UCD School of English, Drama & Film

Emily Dickinson and the religious culture of nineteenth-century New England: focusing on the impact of German Higher Criticism upon American readings of biblical texts, suggesting that the advent of this new hermeneutical approach resulted in the ignition of a veritable theory war from New England's pulpits (one with strong resonance for our contemporary theoretical debates). Such a charged exegetical atmosphere facilitates a better understanding of the role of biblical exegesis in Dickinson's own work, and allows us to better appreciate her role as an accomplished (if often irreverent) biblical scholar. Early American writing: This work focuses on the role of the conversion narrative within early Puritan communities and charts its influence upon the development of a distinctly American literary tradition. With its particular on the human voice (in its spoken and literary forms) as a means of persuading an audience of ones salvation, the conversion narrative looks ahead to the confessional mode of much contemporary American writing (even popular American chat shows, with their emphasis on the redemptive public confession, could be read as late offshoots of this early Puritan genre). Crime Fiction: A more recent research interest lies in the area of crime fiction, focusing on a comparative study of American and British crime writing (with particular attention to factors such as race, nationality and gender). Nineteenth Century Biblical Exegesis and African-American writing.

I am currently working on a book on Emily Dickinson and biblical interpretation: Contesting the Word: Emily Dickinson and the Higher Critics. I am also co-editing a collection of essays, International Responses to Emily Dickinson, for Continuum Press (Autumn 2008) and contributing a chapter on ‘Emily Dickinson in Britain and Ireland'.