundred Acre Wood: Childhood, Narrative and Time in A. A. Milne's Works for Children. The Lion and the Unicorn. 33(1), pp.26-43.
P. Wake (2008). Plotting as Subversion: Narrative and the Gunpowder Plot. Journal of Narrative Theory. 38(3), pp.295-316.
P. Wake (2008). Writing from the archive: Henry Garnet’s powder-plot letters and archival communication. Archival Science. 8(2), pp.69-84.
P. Wake (2007). Conrad's Marlow.
P. Wake (2022). Component parts: Board games as architecture and performance. In: Material Game Studies A Philosophy of Analogue Play. Bloomsbury,
C. Germaine, P. Wake (2022). Introduction: Material Game Studies. In: Material Game Studies A Philosophy of Analogue Play. Bloomsbury, pp.1-18.
P. Wake (2022). Mapping Imaginary Spaces; From Database to Folk Cartography. D. Punday. In: Digital Narrative Spaces An Interdisciplinary Examination. London: Routledge,
P. WAKE NARRATIVE AND NARRATOLOGY. In: THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO CRITICAL THEORY. Taylor & Francis, pp.14-27.
P. Wake (2021). ‘Poker fiction: Romance, possible worlds and magic circles’. MR. Johnson. In: The Casino, Card and Betting Game Reader: Communities, Cultures and Play. London: Bloomsbury,
PF. Wake (2019). The Unnatural Conventions of the Interactive Gamebook. J. Alber, B. Richardson. In: Unnatural Narratology: Extensions, Revisions, and Challenges. Ohio State University Press,
P. Wake (2013). Narrative and Narratology. P. Wake, S. Malpas. In: The Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory. Routledge, pp.23-36.
PF. Wake (2011). 'Narratology'. In: The Blackwell Encyclopedia Of Literary and Cultural Theory. Oxford: Blackwell,
P. Wake (2007). The Time of Death: “Passing away” in The Secret Agent. A. Simmons, JH. Snape. In: The Secret Agent: Centennial Essays. Rodopi, pp.13-20.
P. Wake (2012). Criticism, Crisis, and Contemporary Narrative: Textual Horizons in an Age of Global Risk. MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW. 107, 902-903.
P. Wake (2012). Digressions in European Literature: From Cervantes to Sebald. MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW. 107, 594-595.
P. Wake (2011). From Solidarity to Schisms: 9/11 and After in Fiction and Film from outside the US. MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW. 106,
I organised, with Dr Sam Illingworth, Multiplatform 2017 and, with Dr Ginette Carpenter, the International Conference on Narrative 2013.
Bloomsbury Academic
Manchester University Press
Palgrave Macmillan
Routledge
SAGE
Simulation and Gaming
2019. 10:10 Climate Action, 'HEAT', Co-investigator, £3900.
2018. Society for Applied Microbiology, ‘Antibiotics on the Tabletop’, Co-investigator, £1,260.
2018. The Royal Society of Chemistry, ‘Tabletop Chemistry’, Co-investigator, £1840
2018. AHRC PhD scholarship: ‘The Imitation Game: Artificial Intelligence in Analogue and Digital Games’ (Director of Studies).
2017. Greenhouse Gases UK. 'GAUGE and Gaming.' Co-Investigator. £5775.
2017. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, CELT, Manchester Met. 'Games in the Curriculum.' £3140.
2016. AHRC. North West Consortium Cohort Development Fund. 'Knowledge Exchange and Research Impact.' £3000.
2015. AHRC. North West Consortium Cohort Development Fund. 'Working with Archives.' £3000.
2012. Visit Manchester, Award to support the Narrative Conference June 2013, £9000.
2007. AHRC Research Fellowship: £21, 327.
I was a member of the Executive Council of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (2014-2016).