Louisa Hadley earned her PhD from The University of Edinburgh in 2005. Her thesis focused on the contemporary genre of neo-Victorian fiction, considering the intersections between the contemporary, postmodern, and Victorian moments while remaining grounded in the historical context of Victorian narrative forms. Dr. Hadley has developed this interest, focusing on how contemporary writers negotiate their relationship to the Victorian past through historical narratives. She has published various journal articles in this area as well as the monograph Neo-Victorian Fiction and Historical Narrative: The Victorians and Us (Palgrave, 2010).

More recently, she has published “Illegitimate Fictions: The Illegitimate Child in Neo-Victorian Fiction” in ANGLISTIK: International Journal of English Studies, which examines narratives of illegitimacy in neo-Victorian fiction. She also has a forthcoming article on postcolonial rewrites of Dickens’s Great Expectations which will be published as part of the collection Unsettling Dickens: Progress, Process, and Change in Spring 2016. Louisa’s current project combines her research interests with her teaching practice as she is developing an article on teaching neo-Victorian fiction, which is directly correlated to the ALC course The Victorians Now that she is teaching in Winter 2016. This article will be published as part of Victorian Literature in the 21st Century: A Guide to Pedagogy.

Louisa Hadley’s research also examines the impact of Thatcher and Thatcherism on British literature and culture from the 1980s to the present. Her most recent publication in this area is the book Responding to Margaret Thatcher’s Death (Palgrave Pivot, 2014), which problematises the division of responses into respectful/disrespectful, legitimate/illegitimate, official/unofficial. Through analysis of social media posts, obituaries, political tributes, cartoons, and music, this project highlights how responses to Thatcher’s death blurred the boundaries between the public and the private and the extent to which these responses are implicated in gender politics.

Contributions to Dawson’s Community:

Louisa Hadley currently serves on the ISEP committee and on the Diagnostic Imaging Program Committee

Publications

Hadley, Louisa. Responding to Margaret Thatcher’s Death: #Nowthatcherisdead. Palgrave Pivot, 2014.

Hadley, Louisa. Neo-Victorian Fiction and Historical Narrative: The Victorians and Us. Palgrave MacMillan, 2010

Hadley, Louisa and Elizabeth Ho. (Eds.). Thatcher & After: Margaret Thatcher and Her Afterlife in Contemporary Culture. Palgrave MacMillan, 2010.

Hadley, Louisa.  The Fiction of A.S Byatt. Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.