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I'm a lecturer in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature here at MMU. My research centres on women's writing from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century. However, my wider research interests encompass Irish literature, eighteenth-century imperialism, Romantic Orientalism, feminist criticism 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 schools liaison co-ordinator for the department.
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.
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”)
I previously held an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at Trinity College Dublin and taught for six years at Queen's University Belfast.
English School's Liaison Co-ordinator
Employability Champion for Department of English
I teach Approaches to Poetry, Enlightenment and Modernism and Shakespeare.
I also teach on the Gothic strand of the MA in English Studies, on a unit entitled 'The Rise of the Gothic'.
Women's writing c.1670-1840, Irish literature, eighteenth-century imperialism, Romantic Orientalism, Irish feminist criticism and postcolonial theory
S. Lawrenson (2024). Maria Edgeworth and the Gothic. Cambridge University Press.
S. Lawrenson, M. Foley Melmoth's Global Afterlives. S. Lawrenson. Gothic Studies.
S. Lawrenson (2020). “ASECS at 50: Interview with Kevin Joel Berland”. Eighteenth-Century Studies. 53(4), pp.539-546.
S. Lawrenson (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.
S. Lawrenson (2011). Frances Sheridan's The History of Nourjahad and the Sultan of Smock-Alley. Eighteenth-Century Ireland/Iris an dá Chultúr. 26, pp.24-50.
S. Lawrenson (2024). Ireland. In: The Oxford Handbook of Romantic Prose. Oxford University Press,
S. Lawrenson (2024). "A World of New Wonders:" Maria Edgeworth’s Atlantic Ecology and the Limits of Transnationalism in the Nineteenth Century. In: Transnationalism in Irish Literature and Culture. Cambridge University Press,
S. Lawrenson (2021). Deceptive Disabilities in Maria Edgeworth’s The Double Disguise (1786): Irish Patriotism, Consumption, and the Martial Male Body. In: The Golden Thread: Irish Women Playwrights, 1716-2016. Liverpool University Press,
S. Lawrenson (2020). Ireland and Empire: Popular Fiction in the Wake of the Union. In: Irish Literature in Transition, 1780–1830. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp.359-380.
S. Lawrenson (2019). Prudence and Prejudice in Maria Edgeworth’s “Murad the Unlucky” (1804). In: Ireland’s Imperial Connections, 1775–1947. Springer International Publishing, pp.121-141.
S. Lawrenson (2018). 'Who Is It That Thou Callest a Slave?': Oriental Despotism and Enlightenment Liberty in Frances Sheridan's The History of Nourjahad. In: Enlightenment Liberties/Libertés des Lumières. Paris, France: Éditions Honoré Champion, pp.201-232.
S. Lawrenson (2014). 'The country chosen of my heart': The comic cosmopolitanism of The Orientalist, or, electioneering in Ireland, a tale, by myself. S. Davies, DS. Roberts, G. Espinosa. In: India and Europe in the Global Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment.. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, pp.101-122.
S. Lawrenson (2014). Imperial Interrelations in Maria Edgeworth’s Essay on Irish Bulls (1802). A. Tucker, M. Casey. In: Where Motley Is Worn: Transnational Irish Literatures. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, pp.159-176.
S. Lawrenson 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).
Doctoral Award: The Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2005 – 2009
Overseas Conference Award: The Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2009
Collaborative Research Training Scheme: The Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2009
Research Fellowship: Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences, 2011-2012
ASECS Irish American Travel Scholarship, 2019
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