WHO ARE YOU?
So.

My name is Jon, but generally speaking, I go by @TheLitCritGuy.

Let me explain. I finished a Masters degree and found myself at a bit of a loose end. I set up a Twitter account to talk about literary theory and criticism - obscure topics to most people. I thought maybe it would pick up a few dozen followers at most but instead, it picked up hundreds and hundreds and kept on going

WHAT DO YOU DO?
Here's what I'm for - bringing literary theory and criticism to the widest possible audience in the most accessible way.

I've been tweeting, writing and blogging across the web for the last few years trying to bring literary theory and criticism to the widest possible audience. I've been doing this for free because I believe these ideas and thinkers are important and deserve to be understood by everyone. Theory can radically shift how we think about things like culture, politics and the media we consume and deserves to be understood and applied outside the limits of the academic world.

So here's the deal. As often as I can I'll be posting brand new short critical essays, cool reviews, opinion pieces or criticism on the website or to other on-line spaces as well tweeting about a specific theme or thinker in intellectual history. Every week there will be new, accessible and informative content bringing theory to everyone, everywhere.

HOW DO I COME INTO IT?

This website lets you be a backer of this idea, supporting me for each new piece of writing I produce. You can give from just a dollar per piece to as much as you like, even setting a monthly budget (so if I have a month that's super productive you still give the same amount) Every month those of you who support me will get to be involved, setting the terms of the debate, pointing me to new questions you want me to answer or even getting me to come talk on pop-culture and criticism to you, your friends, your class or your business.

In these times of economic uncertainty, academia is in danger of becoming more and more isolated from the public at large. Whilst the sciences have been largely insulated from this, thanks to a more immediately obvious level of application and high profile academics who engage and inform the public the same cannot be said to have happened for English. Yet these theories and thinkers are hugely relevant to a culture that creates and consumes texts at an astonishing pace. I want to help bring theory and criticism to the widest possible audience and show it for the vital and applicable field that it is.

I want you to help me do it, all of the writing I produce will stay free, but for those of you who want to like what I do and feel like you can help out I'll ensure access to stuff no-one else gets to see. Think of it as a subscription to academia and maybe a whole new way of making theory and criticism available and accessible to everyone.

Think it over.

TheLitCritGuy