Joan Passey
College: College of Humanities
Discipline: English
Department: English
My current research is supported by the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership, and as such, is co-supervised between the universities of Exeter and Bristol. I am currently based part time in Bristol, and part time on the Penryn Campus. My thesis is working towards identifying a Cornish Gothic literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, focusing on works by Bram Stoker, Thomas Hardy, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Wilkie Collins. Part of my research involves the public reception of the construction of the Royal Albert Bridge, and representations of Cornishness from inside and outside the Duchy. This project is being supervised by Professor Nick Groom and Professor David Punter.
My research interests include Gothic literature from the eighteenth century to the present day, with a particular focus on Ann Radcliffe, Sarah Wilkinson, Bret Easton Ellis, and Chuck Palahniuk. Additional fields of interest include regional literatures and identities, landscape and place as figure and text, and nineteenth century representations and interpretations of the figure of the Celt. These coincide with a lifetime of enthusiasm for Point Horror, Goosebumps, and representations of horror and terror in children's literature.
I completed my BA (Hons) in English at the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus in 2014, and my M.St. English 1700-1830 at Oriel College, Oxford in the summer 2015.
I am currently in the process of amassing anything Gothic set in Cornwall, so please get in contact with any recommendations that come to mind, from any time period!
