Buxi Duan completed his doctoral research on D. H. Lawrence’s late journalistic writing at the University of Birmingham. His academic interests primarily lie in modernist publishing culture, archival studies, and textual criticism. Through his teaching and research experience, Buxi developed a passion for exploring archival materials, uncovering the hidden contributions of figures traditionally marginalised in mainstream narratives, and piecing together untold stories to give them the overdue recognition they deserve. One of Buxi’s ongoing projects focuses on Nancy Pearn, the literary agent of D. H. Lawrence, and her contributions to Lawrence’s reputation in the journalistic marketplace.
During his visiting research fellowship at CBCP, Buxi will explore collections such as the Archive of British Printing and Publishing to further examine Nancy Pearn’s professional trajectory. This research will trace her evolution from a literary agent at Curtis Brown’s London office to one of the three founders of the literary agency Pearn, Pollinger & Higham. In addition to sharing his potential archival findings through CBCP and the Modernist Archives Publishing Project (MAPP), Buxi aims to expand this research into a postdoctoral project on the overlooked contributions of female literary agents to the early twentieth-century British publishing culture.