Dr Aileen Douglas B.A. (Dublin), M.A. (Delaware), Ph.D. (Princeton), F.T.C.D.
Associate Professor and Director of Research
Aileen Douglas’s research and teaching interests centre on the writing of the long eighteenth century; print culture; Irish writing; the disciplinary history of English studies; and working-class writing. Underlying connections between these diverse areas of study are her theoretical concerns with the history of writing, literary form, and representations of the body.
Her publications include Uneasy Sensations: Smollett and the Body (Chicago University Press, 1995); a co-edited volume of essays, Locating Swift: Essays from Dublin on the 250th anniversary of the death of Jonathan Swift (Four Courts Press, 1998); a chapter on the eighteenth-century novel in the Cambridge Companion to the Irish Novel (Cambridge University Press, 2006), as well as a range of journal articles and book chapters on eighteenth-century fiction and print culture. She has recently completed a monograph, Work in Hand: Script, Print and Writing, 1690-1840 which deals with the interaction of manual writing and print; giving particular attention to the reproduction of script through printed engraving, to concepts of the copy and the autograph, and to constructions of the author.
Aileen Douglas is also a General Editor of the IRCHSS-assisted ‘Early Irish Fiction, 1680-1820’ project, which provides critical editions of Irish fiction in the designated period. For this series, she has co-edited Sarah Butler, Irish Tales (Four Courts Press, 2010) and Elizabeth Sheridan, The Triumph of Prudence over Passion (Four Courts Press, 2011). She has also co-edited a special issue of the Irish University Review on Irish Fiction, 1660-1830 (Spring/Summer 2011).
She has supervised Ph.D dissertations on eighteenth-century English and Irish Fiction, on subjects including Daniel Defoe and personal identity, and the representation of servants in fiction of the 1790s, as well as several topics relating to Maria Edgeworth. Additionally, she has supervised work on the eighteenth-century Irish book trade; on eighteenth-century aesthetics and on contemporary working-class Scottish fiction. She has acted as a mentor for IRC-funded postdoctoral work on women’s writing in the romantic period, and on romantic poetic circles, and is presently mentoring work on the literary salon and eighteenth century friendship. She welcomes enquiries from prospective students considering research in these areas.
In the School of English, Aileen Douglas teaches on a number of Freshman courses including ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Genre’, and ‘Single Author: Oliver Goldsmith.’ She offers sophister options on eighteenth-century poetry, Irish writing, and the marriage plot in fiction. Her main teaching commitment at postgraduate level is to the M.Phil in Irish Writing.
Aileen Douglas has held various administrative posts within the School of English, including that of Head of Discipline (2006-8). At College Level she has served as Senior Lecturer/Dean of Undergraduate Studies (2008-11).
Contact:
Dr Aileen Douglas
Room 4002
Arts Building
Trinity College
Dublin 2
e-mail: adouglas@tcd.ie