Matthew Thompson (mrthompson@wustl.edu) is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the English department at Washington University in St. Louis. His research compares British and postcolonial literature to recognize imperial rhetoric as fundamental to the world wars. In his current book project, Hell Shock: Colonialism, the World Wars, and the Underworlding of the British Empire, he reveals how writers from across the British Empire use narratives of the afterlife to resist British propaganda. An article drawn from this research on Mulk Raj Anand’s novel Across the Black Waters was published in the Fall 2023 issue of the Journal of Modern Literature. Another article that analyzes total war rhetoric in Zadie Smith’s novel White Teeth is forthcoming from Twentieth-Century Literature. Along with his courses on “Colonialism and Climate Change” and “Into Hell: Literary Descents to the Underworld,” Matthew has taught classes in composition and British and postcolonial literature.