Vladimir Brljak

Books & space | Mid-Career Fellow, The British Academy (2025-26) | Associate Professor, Durham University

United Kingdom

About

English literary history, 1500-1700. Long history of poetics and hermeneutics. Long history of outer space and the cosmological imagination. Current projects include: - *When Did Space Turn Dark?* (Reaktion Books, under contract); monograph exploring the shift from a bright to a dark universe in the Western cosmological imagination - *Poetics before Modernity: Literary Thought in the West from Antiquity to the Enlightenment* , ed. Vladimir Brljak and Micha Lazarus (Oxford University Press, under contract); collection redrawing the map of early literary thought across established historical and disciplinary divides - *Space in Time: From the Heavens to Outer Space*, ed. Vladimir Brljak, Veronica della Dora, Stamatina Mastorakou, and John Tresch (in preparation); collection emerging from the eponymous conference (Warburg Institute, 2023), exploring the long cultural history of the space beyond Earth, from the ancient heavens to modern outer space I am co-founder of 'Poetics before Modernity' (2016-), a collaborative project exploring the history of early literary thought, which I convene with Micha Lazarus and an international team of colleagues. The project organizes events in the field and publishes *Sources in Early Poetics* with Brill. I am also a participant in the COST Action 'Futures-oriented Governance of Outer Space: Towards Peace, Equity, and Environmental Integrity (FOGOS)' (2024-28), collaborating with a large cross-disciplinary team led by Florian Rabitz and Xiao-Shan Yap. More info and publications: durham.ac.uk/staff/vladimir-brljak https://durham.academia.edu/VladimirBrljak

Experience

  • Mid-Career Fellow at The British Academy
    Oct 2025 - Present · 10 mos

  • Durham University (7 yrs 10 mos)
    • Associate Professor
      Jul 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 1 mo

    • Assistant Professor
      Oct 2018 - Jun 2022 · 3 yrs 9 mos

  • Research Fellow at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
    Mar 2025 - Aug 2025 · 6 mos

  • Frances A. Yates Long-Term Fellow at The Warburg Institute, University of London
    Oct 2022 - Sep 2023 · 1 yr

  • Thole Research Fellow at Trinity Hall
    Oct 2015 - Sep 2018 · 3 yrs