Jonathan Dollimore

Jonathan Dollimore (born 1948) is a British sociologist and social theorist in the fields of Renaissance literature (especially drama), gender studies, queer theory (queer studies), art, censorship, history of ideas, death studies, decadence, and cultural theory.

After leaving school at fifteen he took various jobs, before returning, as a mature student, to Keele University, where he achieved his BA, and the University of London, which awarded him his Ph.D.

As a Reader at the University of Sussex, he co-founded with Alan Sinfield the Centre for the Study of Sexual Dissidence, which, as he remembers in Sex, Literature and Censorship, 'attracted some notoriety for being the first of its kind in the country' (3). He later became Professor of English and Related Literature at the University of York. Dollimore is credited with making major interventions in debates on sexuality and desire; Renaissance literary culture; art and censorship, and; cultural theory.