Dr Katie Harling-Lee

Early Career Teaching Fellow in English Literature

Contact details

Address

Street

Room 2.06
21 Buccleuch Place

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9LD

Availability

  • My office hour takes place on Mondays 10am-11am

Background

I joined Edinburgh as an Early Career Teaching Fellow in English Literature in January 2025. My research is broadly based in Modern and Contemporary literature, with particular interests in musico-literary, word and music, and literary sound studies, as well as the representation of war and conflict in literature. I am highly interdisciplinary in my approach to literary research, often drawing on work in musicology, music philosophy, and conflict studies.

Previously, I've worked at Durham University, Edinburgh Napier University, and Northumbria University. I completed my BA, MA, and PhD at Durham University, the latter funded by the Wolfson Foundation. I am also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research summary

My research specialism is in modern and contemporary literature, with a particular focus on literary music, sound studies, and the literary representation of armed conflict. Highly interdisciplinary in my approach, I am informed by both my formal literary analytical skills and my practical experience as a musician. A common thread in my wide academic practice is a concern with the task of ‘translating’ concepts, such as the articulation of musical experience within the ‘silent’ novel and the ethical and practical difficulties of representing armed conflict in fiction.

Current research interests

I am currently preparing my PhD thesis for publication as my first monograph, Music in Conflict: Representations of Music and War in the Contemporary Novel, and developing my next research project on literary instances of silence in the novels of Dorothy Canfield Fisher, a neglected twentieth-century author.

Past research interests

I received my PhD (no corrections) in English Literature from Durham University in 2022, for a thesis which analysed representations of classical music in contemporary novels set during political or armed conflict. I have published previously on this topic in Violence: An International Journal and The Open Library of Humanities.