Fiona Tolan
Lecturer in English
Research Interests
My research is largely in the fields of contemporary British fiction, women's writing and feminist literary theory. Other interests include Canadian contemporary fiction and postcolonial literatures. In particular, my research engages with the works of Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, and Alice Munro.
Current projects
I am currently co-editing a collection of essays with Sarah Lawson Welsh (York St John University) and Janet Wilson (University of Northampton). The collection arises from the proceedings of the "Rerouting the Postcolonial" conference, which was held at the University of Northampton in July 2007, and seeks to explore the interconnected notions of both "roots" and "routes" that repeatedly engage postcolonial identities.
Two further extended projects include an examination of Ian McEwan's fiction and constructions of masculinity, and a comparative study of contemporary Canadian women writers and engagements with frequently American and European constructions of both second wave and postfeminist politics.
Publications
Books
Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007)
Writers Talk: Conversations with Contemporary British Novelists (edited, with Philip Tew & Leigh Wilson; London: Continuum; forthcoming 2008).
Journal Articles
"'Everyone has Left Something Here': The Storyteller-Historian in Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum", Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction (forthcoming 2008)
"Sucking the Blood out of Second Wave Feminism: Postfeminist Vampirism in Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride", Gothic Studies, 9.2 (November 2007) 45-57
"Situating Canada: The Shifting Perspective of the Post-Colonial Other in Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride", American Review of Canadian Studies, 35.3 (Autumn 2005) 453-470
"Feminist Utopias and Questions of Liberty: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as Critique of New Wave Feminism", Women: a Cultural Review, 16.1 (Spring 2005) 18-32
"Guilt and Innocence in the Community and the Self: The Question of Mutual Responsibility in Margaret Atwood's Surfacing", British Journal of Canadian Studies, 17.1 (2004) 105-116
Book Chapters
"'He could see her no longer': The Negation of Femininity through Violence in Ian McEwan's Fiction", in Flora Alexander & Karen Throsby (eds), Gender and Violence (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; forthcoming 2008)
"Identifying the Precious in Zadie Smith's On Beauty", in Rod Mengham and Philip Tew (eds), British Fiction Today (London: Continuum, 2006), 128-138
"Anglophone Canadian Literary Studies", in Julian Wolfreys (ed.), Modern North American Criticism and Theory: A Critical Guide (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), 214-223
"Feminisms", in Patricia Waugh(ed.), Modern Literary Theory and Criticism: An Oxford Guide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 319-339
Research Awards
Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction was chosen as Best Book of 2007 by the Margaret Atwood Society
"Situating Canada: The Shifting Perspective of the Post-Colonial Other in Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride" was chosen as "Best Article of 2006" by the Margaret Atwood Society
External Professional Activities
I am Associate Editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing. I am also a Council member of the British Association of Canadian Studies. In 2006, I coordinated the Summer Seminar Series of the UK Network of Modern Fiction Studies.
Undergraduate Teaching
I teach on a range of modules including Theoretical and Critical Perspectives, Identity and Difference, Gender and Representation, and Relating Gender. I also supervise dissertations in the field of twentieth century and contemporary literature.
