Jessica Norledge
Assistant Professor in Stylistics, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
PhD (Sheffield); MA Literary Linguistics (Nottingham); BA English (Nottingham)
As a literary linguist, my research sits at the interface between English literature and English language in the areas of stylistics and cognitive poetics. I am centrally interested in the emotional experience of reading literary discourse and my current research seeks to present a stylistically and empirically grounded explanation of fictional dystopia in particular. My literary focus spans from the early utopian work of Thomas More through to contemporary ecodystopian practice, with specific focus on twenty-first century dystopia, young-adult (YA) literature, the short story and transmedial storytelling. My interests in cognitive poetics and stylistics are equally broad, ranging from my primary specialism in Text World Theory through to empirical methods of reader response.
Expertise Summary
Areas of expertise - cognitive poetics, stylistics, empirical stylistics, discourse analysis, contemporary fiction.
Teaching Summary
In teaching at the universities of Sheffield, Leicester and Leeds, I have taught across the various pathways encompassed by English Studies, working within literary linguistics, applied linguistics… read more
Research Summary
My current research focuses on the language of dystopia and the experience of engaging with dystopian texts. My monograph,The Language of Dystopia (Palgrave), brings together these research… read more
Selected Publications
NORLEDGE, J., 2021. 'Modelling an Unethical Mind'. In: A. BELL, S. BROWSE, A. GIBBONS and D. PEPLOW, eds., Style and Reader Response: Minds, Media, Methods John Benjamins. 43-60 NORLEDGE, J., 2019. 'English Language: Stylistics, 2017' (Review) The Year's Work in English Studies. 98(1), 147-158
NORLEDGE, J., 2018. 'English Language: Stylistics, 2016' (Review) The Year's Work in English Studies. 97(1), 167-177
In teaching at the universities of Sheffield, Leicester and Leeds, I have taught across the various pathways encompassed by English Studies, working within literary linguistics, applied linguistics and English literature. Within literary linguistics my teaching experience is particularly far-reaching, extending from first-year practical stylistics through to modules on language and persuasion, realism and consciousness and final-year cognitive poetics. I have also taught on a wide range of modules in English language and linguistics, covering topics from the history of English through to global englishes, discourse analysis and language variation and change.
Applied English Project
I am currently attached to the Applied English project, working to re-imagine university teaching for the mid-21st century. The project aims to transform web-based distance learning for international postgraduate education, offering a new suite of masters-level courses which will be multimodal, permeable, personal, responsive, textured and contextually connected.
Current Research
My current research focuses on the language of dystopia and the experience of engaging with dystopian texts. My monograph,The Language of Dystopia (Palgrave), brings together these research interests, offering an extended stylistic analysis of the dystopian genre and exploring the evolution of new dystopian media.
I have also published on the cognitive poetics of emotion, dystopian epistolary, unnatural and non-human minds, and worlds theories in dystopian fiction.
NORLEDGE, J., 2023. 'It is a sin to write this': The Prohibition of Language in Dystopia emagazine. 100, 28-31
NORLEDGE, J., 2021. 'Modelling an Unethical Mind'. In: A. BELL, S. BROWSE, A. GIBBONS and D. PEPLOW, eds., Style and Reader Response: Minds, Media, Methods John Benjamins. 43-60 NORLEDGE, J., 2019. 'English Language: Stylistics, 2017' (Review) The Year's Work in English Studies. 98(1), 147-158
NORLEDGE, J., 2018. 'English Language: Stylistics, 2016' (Review) The Year's Work in English Studies. 97(1), 167-177