The Global Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Angela's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Angela
Professor of Modern Literature I use my research interests to create exciting and innovative taught modules for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. I have been working and publishing on the First World War and its aftermath for many years and this has enabled me to teach a range of related modules, including 'War Writing Since 1914' which allows undergraduates to think about war literature and experience throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries, and 'The Legacy of War: Fiction of the 1920s and 1930s' which offers MA students an in depth look at the ways in which the novel in the inter-war years reflects the concerns of society. My new work on Historical Fiction has led to the creation of my 'Re-thinking Historical Fiction' module and my interest in Speculative fiction has enabled me to develop a new module for third year undergraduates on Science Fiction, Fantasy and politics.
Supervised Research Degrees
PhDs- Anna Trussler on the poetry of Ronald Duncan.
- Lucy Durneen, ‘Everything beautiful is Far Away’ (Creative Writing).
- Mary Jacobs ’Politics and Aesthetics in the Literary Work of Sylvia Townsend Warner’.
- Adhraa Al Shammari who is writing her PhD on the influence of First World War poetry and Modernism on the development of Iraqi war poetry of the 1980s.
Teaching
Brave New Worlds: Science fiction, Fantasy and politics.Third year option module.Writing War 1850-1950: The Impact of Modernity
This MA module, again drawing on my primary research interest, explores the impact of modernity on the experience of warfare from c. 1850 to the end of the Second World War. Using a range of written records by both men and women, and examining a variety of genres the module tracks the influence of technological, social, political and cultural developments on representations of war. It examines the way in which the war impacted on society, politics, gender and culture, influencing the production of new literatures. The module is designed thematically, to explore the historical period through a range of concepts and ideas. We read the literature back through the experience of a range of wars, considering the historical contexts and the impact of literary development.
The module considers the texts through critical mediums such as historiography, new historicism and cultural materialism, the avant garde as well as through issues of value and taste and gender and sexuality.
The Legacy of War: Fiction of the 1920s and 19230s
This MA module draws on my more recent research into war and memory in inter-war fiction and explores the impact of the experience of the First World War on literary developments of the 1920s and 1930s, with a primary focus on the novel. It examines the way in which the war impacted on society, politics and culture, influencing the production of new literatures. The module is designed thematically, to explore the historical period through a range of concepts and ideas. We will be reading the literature back through the experience of war and looking forward to the possibility of another war, even more devastating than the first.
Re-thinking Historical Fiction
This second year module is constructed around another of my research interests that builds on my war work to examine the ways in which literature and history have intersected across the centuries. Here students explore the interface between literature and history over several centuries, focusing particularly on literary representations of 'real' events and characters. It uses a selection of key narrative theories relating to the writing of history and historical fictions to also consider the ways in which literary texts may have impacted on the writing of subsequent histories.
Contact Angela
Room 9, 5 Portland Villas, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
+44 1752 585107
A.K.Smith@plymouth.ac.uk
