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  • Contact Info
Publications in VIVO
 

Sheffield, Elisabeth

Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • My primary interest is in writing novels. In both my creative and critical work, there are two driving concerns. The first is the problem of self and other (the “other” including not just the feminine and the foreigner, but also writing, death and absence). The second is the relation of representation to sex and gender ideology and “things as they are.” That is, how do our depictions of reality (in literature, and in language in general) work to determine what we perceive as “true” about men, about women, about human nature and sexual identity? I am interested in language as a material and medium that translates and shapes our experience of the world. I am also interested in language’s potential to create “worlds”—that is, new linguistic spaces that leave the reader disoriented and perhaps strangely energized upon their return to quotidian discourse.

keywords

  • Creative writing (ficiton), contemporary American, British, and Irish literature, postmodern and innovative literature, Irish modernism, Joyce and Beckett, poststructuralist and feminist theory

Publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • ENGL 3041 - Studies in Fiction and Poetry
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022
    Examines literary forms and themes with special emphasis on issues related to the craft of poetry and fiction. This course is taught in conjunction with visiting lectures by practicing writers. Does not count as Creative Writing workshop credit.
  • ENGL 3051 - Intermediate Fiction Workshop
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022
    Intermediate course in fiction writing. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
  • ENGL 4051 - Advanced Fiction Workshop
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2022
    Advanced course in fiction writing. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
  • ENGL 4830 - Honors Thesis
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023
    Students accepted to English Departmental Honors are enrolled in this course.
  • ENGL 5239 - Fiction Workshop
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022
    Designed to give students time and impetus to generate fiction and discussion of it in an atmosphere at once supportive and critically serious. Enrollment requires admission to the Creative Writing Graduate Program or the instructor's approval of an application manuscript. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours.
  • ENGL 5299 - Studies in Fiction
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2022
    Addresses contemporary fiction, and/or literary works important for contemporary fiction. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours.
  • ENGL 6949 - Master's Degree Candidate
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2019
    -
  • ENGL 6959 - Master's Thesis
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024
    -

Background

International Activities

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