Inhospitable Modernisms: The Ecological Value of Modernist Alienation (INMODERN)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Literature Languages & Culture
Abstract
INMODERN analyses the depiction of inhospitable environments in the works of four modernist authors - James Joyce (1882-1941), Jean Rhys (1890-1979), Nella Larsen (1891-1964), and Djuna Barnes (1892-1982). The project will link modernist alienation to the concept of inhospitality, considered as both social exclusion and environmental hostility. Drawing on recent scholarship in modernist studies, literary theory, and the environmental humanities, INMODERN will demonstrate how modernist alienation is not simply an existential condition but an effect of various kinds of oppression contributing to the creation of social and natural inhospitable environments. The project claims that literary modernism's unique archive of feelings (i.e. frustration, disaffection, hesitation...) is essential in uncovering the estrangement of certain categories of individuals from social contexts and broader environments. By focusing on the ways in which characters at the fringe of society adapt to and struggle with an inhospitable world, INMODERN will highlight the challenges often entailed in the interaction between subjects and broader environments and will assess the relevance of modernism and modernity in the context of the present-day ecological crisis. INMODERN broadens the current discourse on resilience and sustainability, looking back at the early twentieth century as a time of pivotal change in which today's generalized ecological crisis started to take shape. By showing how natural, social, and individual ecologies are interconnected, the project will develop an important framework to rethink issues of development, progress, and adaptability.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Robert Bateman (Principal Investigator) | |
| Alberto Tondello (Fellow) |
Publications
Tondello A
(2024)
The 'Wilderness of Inhabitation': Notion of oikos in Ulysses
in Dublin James Joyce Journal
| Description | The primary goal of the award was to support research aimed at producing a scholarly monograph on the theme of inhospitality in selected modernist texts. During the award period, important progress was made on the topic, with substantial time devoted to the production of novel analysis of texts by Djuna Barnes, James Joyce, Nella Larsen, and Jean Rhys. These texts were read through the lens of Jacques Derrida's newly published and translated seminars on hospitality, delivered between 1995 and 1997. This interdisciplinary approach guaranteed the originality of the findings. With a full draft now completed for each of the four chapters that will form the monograph, I will submit a book proposal in the coming months to build on these research outcomes. |
| Exploitation Route | The monograph that will be produced will assist undergraduates, postgraduates, research academics, and teaching staff in better understanding the connections between modernism, sexuality, and environmental matters. |
| Sectors | Education Environment Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | The findings of the award have been largely disseminated through regular participation in national and international conferences iacross Europe and North America. The analysis of literary texts through Jacques Derrida's theories of hospitality has sparked a renewed interest in some of his lesser-analysed texts. Similarly, the focus on overlooked modernist authors such as Djuna Baarns and Nella Larsen has made a significal contribution to the critical study of these authors. In March 2023, the organization of a seminar at the ACLA convention in Montreal on the theme of hospitality brought together international researchers and resulted in the production of a series of research papers on the subject, delivered during the three-day conference. Some of the findings and theoretical frameworks central to the research project have informed the development of university curricula, where they have been integrated into courses on modernist literature and critical theory. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Affect Reading Group |
| Organisation | University of Bern |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Ongoing reading group in partnership with the English Department at the University of Bern. The approach to affect theory taken in my research has guided the section of texts to consider during the sessions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The reading group explores a selection of texts on the topic of "affect theory" that have been beneficial for the shaping of my findings. |
| Impact | A conference to be held at the University of Bern is in program for the year 2026. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Media and Aesthetic Platform |
| Organisation | University of Bern |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | My expertise in the environmental humanities helped to inform the subsection interested in an eco-critical approach to media and aesthetics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As an interdisciplinary research platform across several humanities departments, the partnership was helpful to gain insight into different approaches to issues of form, reading practices, and theoretical texts. |
| Impact | Guest lecture by Dr Yasna Bozhkova (Université Paris Nanterre) at the University of Bern on 7 December 2023. Title of the guest lecture: '"Crucial Betweens": Dialogic Intermediality in Ben Lerner's Artistic Collaborations'. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Contribution to FutureLearn online course 'How to Read a Novel' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Writing of the entry 'Environment as Setting' as part of the online open course 'How to Read a Novel'. 62,755 people are currently enrolled in the course. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/how-to-read-a-novel |
| Description | Guest lecture at the University of Fribourg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invitation to give a 60' guest lecture on 'Ecocriticism' as part of the MA in Critical Theory at the University of Fribourg (Switzerlend). About 80 postgraduate students were present. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Guest lecture within the MA course 'The Sociolinguistics of Waste' at the University of Bern |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Guest lectures introducing 20 MA students to representations of waste in literary studies through close readings of two modernist short stories and engagement with theoretical texts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | James Joyce Summer School Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of ongoing research at the 2023 Dublin James Joyce Summer School. The international, week-long school was attended by 20 undergraduate and postgraduate students and by 20 members of the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | http://www.joycesummerschool.ie/index.html |
| Description | Literary approaches to the Environmental Humanities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This one-day workshop was addressed to postgraduate students from a range of institutions to provide them with concrete examples of the ways in which research in the Environmental Humanities takes shape and is carried out. It explored some of the core questions at the heart of ecocritical research and considered their resonances with the current ecological crisis and socio-political state of precarity. The workshop consisted of two keynote lectures delivered by Rachel Murray, Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Bristol, and Crispin Thurlow, Professor of Language and Communication at the University of Bern. A more interactive session on methodology followed the second talk in the afternoon. About 15 postgraduate students attended the workshop. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Speaker at the 2025 Trieste James Joyce Summer School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invitation to deliver a lecture at the 2025 Trieste James Joyce Summer School. About 80 postgraduate, graduate students, and members of the public attend the summer school. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |