Staff Profile

I am Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Contemporary American Literature in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics.

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 2024/25, I will be teaching SEL3428, Freedom and Imagination: US Literature, 1850 -1900 and contributing to other modules on the BA in English Literature.

• Articles

  • 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. David Foster Wallace. Journal of American Studies 2009, 43(1), 131-134.
  • 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.
  • 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. Netscapes: Gibson, Globalization and the Representation of New Media. Forum for Modern Language Studies 2001, 37(2), 218-229.
  • 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.
  • 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.

• Authored Books

  • 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.

• Book Chapters

  • 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.