Staff Profile
Professor James Annesley
Acting Dean of Culture and the Creative Arts | Professor of Contemporary American Literature
- Email: james.annesley@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6617
I am currently Acting Dean of Culture and the Creative Arts, working with colleagues from across the University and a host of regional and national organisations to shape the strategic direction for the University’s cultural partnerships. Linking partners with our teaching and research strengths in culture and the creative arts, my work involves supporting and planning sector focussed activity and contributing to the University’s broader place and engagement strategy.
My role as Acting Dean builds on my previous experience as Head of the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics (2013 - 2022), a position that gave me real familiarity with working with cultural sector organisations, charities and partner institutions.
Qualifications
DPhil, Contemporary American Literature, University of Sussex.
MA, Twentieth Century Literature, University of Sussex.
MA, English Literature, University of Edinburgh.
I’m currently researching contemporary book culture in Scotland, a project that looks to understand the contribution Scottish cultural organisations, literary festivals, creative retreats, the cultural industries and the heritage sector make to contemporary Scottish Literature and asks about the influence and impact these institutions have on both the kinds of writing being produced and the ways in which it is interpreted and valued.
More broadly, my research interests can be summarised as follows:
- The influence of organisations, institutions and cultural ecologies on contemporary literary production
- Contemporary American literature
- Contemporary Scottish literature
- Literature and globalization
- Literature and consumerism
I welcome applications from student looking to undertake postgraduate research in the following fields:
- Contemporary literary production contexts (including literature organisations, literary festivals and live literature events; writing retreats; the influence of the heritage and tourism sectors)
- Contemporary literature and culture
- Contemporary Scottish literature
- American literature
- Contemporary literature and consumer society
- Globalization and literature
My teaching usually involves me working on modules focussed on American literature, contemporary British literature and literary theory.
- In semester 2 of 2022/23, I will be teaching SEL3428, 'Freedom and Imagination: US Literature, 1850 -1900'.
- Annesley J. Uncomfortably Numb: Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Cool Lifestyles. Comparative American Studies An International Journal 2021, 18(2), 159-172.
- Keeble A, Annesley J. Globalism, Multiculturalism and Violence in Zia Hader Rahman’s In the Light of What We Know (2014) and Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017). Parallax 2021, 27(1), 79-97.
- Annesley J. Being Spike Jonze: Film, music and advertising in a converging culture. New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 2014, 11(1), 23-38.
- Annesley J. Fictions of Globalization: Consumption, the Market and the Contemporary American Novel. London: Continuum, 2006.
- James Annesley. Blank Fictions: Consumerism, Culture and the Contemporary American Novel. London: Pluto, 1998.
- Annesley J. Market Corrections: Jonathan Franzen and the "Novel of Globalization". Journal of Modern Literature 2006, 29(2), 111-128.
- Annesley J. Pure Shores: Travel, Consumption, and Alex Garland's The Beach. Modern Fiction Studies 2004, 50(3), 551-569.
- Annesley J. Melville’s No Logo: Moby-Dick and the Globalisation Debate. Third Text: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Culture 2004, 18(1), 13-23.
- James Annesley. Decadence and Disquiet: Recent American Fiction and the Coming Fin de Siècle. Journal of American Studies, 30.3 1997, 30(3), 365-379.
- Annesley J. Thigh Bone Connected to the Hip Bone: Don DeLillo’s Underworld and the Fictions of Globalization. Amerikastudien/American Studies 2002, 47(1), 85-95.
- Annesley J. Brand Ellis: Celebrity Authorship in Lunar Park. In: Mandel, N, ed. Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho, Glamorama, Lunar Park. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 2010, pp.143-157.
- Annesley J. Contextualising Cooper. In: Lev, L, ed. Enter at Your Own Risk: The Dangerous Art of Dennis Cooper. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2006, pp.68-79.
- James Annesley. Commodification, Violence and the Body: A Reading of Some Recent American Fictions. In: Timothy Armstrong, ed. American Bodies: Cultural Histories of the Physique. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996, pp.191-204.
- Annesley J. Netscapes: Gibson, Globalization and the Representation of New Media. Forum for Modern Language Studies 2001, 37(2), 218-229.
- James Annesley. What’s Going On: Interdiscursivity, Popular Culture and American Blank Fiction. Over Here: A European Journal of American Culture 1996, 1(1), 1-18.
- Annesley J. David Foster Wallace. Journal of American Studies 2009, 43(1), 131-134.