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Teaching Assistants


Tarek Bassil

Name and Email

Tarek Bassil
bassilt@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'Projectiles of Chaos: Symbolic Dis(order) in the Works of Yeats, Walcott and Adonis'

Bibliography and Research Keywords

My thesis examines how chaos and the symbolic order of postcolonial cultures may interrelate in an unprecedented manner in the works of Yeats, Walcott and Adonis. Using   primarily the psychoanalytic theories of Jacques Lacan, I will argue that there is an extradimensionality to culture in certain postcolonial regions that are not entirely explainable by the extant symbolic order of such places. 

Jacques Lacan; Derek Walcott; Adonis; W. B. Yeats; Symbolic Order; Post Colonialism 

Joana Blanquer

Name and Email

Joana Blanquer
blanquej@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'The Complexities of Time in Beowulf'

Supervisor

Dr Alice Jorgensen

Bibliography and Research Keywords

CPGE Montpellier – Lycée Joffre (France) 2009-2012, major in Classics and English.

Master’s Degree Paris IV La Sorbonne LLCE English-Research 2014 with honours thesis year one on the Christian elements in Beowulf and year two ‘Between rewriting and reinvention: the Scandinavian analogues to Beowulf’.

PhD candidate from September 2015 to present.

I am looking at how Beowulf works as a sum of Anglo-Saxon attitudes to the measurement and interpretation of time in order to provide an Anglo-Saxon poem on the ancestors. I focus especially on vocabulary and narrative techniques.

I have experience in personalised tutoring in Latin from my undergraduate years.

Research Interests:
Beowulf; Anglo-Saxon England; Old Norse Literature; Antiquarianism; Middle Ages; Classics

Eva Burke

Name and Email

Eva Burke
Burkeev@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

‘"Down These Clean Streets a Girl Must Go": A Study of the Sensational Origins and Evolution of the Domestic Suspense Genre’

Supervisor

Dr Clare Clarke

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Completed MPhil in Popular Literature at Trinity College, Dublin in 2014-2015. Irish Research Council scholar focusing on the history and popularity of ‘domestic suspense’ fiction. Shortlisted for the FWSA essay prize in 2015 and has published articles in the Journal of International Women’s Studies, Trinity Postgraduate Review and Feminist Spaces. Chapter of MPhil thesis will be published as part of an edited collection From the Domestic to the Dominant: The New Face of Crime Fiction, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Gendered Dynamics of Victimhood in Popular Crime Fiction and Depictions of the Monstrous Feminine in Horror Fiction.

Alicia Byrne Keane

Name and Email

Alicia Byrne Keane
byrnekea@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

Beckett and Murakami’s ‘Vaguened’ Worlds

Supervisor

Dr Sam Slote

Bibliography and Research Keywords

I have a first class honours degree in English Literature and French from Trinity College Dublin and an MSt. in English Literature 1900-Present from Oxford University. My current PhD research focuses on the correlation between ‘vagueness’ and self-translating authors.

Sarah Cleary

Name and Email

Sarah Cleary
clearysc@tcd.ie

Sarah Cullen

Name and Email

Sarah Cullen
scullen5@tcd.ie

Orlaith Darling

Name and Email

Orlaith Darling
darlingo@tcd.ie

Janice Deitner

Name and Email

Janice Deitner
deitnerj@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'"You Know": Bodies of Knowledge in Shirley Jackson's America' 

Supervisor

Dr Bernice M Murphy 

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Shirley Jackson; Contagion; Excessive/Porous Bodies; Systems of Knowledge; American Identity

Research Interests

The Gothic; American Gothic; American Literature; Popular Literature; Science Fiction; Horror; the Short Story; American Ideology; Early 20thC Belief Systems.

Martina Devlin

Dr Dara Downey

Name and Email

Dr Dara Downey
downeyd@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'Unsettling America: The Haunted-House Motif in American Fiction'

Supervisor

Dr Darryl Jones

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Since completing my PhD in 2008/09, I have been a lecturer in University College Dublin and Maynooth University, and have also worked in Trinity and St Pat’s. I held an IRC Postdoctoral Fellowship 2010-12, which allowed me to complete my monograph, American Women’s Ghost Stories in the Gilded Age (Palgrave, 2014). I am currently working on a new project focusing on servant and slave figures in American gothic fiction and popular culture. This examines the role of religious beliefs and practices in American gothic, as well as issues surrounding class, race, and ethnicity.

I have taught and lectured on American, popular, British and Irish literature from the eighteenth century to the present day in Trinity, Maynooth University, University College Dublin, St Patrick’s Drumcondra (DCU), and Independent Colleges.

American; Gothic; Popular; Material Culture; Class; Race; Religion and Magic

Rebecca Easler

Name and Email

Rebecca Easler
easlerr@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'Child Death in the Works of Charles Dickens'

Supervisor

Dr. Jarlath Killeen

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Charles Dickens; Children and Childhood;Victorian studies; Death in Literature 

Research Interests

Victorian Literature; Romantic Literature; Charles Dickens; Death and Death Culture; 19th Century Children and Childhoods; 19th Century British Culture; Victorian Fairy Tales

Clare Fletcher

Name and Email

Clare Fletcher
cfletch@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

‘"The world is changed overal": Signs of Decay and the Decay of Signs in John Gower’s Confessio Amantis'

Supervisor

Dr Brendan O’ Connell

Bibliography and Research Keywords

BA (Hons) English and History at Trinity College, Dublin
MPhil Medieval Language, Literature, and Culture, Trinity College, Dublin
Currently a Doctoral Candidate at Trinity College, Dublin

My thesis investigates aspects of language and sign theory in John Gower’s 14th century Middle English work Confessio Amantis.

I have previously taught on the Fables Course 2014 -2015

Dr Darragh Greene

Name and Email

Dr Darragh Greene
dagreene@tcd.ie

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Dr Darragh Greene holds an MA, MPhil and PhD from Trinity College Dublin. His research interests range from medieval studies through Renaissance literature to comics studies. In particular, he works on Chaucer, Julian of Norwich, fifteenth-century poetry, Shakespeare and Spenser.

Late Medieval Literature; Chaucer; Shakespeare; Critical Theory; Comics Studies

Moonyoung Hong

Name and Email

Moonyoung Hong
hongm@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'Tom Murphy's Theatre of Everyday Space'

Supervisor

Professor Chris Morash and Professor Nicholas Grene

Bibliography and Research Keywords

I hold a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Hanyang University, Seoul. I completed the M.Phil. in Irish Writing at TCD in 2015-2016. My current research explores Tom Murphy's plays from the perspective of everyday space using manuscripts and archives preserved in Trinity's library and the James Hardiman Library in NUIG. The research is funded by the Ussher Fellowship. 

I have been a Teaching Assistant for "Shakespeare: Text, Stage and Screen," "Stages of Theatre" and "Writing Childhoods: Power, Voice and Agency."

Irish Writing; Modern Drama; Theatre; Everyday Life; Theories of Space

Dearbhaile Houston

Name and Email

Dearbhaile Houston
dhouston@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'Hauntologies of Domestic Space in Contemporary Women's Fiction, 1980-Present'

Supervisor

Dr Philip Coleman  

Bibliography and Research Keywords

University of Limerick (B.A English and New Media, 2015)
Trinity College Dublin (M.Phil Gender and Women’s Studies, 2017).
PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, 2017-Present
My current research employs the theory of hauntology to examine domestic spaces in the fiction of Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, and Anne Enright. I have taught on number of Fresher modules, including Modernism, Victorian Literature, and Writing Childhoods. 

Contemporary fiction; women's writing; domestic space; feminism; critical theory

Adrian Howlett

Name and Email

Adrian Howlett
ahowlett@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'The Hibernian Cosmopolis'

Supervisor

Dr Sam Slote

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Bibliography and research keywords:
BA (Hons) English, Liverpool John Moores University
M.Phil Irish Writing, Trinity College Dublin

I am working on James Joyce's Ulysses and Don DeLillo's late fiction, with a focus on technology, time, money and urban space.

Modernism; Postmodernism; Irish writing; Technology; Economics

Dr David Jameson

Name and Email

David Jameson
jamesod@tcd.ie

Alex Jones

Name and Email

Alex Jones
jonesa5@tcd.ie

Darrell Jones

Name and Email

Darrell Jones
jonesd2@tcd.ie

Casey Lawrence

Name and Email

Casey Lawrence
clawrenc@tcd.ie

Frank Leahy

Name and Email

Frank Leahy
fleahy@tcd.ie

Dr Ciarán Leinster

Name and Email

Dr Ciarán Leinster
leinstec@tcd.ie

Bibliography and Research Keywords

“Investigating the Real: Arthur Miller’s Postmodernist Detectives”, The Arthur Miller Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, spring 2017

Interview with Annie Ryan, Artistic Director of the Corn Exchange, who directed The Misfits at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, September-October 2018. The Arthur Miller Journal, vol. 14, no. 1, spring 2019. 

Review of The Misfits, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 30 September, 2018. The Arthur Miller Journal, vol. 14, no. 1, spring 2019. 

Masculinity; Postmodernism; Drama; American ​Literature; Paranoia; Detective Writing; Television
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Research Interests

Drama; American Literature; Postmodernism, Literary Theory; Autofiction; New Journalism; Comparative Literature; 20th Century American History; Television in American Culture

Amelia McConville

Name and Email

Amelia McConville
amcconv@tcd.ie

Dr Anthony McGrath

Name and Email

Dr Anthony McGrath
amcgrat@tcd.ie

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Having received my B. A. in English and Philosophy from University College Cork, I went on to take my M. Phil and Ph.D. degrees from Trinity College Dublin.

My doctoral dissertation - which is currently being prepared for publication - examines the relationship between the philosophy of Schopenhauer and the forms and themes of Beckett’s critical and creative writings. I am currently working on various teaching and research projects relating to the following: Existentialism; Calvinist Theology; Reformation History; Romanticism; Simone Weil; Iris Murdoch; Gustav Mahler; Giacomo Leopardi; Martin Heidegger; Vincent Van Gogh; and Edvard Munch.

I gained employment as a tutor in the Philosophy Department at UCC in 2004. In that role I provided classes to undergraduates on the work of Plato, Existentialism, and Psychoanalysis. Following a number of years of secondary school teaching, my work as a Teaching Assistant at TCD commenced in 2011; in that capacity I have been responsible for providing undergraduate and postgraduate courses on Shakespeare, Irish Writing, and Romanticism.

My commitment to promoting a public understanding of the history of the arts and ideas inspired my decision to form the Waterford Philosophical Society in 2005. Since then I have delivered weekly lectures on a diverse range of literary and intellectual topics to the members of that group. While my teaching experience has been immeasurably enriched by such activities, I have also gained many insights into the organisational imperatives of educational programmes and the importance of impactful public engagement. In 2011 I arranged the inaugural series of Bloomsday celebrations in Waterford. Owing to my efforts, Bloomsday has been marked in Waterford on an annual basis since that year.

Dr Dolores McLoughlin

Name and Email

Dr Dolores McLoughlin
dmmcloug@gmail.com

Bibliography and Research Keywords

I did my first degree at University College Dublin, majoring in English and Philosophy. I graduated with an MPhil in Literatures of the Americas from Trinity College Dublin in 2009. My dissertation focused on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance” and the writing of Louisa May Alcott and Sarah Orne Jewett. I went on to do a PhD on the work of Maeve Brennan and Nomadic Consciousness, at Trinity College Dublin which I completed in 2012. Since 2010, I have been an Occasional Lecturer and Teaching Assistant in the School of English.

I teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. My teaching interests are in the areas of Postcolonial literature and theory, the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Diasporic writing.

My main research interest is in the area of Postcolonial literature, in particular the work of Irish women writers.

Postcolonial; International; Diaspora; Nomadic; Exile

Dr Noelle Mann

Name and Email

Dr Noelle Mann
mannc@tcd.ie

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Noelle Mann holds a BA and MA in English from Manchester University, and recently completed a PhD in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin.

Dr. Mann’s primary area of interest is the culture of nomadic communities, including Irish and Scottish Travellers. Her particular focus is on music and oral history, including storytelling, and its representation in textual form. A related area of interest is the medieval development of the fable genre, and the use of animals in moral teachings.

Dr. Mann is also a writer for Travellers’ Voice Magazine, reporting on music, culture and Roma issues.

Multi-disciplinary; Irish Travellers; Scottish Travellers; Minority Cultures; Music; Storytelling; Fables

Josh Newman

Name and Email

Josh Newman
newmanj1@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Ireland: James Joyce and Nationalist Historiography'

Supervisor

Dr Sam Slote

Bibliography and Research Keywords

BA English and Philosophy, The State University of New York at Buffalo, 2011
MA English, The State University of New York at Buffalo, 2013
PhD English, Trinity College Dublin, 2016-Present

My dissertation interrogates the substantial and at times problematic influence Irish nationalism had in the works of James Joyce, particularly regarding Joyce's engagements with Irish historical events such as the 1798 Rebellion and the “fall” of Charles Stewart Parnell. I have taught courses in modernism, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, composition, and Early English Fables. I received the 1252 Studentship.

Joyce; Irish literature; Irish history; Modernism; Nationalism; Historicism; Historiography

Emily O'Brien

Julia O'Connell

Name and Email

Julia O'Connell
oconnej5@tcd.ie

Dr Peter Rooney

Name and Email

Dr Peter Rooney
Rooneype@tcd.ie

Bibliography and Research Keywords

I completed my Ph.D from the University College Cork in 2007 under the supervision of Dr Lee Jenkins. My work focused on primitivism in the works of Ernest Hemingway. In particular, how Hemingway's exposure to Native Americans in his youth influenced his writing. Hemingway creates a unique version of primitivism, one that portrays Native Americans in a more naturalistic light. I have an article on Hemingway's primitivism published in the Irish Journal of American studies and am currently working on a book on the same subject. My field of interests include 20th Century American literature, as well as Modernism.

Hemingway, Primitivism, Native American, Modernism, Short Story

Stefano Rosignoli

Name and Email

Stefano Rosignoli
rosignos@tcd.ie

Thesis Title

'A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Ethics of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett'

Supervisor

Dr Sam Slote

Bibliography and Research Keywords

Stefano Rosignoli received degrees in Modern Literature (2006) and Publishing Studies (2008) from the University of Bologna. He worked in publishing for several years and gradually increased his interest in academic research, currently addressing moral philosophy and 20th-century Irish literature. He has been awarded scholarships from Trinity College Dublin and The University at Buffalo. Together with Mark Byron, he co-edited a dossier on Samuel Beckett and the Middle Ages, published in a celebratory issue marking the 40th anniversary of the Journal of Beckett Studies (25.1). He is also the author of a chapter on the sociology of Beckett’s texts in the years of the broadcasts for BBC Radio (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming).

Modernism and 20th-Century Literature; Moral Philosophy; Textual Scholarship

Anne Thompson

Name and Email

Ann Thompson
anthomps@tcd.ie