June L. Laurenson

Thesis title: Space and Place in Anthony Powell's 'A Dance to the Music of Time' series.

Biography

Background

Following a career change, June earned an MA in English through the Open University in 2017.  She began her PhD - which focuses on the novels of the twentieth century author, Anthony Powell - in September, 2017. She is working towards her Doctorate on a part-time basis.

June is a member of several literary organisations including: The Royal Society of Literature, The Anthony Powell Society, British Association of Modernist Studies, British Association of Victorian Studies, The International Gothic Association, The Dickens Society, and The Dickens Fellowship.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) in Nursing Studies (1994): Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh.

PgDip (Hum) (2016): The Open University.

MA in English (2017): The Open University.

Responsibilities & affiliations

  • Peer-reviewer for the University's online journal FORUM (2017 - 2019)
  • Writer and reviewer for Inciting Sparks (the University's multimedia platform for Arts and Humanities). (2017-2018)
  • Co-ordinator and Lead PhD reader for the James Tait Black Prize. (Reading Panel 2017; Lead Reader/Student Co-ordinator 2018-2020)
  • Pre-Honours tutor for EL1 and EL2 (from September 2019 - current).
  • Non -University based: Social media and marketing co-ordinator for the Anthony Powell Society.

Undergraduate teaching

Teaching (tutorials) for EL1 and EL2 from September, 2019.

Research summary

June's research interests include:

  • Nineteenth and Twentieth Century English Literature.
  • The Gothic.  
  • Space and Place.
  • Synaesthesia in literature.
  • Identity construction/alterity. 
  • Travel writing. 
  • Post-colonialism.
  • The relationship between literature and society.
  • The representation of illness in literature.

Current research interests

June's doctoral research focuses on the ways that Anthony Powell uses space and place in his 'A Dance to the Music of Time' novels to reflect the rapidly-changing social, political, and economic climate in twentieth century Britain.

Past research interests

June's MA Dissertation was entitled: 'From Puppets to Robots: Investigating Charles Dickens's Conflicting Perceptions of Mechanical and Industrial Progress in 'The Old Curiosity Shop', 'Dombey and Son', and 'Hard Times''. This research focussed on the effects on society of the Industrial Revolution over a time-span of sixteen years - a concept which is further developed within June's PhD research. Additional past research projects: 'Inhabiting the 'Third Space': Identity, Transition, and Empire in Kipling's 'Kim' and Kunzru's 'The Impressionist'' (2015), and 'The Representation of Marriage as a Burden and/or Constraint in Chopin's 'The Awakening' and Zola's 'Germinal'' (2014).

Conference details

Conference Paper Presentation:

'Visual Art as a Metaphor in Powell's Country Houses', at the Anthony Powell Society Conference: 'Anthony Powell and Visual Art', Merton College, Oxford, 31st August - 2 September, 2018.

'Visual Art as Metaphor in Powell's Country Houses'  (in Anthony Powell Society Conference Proceedings Journal, July 2019).

 

 

University associated blogs:

'Brief Encounters of the Literary Kind', via https://incitingsparks.org/2017/10/23/brief-encounters-of-the-literary-kind/

'Smelling the Colour Nine', via https://incitingsparks.org/2018/02/26/smelling-the-colour-nine/

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