American Studies

I studied English at the University of York and went on to do a doctorate at Cambridge, graduating in 1993.  I joined the Department of American Studies in 1993 and I have taught courses on nineteenth and twentieth century American fiction, contemporary American fiction, African American fiction and American drama.  My research interests include:  American and British fiction from the end of the eighteenth century to date, African American writing, and the writings of Henry James. 

I’m able to supervise undergraduate or postgraduate dissertations in these fields and I’m also interested in:  the literature of Vietnam, the slave narrative, trauma theory and psychoanalysis, intertextuality, transatlantic literary relations, and the discourse of culture.  Undergraduate dissertations supervised this year include work on American fiction after 9/11, Toni Morrison, slave narratives and the epistolary novel.