PhD student research interests
HANNAH PRIEST
Thesis title: Monstrous Subjectivity in Middle English and Anglo-Norman Verse
Research project: My research examines identity construction and maintenance in the romance poetry of medieval England. I am interested in the strategies used in these texts to define and explore concepts of the 'self'. In particular, I am looking at how sex, violence and magical transformation are used both to define and to undermine the chivalric subject. My thesis addresses the question of 'monstrous subjectivity', both in a consideration of the characterization of 'monsters' (such as werewolves and giants), and in an examination of the boundaries of the human subject. Using feminist and postmodern theories of the body, as well as medieval writings on corporeality and gender, my research seeks to explore the multiple, and sometimes contradictory, ways in which the gendered subject is understood in Middle English and Anglo-Norman romance.
Other interests: I have given papers at a number of conferences throughout the UK, and have written a chapter for a forthcoming collection on Monsters and the Monstrous, to be published by Inter-Disciplinary Press. I am on the editorial committee of the forthcoming Monsters and the Monstrous journal, also published by Inter-Disciplinary Press. Inspired by the Anglo-Norman lais of Marie de France, I am currently working on a fiction project for young adults. I am a published poet, and run Creative Writing workshops for a number of organizations.