Dr Fiona Tolan
Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Arts Professional and Social Studies
Email: F.Tolan@ljmu.ac.uk
Telephone: 0151 231 5106
I specialise in contemporary British fiction, contemporary women's writing and the history of second wave feminism. I am happy to supervise PhD students looking to undertake research in these areas.
Degrees
2004, Durham University, UK, PhD in English
2000, University of Sheffield, UK, BA (First Class) in English Literature
Chapters
Tolan F. 2023. A Life Can Be a Manifesto: Connecting Bernadine Evaristo to a History of Feminist Manifestos Tolan F, Carroll R. The Routledge Companion to Literature and Feminism Routledge. Abingdon 978-0367410261 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Tolan F. 2021. Margaret Atwood's Revisions of Classic Texts Howells CA. The Cambridge Companion to Margaret Atwood Cambridge University Press. Cambridge DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2014. 'I am the narrator of this work': Narrative authority in Andrea Levy's The Long Song' Baxter J, James D. Andrea Levy: Contemporary Critical Perspectives :95-108 Bloomsbury. London
Tolan F. 2011. "Was I My Sister's Keeper?": The Blind Assassin and Problematic Feminisms Bouson JB. Margaret Atwood :73-87 Continuum Intl Pub Group 978-0-8264-3062-5
Tolan F. 2008. "He could see her no longer": The negation of femininity through violence in Ian McEwan's fiction Throsby K, Alexander F. Gender and interpersonal violence: language, action and representation :186-199 Palgrave MacMillan. Basingstoke 9780230574014 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2006. British fiction today Tew P, Mengham R. British fiction today :128-138 Continuum International Publishing Group 9780826487315
Tolan F. 2006. Modern North American criticism and theory Wolfreys J. Modern North American criticism and theory :214-223 9780748624515
Tolan F. 2006. Literary theory and criticism Waugh P. Literary theory and criticism :319-339 Oxford University Press, USA 9780199291335
Tolan F. 2006. Identifying the Precious in Zadie Smith’s On Beauty British Fiction Today :128-138
Tolan F. Twenty-first Century Gileads: Feminist Dystopian Fiction after Atwood— The Handmaid’s Tale, Natural Way of Things, The Water Cure and The Testaments. Fisiak T, Ostalska K. Intersectional, Feminist and Non-Binary Approach to Speculative Literature, Film and Art in the 21st Century Routledge
Tolan F, Carroll R. Introduction: Writing Women’s Rights – from Enlightenment to Ecofeminism Tolan FIONA, Carroll RACHEL. The Routledge Companion to Literature and Feminism Routledge. Abingdon DOI
Book review
Tolan F. 2023. Kate Atkinson Contemporary Women's Writing, 17 :235-236 DOI Publisher Url
Books (authored)
Carroll R, Tolan F. 2023. THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO LITERATURE AND FEMINISM :1-480 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2022. The Fiction of Margaret Atwood :1-204 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F, Ferrebe A. 2012. Teaching Gender Palgrave MacMillan 9780230252516
Tolan F, Morton S, Valassopoulos A. 2011. Literature, Migration and the 'War on Terror' Routledge 9780415669290
Tolan F. 2010. New Directions Longman 9781408204771
Tew P, Tolan F, Wilson L. 2008. Writers talk: Conversations with Contemporary British Novelists Continuum Intl Pub Group
Tolan F. 2007. Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction Rodopi Bv Editions 9789042022232
Journal article
Tolan F. 2022. “Work, Gratitude and ‘the Good Immigrant’: rereading Andrea Levy’s Every Light in the House Burnin’ (1994) and Never Far From Nowhere (1996) after the Windrush Scandal.” ARIEL, 53 :25-46 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Tolan F. 2021. The Politics of Cleaning in Doris Lessing’s 1980s Realist Fiction: The Diary of a Good Neighbour (1983) and The Good Terrorist (1985) Critical Quarterly, 63 :82-97 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Tolan F. 2020. "I don't know who I'd be if I wasn't a writer": An Interview with Kamila Shamsie Contemporary Women's Writing, 13 :119-133 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Tolan F. 2019. Clever Girls and the Literature of Women's Upward Mobility ENGLISH, 68 :91-93 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2017. Aging and Subjectivity in Margaret Atwood’s Fiction Contemporary Women's Writing, 11 :336-353 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2017. Aging and Subjectivity in Margaret Atwood's Fiction Contemporary Women's Writing, 11 :336-353 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Tolan F. 2013. Zadie smith's forsterian ethics: White teeth, the autograph man, on beauty Critique - Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 54 :135-146 DOI Publisher Url
Bates C, Roberts G, Tolan F. 2013. Introduction British Journal of Canadian Studies, 26 :165-171 DOI Publisher Url
Murray MA, Tolan F. 2012. Editors' note Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 48 :341-343 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2010. "Painting while Rome burns": Ethics and Aesthetics in Pat Barker's Life Class and Zadie Smith's On Beauty Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 29.2 (Fall 2010)
Tolan F. 2010. Editor's note Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 46 :241-243 DOI Publisher Url
Lionnet F, Spencer R, Keown M, Gagiano A, Warnes C, Gibbs J, Weickgenannt Thiara N, Loh L, Tolan F, Kimber G, Gwynne J, Ireland K. 2010. Reviews Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 46 :225-239 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2010. "Cleaning gives me pleasure": Feminism and Housework in Carol Shield's Unless Australasian Canadian Studies: a multidisciplinary journal for the humanities and social sciences, 28 (2010)
Tolan F. 2009. "Everyone has left something here": The Storyteller-Historian in Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum CRITIQUE-STUDIES IN CONTEMPORARY FICTION, 50 :275-290 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2009. The Psychoanalytic Theme in Margaret Atwood's Fiction: A Response to Burkhard Niederhoff Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate, 19 (2009/10) :92-106
Wilson J, Tolan F, Lawson Welsh S. 2009. Rerouting the postcolonial Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 45 :121-123 DOI Publisher Url
Riemenschneider D, King B, Sharrad P, McLaren J, Alessio D, Tolan F, Biswas A, Mitchell M. 2008. Reviews Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 44 :441-451 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2007. Sucking the blood out of second wave feminism: Postfeminist vampirism in Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride Gothic Studies, 9.2 (2007) DOI Publisher Url
Wilson J, Tolan F. 2007. Editors' note and letters Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 43 :243-247 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F, Rudd A. 2007. Introduction Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 43 :1-2 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2006. Anglophone Canadian literary studies :214-224
Tolan F. 2005. Feminist utopias and questions of liberty: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as critique of second wave feminism Women: a cultural review, 16.1 (Spring 2005) :18-32 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2004. guilt and Innocence in the Community and the Self: An examination of mutual responsibility in Margaret Atwood's Surfacing British Journal of Canadian Studies, 17.1
Tolan F. Situating Canada: the shifting perspective of the post-colonial other in Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride The American Review of Canadian Studies, 35.3 (Autumn 2005) :453-470 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. To Leave and to return: Frustrated departures and female quest in Alice Munro's Runaway Contemporary Women's Writing, 4.3 (2010) :161-178 DOI Publisher Url
Other
Tolan F. 2017. "i could say that, too": An Interview with Margaret Atwood Contemporary Women's Writing, 11 :452-464 DOI Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2010. Review: Margaret Atwood and the Female Bildungsroman The Review of English Studies, 61 :490-492 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Tolan F. 2010. Review: Liminal Spaces: The Double Art of Carol Shields BRITISH JOURNAL OF CANADIAN STUDIES, 23 :144-145 Author Url
Editorial/letter to the editor
Tolan F. 2017. Introduction Contemporary Women's Writing, 11 :291-296 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Tolan F. 2015. Editors note Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 51 :503-505 DOI Publisher Url
External PGR examinations performed:
University of Reading, PhD, An intertextual reading of female characters in Margaret Atwood’s work. 2021
Murdoch University, Australia, PhD, The Place Between: Time as Palimpsest in the Reading and Writing of Women's Fiction. 2018
University of Gloucestershire, MA by Research, Breaking Boundaries: Gender and Genre in Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam Trilogy and The Heart Goes Last.. 2017
Editorial boards:
Contemporary Women's Writing, Reviews Editor, https://academic.oup.com/cww. 2020
Margaret Atwood Studies, International Advisory Board. 2010
Journal of POstcolonial Writing, Associate Editor, http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rjpw. 2005
Conference organisation:
Beyond Western Eyes: South Asian Women’s Writing in Contemporary Contexts (International symposium, Liverpool John Moores University), Organiser. 2019
"Where is Here Now? Canadian Literary Study in the Twenty-first Century", held at the Eccles Centre at the British Library., organiser. 2012
External committees:
Contemporary Women's Writing Association Executive Committee, Contemporary Women's Writing Association, Membership Secretary, http://www.the-cwwa.org/. 2011
British Association of Canadian Studies Literature Group, British Association of Canadian Studies, Co-Convenor, http://www.canadian-studies.info/. 2009
British Association of Canadian Studies Board, British Association of Canadian Studies, Board Member, http://www.canadian-studies.info/. 2008