Prof Fiona Doloughan

Professor of English and Comparative Literature

fiona.doloughan@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

Across my academic career to date, I have worked in various disciplinary settings: European Studies; Education; and English & Creative Writing. Yet across those somewhat different settings, my focus has always been on language/s, literature/s and writing practices. My academic home is in Comparative Literature and my PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA looked at concepts of realism in the 19^th and 20^th century French and English novels; I also have a Masters in Applied Linguistics from the University of Reading. Prior to joining the Open University, I taught Creative Writing for several years in the newly established Department of English at the University of Surrey. Since joining the Open University in May 2011, I have occupied a number of roles, including a brief stint as Head of Department (2015-7).

Research interests

My research revolves around the development of the novel and on the forces (societal, cultural, technological, linguistic) shaping that development. My first monograph, Contemporary Narrative: textual production, multimodality and multiliteracies (Continuum, 2011) focussed on identifying and illustrating through a case study approach some key trends and issues in a range of 20^th and early 21^st century narratives through the dual lens of multimodality and multiliteracies. It treated storytelling across modes and media as well as examining the kinds of stories told by writers with access to more than one language and culture.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/contemporary-narrative-9781441121998/

My second monograph, English as a Literature in Translation (Bloomsbury, 2016) picked up in effect where the first one left off, focussing on ‘narratives of translation’, that is to say narrative works produced by writers with access to more than one language and culture where issues of translation (in multiple senses) are thematised in and contribute to their creative practice.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/english-as-a-literature-in-translation-9781628924275/

My third monograph, Radical Realism, Autofictional Narratives and the Reinvention of the Novel (Anthem Press, 2023) treated modes of fictionality and the fact-fiction borderlands in auto/biography, memoir and autofiction with specific reference to the work of Karl Ove Knausgaard, Rachel Cusk, Jeanette Winterson and Xiaolu Guo.

https://anthempress.com/radical-realism-autofictional-narratives-and-the-reinvention-of-the-novel-hb

I am currently at work on a fourth single-authored book that will look at the concept of 'voice' in contemporary literature.

I am a member of two Research Groups within the Department of English & Creative Writing, namely Contemporary Cultures of Writing and the Postcolonial and Global Literatures Research Groups.

Supervision

I have supervised to completion students in Translation Studies, Creative Writing, and English Literature and am currently co-supervising (with Emma Sweeney) postgraduate research student Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone who is completing a PhD in Creative Writing. Rebekah is working on a multi-strand novel on the life and legacy of Gertrude Bell and in her quest for an alternative novelistic form is posing questions about ‘narrative imperialism’.

I am willing to supervise students with research interests in contemporary fiction; the evolution of the novel form; and more generally in the areas of narrative production, creativity, and translation.

Teaching interests

I have written teaching materials for modules across the English curriculum: English Literature (chapters on Synge and Winterson for A335, Literature in Transition: 1800 to the present); chapters on Ali Smith for A233, Telling Stories: The novel and beyond), English language (a chapter on “Narratives of Translation and Processes of Adaptation” for E302, Language and Creativity), and Creative Writing in the context of A112, the multidisciplinary module on Cultures. Most recently, I have written materials on "Approaching Literature in Translation" for the foundation block of the MA in Literature and have contributed a chapter on Anne-Marie Fyfe’s No Far Shore to A240 Literature Matters.

Since October 2021, I have been Qualifications’ Lead for English.

Impact and engagement

I have chaired panel discussions on literature in translation at the British Library and at the MK Lit Fest and co-organized literature and creative writing events at Senate House under the auspices of the Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group.