Mary Dawson
- Email: en18med@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: 'I must climb inside the skin of a girl': Becoming Posthuman in British Fiction 1950-1980
- Supervisors: Professor Amelia DeFalco, Dr Tracy Hargreaves
Profile
I joined the University of Leeds School of English in October 2018 to complete my MA after a successful career in the UK charity sector, returning in October 2020 as a postgraduate researcher. My PhD project explores mid-century British fiction through theories of posthumanism and the work of Gilles Deleuze. I am supervised by Dr Amelia DeFalco and Dr Tracy Hargreaves in the School of English. My PhD is funded by the AHRC WRoCAH consortium.
I hold a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Liverpool and an MSc in International Development from London, South Bank University.
Research interests
My research interests include:
- posthumanism and literature
- twentieth century fiction
- gender studies
My doctoral research explores an emerging posthuman materialism in mid-century twentieth century fiction, particularly in the writing of Barbara Comyns, Muriel Spark, Angela Carter and Barbara Pym. I use Gilles Deleuze's theory of matter as a relational event to interrogate representations of gender and consider how female bodies are figured as spaces of interconnection, generating a relational becoming which brings ideas of the human and posthuman into critical conversation.
Qualifications
- MA English Literature (University of Leeds)
- MSc International Development (London, South Bank University)
- BA English Language and Literature (University of Liverpool)