Tristanne Connolly

Professor
Tristanne Connolly smiling and posing in front of a black background

Department of English

PhD, King's College, University of Cambridge

MA, McMaster University

BA Honours, McMaster University

P: 519-884-8111 x 28244

E: tjconnolly@uwaterloo.ca

Office: SH 2203

Biography

I鈥檓 originally from Hamilton, and I did my BA and MA at McMaster, majoring in English with a minor concentration in Religious Studies for both degrees. As an undergraduate I fell in love with medieval literature, especially Old English, and had already long been more than half in love with Romantic poetry, so I decided to do one graduate degree on each. My MA thesis was on medieval dream visions, and I pursued my PhD in British Romantic literature at King's College, Cambridge, where I was an acolyte in the beautiful Gothic chapel. I wrote my dissertation on William Blake鈥檚 central image, 鈥渢he human form divine鈥.

I came to St Jerome鈥檚 University in 2004, after being Assistant Professor at Butler University in Indiana, and before that, Instructor at Auburn University in Alabama. At those universities, I taught both composition and literature courses, and enjoyed the opportunity to include a broad range of texts, from the Vedas to聽The Getaway. At St. Jerome鈥檚 University the courses I teach include Sex and Marriage in Literature, and Editing Literary Works, as well as Literature of the Romantic Period, and the Jane Austen course. I supervise graduate students working on Romantic-era texts and/or the relations between gender, sexuality, medicine, and writing. I also get to indulge in Canadian literature here, as I鈥檓 a poetry editor for聽The New Quarterly, and I co-organize the Reading Series at St. Jerome鈥檚 University.

Publications

The content that follows may only represent a portion of the Faculty member鈥檚 work.

Books

Beastly Blake, co-edited with Helen P. Bruder. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

Canadian Music and American Culture: Get Away From Me, co-edited with Tomoyuki Iino. Pop Music, Culture and Identity Series. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

British Romanticism in European Perspective, co-edited with Steve Clark. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Sexy Blake, co-edited with Helen P. Bruder. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

William Blake and the Body. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

Chapters

"Human grapes in the wine-presses: vegetable life and the violence of cultivation in Blake's Milton." Wild Romanticism, ed. Markus Poetzsch and Cassandra Falke. Routledge, 2021.

鈥溾楾errible Thunders鈥 and 鈥楨normous Joys鈥: Blake鈥檚 Visions and James Graham鈥檚 Celestial Bed鈥. Blake鈥檚 Gothic Imagination ed. Christopher Bundock and Elizabeth Effinger. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018.

鈥溾楳ean, Mean Pride鈥: Rush鈥檚 Critique of American Cool鈥. Canadian Music and American Culture: Get Away From Me

鈥溾楳istaken for Natives of the Soil鈥: Translation and Erasmus Darwin鈥檚 Loves of the Plants鈥. British Romanticism in European Perspective

鈥溾楬is Stormy Bed鈥: Blake, Sex and Electricity鈥. Romantic Bodyscapes ed. Gerold Sedlmayr.聽 Studien zur Englischen Romantik series. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2015.

Articles

Connolly, Tristanne. "The Eternal Lettuce." VALA: The Journal of the Blake Society, no. 3: 89-92. (2022).

鈥淔lowery Porn: Form and Desire in Erasmus Darwin鈥檚 The Loves of the Plants鈥. Romantic Evolutions special issue ed. Joshua D. Lambier. Literature Compass 13.10 (2016).

鈥溾楧iverse Little Pictures鈥: Erasmus Darwin鈥檚 Loves of the Plants and Isabella Rosselini鈥檚 Green Porno as Interactive Media鈥. Poetica 79 (2013).聽

Others

鈥淎 Net We Throw Over the World: An Interview with Steve Noyes鈥 The New Quarterly 141 (Winter 2017).

鈥淔alling In Love with Bad Poetry鈥澛The New Quarterly聽129 (Winter 2013).

Courses taught

ENGL 200A: English Literatures 1

ENGL 200B: English Literatures 2

ENGL 208N: Sex in Literature

ENGL 305B: The Age of Beowulf

ENGL 325: Austen

ENGL 371: Editing Literary Works

ENGL 430A: Literature of the Romantic Period 1

ENGL 430B: Literature of the Romantic Period 2

ENGL 725: Studies in Romanticism [Topic: The (Non-)Human in Blake鈥檚 Visual and Verbal Texts]

Areas of graduate supervision

British Romantic literature and culture (especially poetry)

William Blake

Erasmus Darwin

Gender and sexuality

Medical writing and illustration

Literature and science

Religion and literature

Grants, fellowships and awards

Grants

University of Manchester Research Networking Fund Grant for international collaboration in Tokyo on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Medicine (2013)

CIHR Operating Grant, 鈥淐ity Life and Well-Being: The Grey Zone of Health and Illness鈥. Primary investigator: Alan Blum (2006-2011)

Government of Canada Department of Foreign Affairs Cultural Personalities Exchange Program grant for lecture tour of Japan (2006)

St. Jerome鈥檚 University Faculty Research Grant (2005, 2012)

IODE War Memorial Postgraduate Scholarship (1998-1999)

SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (1995-1997, declined; 1998-1999)

Commonwealth Scholarship (1995-1998)聽

Fellowships

Corresponding Fellow, The English Association (2016-present)

Visiting Fellow, Institute of American and Canadian Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo (2009-present)

Visiting Scholar, Department of Contemporary Literary Studies, University of Tokyo (2007, 2008)聽

Awards

Distinguished Teacher Award, University of 蓝莓视频 (2010)

Professional, administrative and community service

The content that follows may only represent a portion of the Faculty member鈥檚 work.聽

Professional

Series editor, with Steve Clark and Jason Whittaker, Pop Music, Culture and Identity book series, Palgrave Macmillan (2012-present)

Advisory board member, Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly (2011-辫谤别蝉别苍迟)听

Administrative

St. Jerome鈥檚 University

Chair, English Department (2015-2018)

President, Academic Staff Association (2015-2017, 2018)

Grievance Officer, Academic Staff Association (2013-2014)

Treasurer, Academic Staff Association (2009)

Liaison for The New Quarterly: Canadian Writers and Writing literary magazine (2007-2016)

Co-organizer of The Reading Series (2006-present)聽

University of 蓝莓视频

Member, Undergraduate Committee, English Department (2007-2010)

Senator, Senate Council (2006-2010)

Member, Undergraduate Affairs Group, (2005-2006; 2008-2010)

Member, Eighteenth-Century and Nineteenth-Century British Literature Graduate Field

Examination Committees (2005-present)聽

Community

Editorial board member (Poetry), The New Quarterly: Canadian Writers and Writing (2007-present)