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Dr Antonia Spencer

Former Research Student

Research overview

I am a third year doctoral student in the department. My research explores the influence of Scottish Romantic era writing on the novel from the American South. My thesis argues for the formative influence of Scottish Romantic era writers such as Walter Scott, James Hogg and James Macpherson on the development of Southern Literature and culture, but also demonstrates the ways in which Southern writers critique and revise this heritage. I analyse the reponses of Southern authors to the Scottish Romantic influence, ranging from Mark Twain's hyperbolic critique of Scott, William Faulkner's association of the Confederate Cause with the Scottish Jacobites, and Cormac McCarthy's violent revisions of Scott's border narratives. My thesis draws on the growing field of scholarship on the concept of a global Romanticism, as well as answering calls for more global or hemispheric connections to be made to re-contextalise both Scottish and Southern studies. My research is funded by the AHRC NWCDTP.

I have taught on the English Department's Part 1 course English 101: World Literature, and acted as an M.A mentor on the postgraduate module Research Methodology.