Dr Sonja Lawrenson
Senior Lecturer
My profile
Biography
I’m a lecturer in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature here at MMU. My research centres on women’s writing from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century. However, my wider research interests encompass Irish literature, eighteenth-century imperialism, Romantic Orientalism, Irish Gothic, transnationalism and postcolonial theory. My research also draws on a wide range of disciplines including history, politics, philosophy, theatre history and material culture.
I am also employability champion and graduate outcome lead for the department of English.
Academic and professional qualifications
BA (Hons) Archaeology and English
MA English (Modern Literary Studies)
PhD English (Thesis: “Irish Women Writers and the Orient, 1760-1830: Gender, Nation and Empire”)
PG Certificate in Higher Education and Teaching
Interests and expertise
Irish women’s writing c.1760-1840, eighteenth-century imperialism, Romantic Orientalism, Irish Gothic fiction, transnationalism and postcolonial theory
Teaching
How I’ll teach you
I’m committed to active and engaged teaching and believe that a dynamic classroom stimulates students’ curiosity and engagement. I’m eager to explore alternative teaching methods and use innovative strategies that help foster a positive and friendly learning environment. I’m also active in encouraging students to communicate any anxieties they may have in relation to their studies and always listen attentively to their concerns.
Postgraduate teaching
I teach on the Gothic and Postcolonial specialisms of the MA in English Studies. I specialise in Gothic Romanticism and the Irish Gothic on the unit, ‘The Rise of the Gothic’, and Northern Irish fiction on the unit, ‘Postcolonial Trauma’.
Research outputs
Select Awards and Achievements
2020: Seed Grant (Keats-Shelley Association of America/Byron Society of America)
2019: ASECS Irish-American Travel Fellowship
2015: Awarded Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellowship
2012: Funded Participant in the International Society for Eighteenth-century Studies Early Career Seminar, Indiana University: Voltaire Foundation.
2011: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Irish Research Council.
2010: Collaborative Research Training Scheme (Lead Investigator): AHRC UK.
2009: Overseas Conference Award: AHRC UK.
2004: Doctoral Award: AHRC UK
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Books (authored/edited/special issues)
Lawrenson, S., Foley, M. Melmoth's Global Afterlives. Gothic Studies.
Lawrenson, S. (2024) Maria Edgeworth and the Gothic. Cambridge University Press.
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Chapters in books
Lawrenson, S. (2022) '"A World of New Wonders:" Maria Edgeworth’s Atlantic Ecology and the Limits of Transnationalism in the Nineteenth Century..' Transnationalism in Irish Literature and Culture. Cambridge University Press,
Lawrenson, S. (2021) 'Ireland.' The Oxford Handbook of Romantic Prose. Oxford University Press,
Lawrenson, S. (2021) 'Deceptive Disabilities in Maria Edgeworth’s The Double Disguise (1786): Irish Patriotism, Consumption, and the Martial Male Body.' The Golden Thread: Irish Women Playwrights, 1716-2016. Liverpool University Press,
Lawrenson, S.M. (2020) 'Ireland and Empire: Popular Fiction in the Wake of the Union.' Irish Literature in Transition, 1780-1830.. Cambridge University Press,
Lawrenson, S.M. (2019) 'Prudence and Prejudice in Maria Edgeworth’s ‘Murad the Unlucky’.' Ireland’s Imperial Connections, 1775-1947 Daniel S. Roberts and Jonathan Jeffrey Wright. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series, Palgrave Macmillan,
Lawrenson, S. (2018) ''Who Is It That Thou Callest a Slave?': Oriental Despotism and Enlightenment Liberty in Frances Sheridan's The History of Nourjahad.' Enlightenment Liberties/Libertés des Lumières. Paris, France: Éditions Honoré Champion, pp. 201-232.
Lawrenson, S.M. (2015) '“Imperial Interrelations in Maria Edgeworth’s Essay on Irish Bulls”.' In Tucker, A., Casey, M. (ed.) Where Motley Is Worn: Irish Transnational Literatures. Cork: Cork University Press,
Lawrenson, S.M. (2014) '““The Country Chosen of My Heart:” The Comic Cosmopolitanism of The Orientalist, or, Electioneering in Ireland, a Tale, by Myself (1820).”.' In Davies, S., Roberts, D.S., Espinosa, G. (ed.) India and Europe in the Global Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment.. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, pp. 101-122.
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Journal articles
Lawrenson, S. (2023) 'Oral Textuality, Gender and the Gothic in Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat (2020).' Estudios Irlandeses, 18(2) pp. 28-42.
Lawrenson, S. (2023) 'Florence and the Machine: female authorship, popular culture, and technological modernity in Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan’s Florence Macarthy (1818).' Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780-1840, (24) pp. 76-93.
Lawrenson, S. (2020) '“ASECS at 50: Interview with Kevin Joel Berland”.' Eighteenth-Century Studies, 53(4) pp. 539-546.
Lawrenson, S. (2012) 'Revolution, rebellion and a rajah from rohilkhand: Recontextualizing elizabeth hamilton's translation of the letters of a hindoo rajah.' Studies in Romanticism, 51(2) pp. 125-147.
Lawrenson, S.M. (2011) '‘Frances Sheridan’s History of Nourjahad and the Sultan of Smock Alley’.' Eighteenth-Century Ireland: Iris an dá chultúr, 26pp. 24-50.
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Other
Lawrenson, S. Entries on: Charlotte Brooke, Emma; Or The Foundling of the Wood (1803); Mrs. Norris, Second Love; Or, The Way to be Happy (1805), The Strangers (1806), Julia of England (1808), Euphronia, Or, The Captive; A Romance (1810); Marianne Kenley, The Cottage of the Appenines, Or, The Castle of Novina (1806), Mary Phibbs, The Lady of Martendyke (1813); Alicia Le Fanu, Strathallan (1816), Helen Monteagle (1818), Leolin Abbey (1819); Rosalia St. Clair (pseud.), The Son of O'Donnel (1819), The Highland Castle, and the Lowland Cottage (1820) In: London, A. (ed.) The Cambridge Guide to the Eighteenth-Century Novel, 1660-1820. Cambridge University Press. (In Press).