School of Critical Studies

Professor Helen Stoddart

  • Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature (English Literature)

telephone: 0141 330 5851
email: Helen.Stoddart@glasgow.ac.uk

School Of Critical Studies

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815

Research interests

Research interests

  • Post-1945 and Contemporary fiction
  • Circus History and Representation
  • Cinema
  • Literature and Urban Spaces

Biography

Helen Stoddart graduated from Glasgow University with an M.A. in English Literature and Film and Television Studies before going on to the University of Reading for her Ph.D on Gothic fictions. Prior to joining the University of Glasgow in 2009, she worked at Keele University.

Her research research lies primarily in the post-1945 and contemporary novel but she also has strong interests in film and circus. She has produced a range of publications on subjects such as Muriel Spark, Federico Fellini, Isak Dinesen, tattoos, Angela Carter, film authorship theory, A.L. Kennedy, ghost stories, Charles Dickens, early cinema and Wim Wenders. Her monograph, Rings of Desire: Circus History and Representation (2000) is part of an ongoing interest in the history and representation of circus bodies, an interest that is picked up in her next book, the Routledge Guide to Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (2007).

Her current research projects are:

  • a book length study of Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet
  • A co-edited (with Prof Gerry Carruthers) collection of essays on Muriel Spark (due 2020)
  • a study of Scottish PEN International (funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh Small Grant of (£3370)

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2022 | 2020 | 2015 | 2011 | 2010 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000
Number of items: 18.

2024

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2024) Realism, postmodernism and authenticity in the contemporary circus novel. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, (doi: 10.1080/00111619.2024.2371960) (Early Online Publication)

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2024) Circus, the aesthetics of authenticity, animals and literary representation. In: Siedlecka, Sylwia (ed.) Circusiana. Theater Institute Zbigniew Raszewskiego: Warsaw. (Accepted for Publication)

2022

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2022) A history of the Scottish P.E.N. organization, Part 1: 1927-1949. Studies in Scottish Literature, 48(2), pp. 148-167. (doi: 10.51221/suc.ssl.2023.48.2.12)

Carruthers, Gerard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (Eds.) (2022) The Crooked Dividend: Essays on Muriel Spark. Series: Occasional papers (Association for Scottish Literature). Association for Scottish Literary Studies: Glasgow. ISBN 9781908980335

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2022) Muriel Spark and the ‘Hired Grammarians’. In: Carruthers, Gerard and Stoddart, Helen (eds.) The Crooked Dividend: Essays on Muriel Spark. Series: Occasional papers (Association for Scottish Literature) (24). Association for Scottish Literary Studies: Glasgow, pp. 161-179. ISBN 9781908980335

2020

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2020) Contemporary Circus Literature: Authenticity and Illusion in Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. In: Fuchs, Margarete, Jürgens, Anna-Sophie and Schuster, Jörg (eds.) Manegenkünste: Zirkus als ästhetisches Modell. Series: Edition Kulturwissenschaft (162). transcript Verlag: Bielefeld, pp. 7-22. ISBN 9783837641486

2015

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2015) The circus and early cinema: gravity, narrative and machines. Studies in Popular Culture, 38(1),

2011

Stoddart, H. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2011) Paula Rego, Jane Eyre and the re-enchantment of Bluebeard. In: McAra, C. and Calvin, D. (eds.) Anti-Tales: The Uses of Disenchantment. Cambridge Scholars: Cambridge, pp. 130-139. ISBN 9781443828697

2010

Stoddart, H. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2010) Suspending the instant. EXIT, 39, pp. 16-39.

2007

Stoddart, H. (2007) Angela Carter's Nights at the circus. Series: Routledge guides to literature.. Routledge: London. ISBN 9780415350129

2005

Stoddart, H. (2005) "Tongues of bone": A.L. Kennedy and the problem of articulation. In: Bentley, N. (ed.) British Fiction of the 1990s. Routledge: London, pp. 135-150. ISBN 9780415342575

Stoddart, H. (2005) Circus of horrors: gothic orientalism. PASE Papers in Literature and Culture, 14,

2004

Stoddart, H. (2004) "The precautions of nervous people are infectious": Sheridan LeFanu's symptomatic Gothic. In: Botting, F. and Townshend, D. (eds.) Gothic: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies. Series: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies, 3. Routledge: London, pp. 97-116. ISBN 9780415251150

Stoddart, H. (2004) Animals in sport and entertainment. Reference Librarian, 86, pp. 25-36.

2003

Stoddart, H. (2003) Horror, circus and orientalism. In: Smith, A. and Hughes, W. (eds.) Empire and the Gothic : the Politics of Genre. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 118-135. ISBN 9780333984055

2002

Stoddart, H. (2002) Subtle, wasted traces: Fellini and the circus. In: Burke, F. and Waller, M.R. (eds.) Federico Fellini : Contemporary Perspectives. Series: Toronto Italian studies. University of Toronto Press: Toronto, ON, pp. 47-61. ISBN 9780802006967

2001

Stoddart, H. (2001) The passion of New Eve and the cinema: hysteria, spectacle, masquerade. In: Botting, F. (ed.) The Gothic. Series: Essays and studies 2001 (54). D.S. Brewer: Cambridge, pp. 111-132. ISBN 9780859916196

2000

Stoddart, H. (2000) Rings of desire: circus, history and representation. Manchester University Press: Manchester. ISBN 9780719052347

This list was generated on Fri Oct 9 08:14:26 2026 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books
Number of items: 18.

Articles

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2024) Realism, postmodernism and authenticity in the contemporary circus novel. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, (doi: 10.1080/00111619.2024.2371960) (Early Online Publication)

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2022) A history of the Scottish P.E.N. organization, Part 1: 1927-1949. Studies in Scottish Literature, 48(2), pp. 148-167. (doi: 10.51221/suc.ssl.2023.48.2.12)

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2015) The circus and early cinema: gravity, narrative and machines. Studies in Popular Culture, 38(1),

Stoddart, H. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2010) Suspending the instant. EXIT, 39, pp. 16-39.

Stoddart, H. (2005) Circus of horrors: gothic orientalism. PASE Papers in Literature and Culture, 14,

Stoddart, H. (2004) Animals in sport and entertainment. Reference Librarian, 86, pp. 25-36.

Books

Stoddart, H. (2007) Angela Carter's Nights at the circus. Series: Routledge guides to literature.. Routledge: London. ISBN 9780415350129

Stoddart, H. (2000) Rings of desire: circus, history and representation. Manchester University Press: Manchester. ISBN 9780719052347

Book Sections

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2024) Circus, the aesthetics of authenticity, animals and literary representation. In: Siedlecka, Sylwia (ed.) Circusiana. Theater Institute Zbigniew Raszewskiego: Warsaw. (Accepted for Publication)

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2022) Muriel Spark and the ‘Hired Grammarians’. In: Carruthers, Gerard and Stoddart, Helen (eds.) The Crooked Dividend: Essays on Muriel Spark. Series: Occasional papers (Association for Scottish Literature) (24). Association for Scottish Literary Studies: Glasgow, pp. 161-179. ISBN 9781908980335

Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2020) Contemporary Circus Literature: Authenticity and Illusion in Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. In: Fuchs, Margarete, Jürgens, Anna-Sophie and Schuster, Jörg (eds.) Manegenkünste: Zirkus als ästhetisches Modell. Series: Edition Kulturwissenschaft (162). transcript Verlag: Bielefeld, pp. 7-22. ISBN 9783837641486

Stoddart, H. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (2011) Paula Rego, Jane Eyre and the re-enchantment of Bluebeard. In: McAra, C. and Calvin, D. (eds.) Anti-Tales: The Uses of Disenchantment. Cambridge Scholars: Cambridge, pp. 130-139. ISBN 9781443828697

Stoddart, H. (2005) "Tongues of bone": A.L. Kennedy and the problem of articulation. In: Bentley, N. (ed.) British Fiction of the 1990s. Routledge: London, pp. 135-150. ISBN 9780415342575

Stoddart, H. (2004) "The precautions of nervous people are infectious": Sheridan LeFanu's symptomatic Gothic. In: Botting, F. and Townshend, D. (eds.) Gothic: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies. Series: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies, 3. Routledge: London, pp. 97-116. ISBN 9780415251150

Stoddart, H. (2003) Horror, circus and orientalism. In: Smith, A. and Hughes, W. (eds.) Empire and the Gothic : the Politics of Genre. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 118-135. ISBN 9780333984055

Stoddart, H. (2002) Subtle, wasted traces: Fellini and the circus. In: Burke, F. and Waller, M.R. (eds.) Federico Fellini : Contemporary Perspectives. Series: Toronto Italian studies. University of Toronto Press: Toronto, ON, pp. 47-61. ISBN 9780802006967

Stoddart, H. (2001) The passion of New Eve and the cinema: hysteria, spectacle, masquerade. In: Botting, F. (ed.) The Gothic. Series: Essays and studies 2001 (54). D.S. Brewer: Cambridge, pp. 111-132. ISBN 9780859916196

Edited Books

Carruthers, Gerard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Stoddart, Helen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-1815 (Eds.) (2022) The Crooked Dividend: Essays on Muriel Spark. Series: Occasional papers (Association for Scottish Literature). Association for Scottish Literary Studies: Glasgow. ISBN 9781908980335

This list was generated on Fri Oct 9 08:14:26 2026 BST.

Supervision

  • Floate, Shona
    'Remaking the World in the Image of the Queer’: Rethinking ‘normative’ motherhood
  • Forster, Caitlin
    Representing Polycrisis and Envisioning Collective Futures in Contemporary Autofiction
  • Gangstad, Silje Friberg
    Tracing the Surreal in Ali Smith's Short Fiction
  • Rugarli, Margherita
    Unmaking the Marriage Plot: Divorce and the Reconfiguration of Intimacy in the Contemporary Novel

Additional information

She is currently head of English Literature.


Helen Stoddart Public Image 2