Research Literary and Cultural Studies: Research Areas
Cultural Sociology of Knowledge Production, Literary Value and Literary Institutions
One of the department’s larger emphases in literary and cultural studies research is on the investigation of the sociological dynamics of knowledge production and the US literary market. Our ongoing research includes projects on the cultural sociology of aesthetic experience and literary value, representations of work in literary practice spaces, perspectives on minoritized groups in Black American writing from 1865-1924, and the invention of professional authorship in American literature. Past research projects also considered the literary authority of Colson Whitehead, and the tensions between literary value and practices of canonization .
Gender and Queer Identity in Literary Studies
Members of our department are dedicated to the study of gender and queer identities, on both the theoretical and analytical levels. Our current research includes coming to terms with the heterogeneity of queer and trans* studies, as well as the analysis of the presentation and expression of gender and queer identities in literary texts in the broader sense. Different research projects focus on the impact of gender on British travelogues by women, the presentation of gendered violence in contemporary Anglo-Indian literature , and (embodied) feminist protest in South Africa. Two further projects concentrate on the depiction of queer identity in works from 1928 and in British Modernism. We are strongly associated with Heidelberg University’s interdisciplinary Gender and Queer Studies Network.
The Study of Narrative: Genres and Topics
Our department has a wide expertise in the study of fictional texts, analysing narratives from British, American, Irish, and other Anglophone cultures. Research projects on fictional narrative texts examine several genres, the most prominent among which concerns the study of speculative fiction and science fiction. The features and functions of these genres are examined with regard to their impact on conceptions of race (in the field of critical race studies). Starting from a collaboration with CAPAS, one project develops a new approach to (post)apocalyptic narratives; another looks at coping mechanisms in post-apocalyptic settings. A joined interdisciplinary venture explores post-anthropocene narratives or ‘fu-stories’, and a past project considered tragic hybrid archetypes in relation to discourses about race in Star Trek. The well-established popular genre of crime fiction has recently developed in new ways, which are explored by analysing contemporary examples with a particular focus on new tendencies such as the emergence of several forms of meta mysteries .
A further interdisciplinary project, combining approaches from history and literary studies, investigates the pattern of narrative constriction of seemingly empty spaces, often alongside their exploration, and the effects thereof. Other projects look into narrative responses and representations of the so-called 'epidemic of loneliness' and new forms of friendship in the twenty-first century, as well as the making and unmaking of American identity in zombie narratives. We also have an interest in research on contemporary British and American dramatic texts, as well as a current research project that investigates the forms and functions of theatre for marginalized communities.
New Developments in Narratology
The study of narratives from a variety of theoretical and methodological angles is a major area at the English department. Our research includes the interdisciplinary study of unreliable narration across genres and media – a topic that has been of political and cultural importance for some time and that is currently pursued in terms of unreliability and worldbuilding. We are also interested how culture and cognition interface with each other within the broader framework of cognitive narratology; one project is based on 4E cognition, with an emphasis on enactivism and cultural affordances. Recent developments in the budding field of eco-narratology are investigated through a project on the representation of human bonds with natural environments in contemporary fiction, as well as a postdoctoral project on narrative ecologies of being. We also attempt to link the fields of culture with narrative theory, working on narratives as ways of worldmaking and the performative powers of narratives. Although some approaches in queer studies are wary of narratological frameworks of analysis, we try to link narrative theory with queer studies, an attempt that has recently led to the publication of a handbook of Feminist, Queer and Trans* narrative studies.
Intermedia Studies
The investigation of literary and cultural forms, techniques, and theoretical concerns across a variety of different media characterises many ongoing and past projects conducted at the department, such as studies on the aesthetics of uncovering in American cinema and contemporary literary adaptations of Greek mythology. Past projects in this research area include examinations of literary border regions, as well as intermediality in literary representations of poverty and destitution.