Student profiles
Alice Burns
Twitter: @Alice_Burnsx
Email: a.l.burns@liverpool.ac.uk
Thesis Title
Institution
Supervisors
Professor Gill Rudd
Professor Paul Baines
Research Summary
Alice’s thesis investigates the relationship between literature and place in the private writings of Anne Lister and Beatrix Heelis (née) Potter. This study looks at both women’s conception of rural and agricultural spaces (and what those terms might mean) through their journals, diaries and letters, tracing their writings of place throughout the nineteenth and into the early twentieth century. In doing so, this project aims to examine more closely the ways in which land is valued and experienced by female landowners during these periods. With a literary critical focus, Alice seeks to interrogate Lister’s and Heelis’ attitudes towards agency, authority and stewardship found in the extensive archives of their writings.
Research Interests
Ecocriticism, 19th-20th Century Literature, Female Landowners, Land and Literature, Diarists.
Publications
Anne Lister Society Conference, 2023. Paper Given: ‘Thinking, as I often do in travelling, of Shibden & alterations there – planting – making a road traversing along Bairstow’: Anne Lister and the Gardens of Shibden Hall.
Women and Gardens Conference, 2023 (in partnership with English Heritage). Paper given: ‘‘Thinking, as I often do in travelling, of Shibden & alterations there – planting – making a road traversing along Bairstow’: Anne Lister and the Gardens of Shibden Hall.’
Association of University Presses Conference, 2023. Paper given: ‘Internships: Strengthening Ties Between University Presses and Their Institutions.’
ASLE-UK Conference, 2023. Paper given: ‘The Transformation of Beatrix Potter: Author, Landowner, Conservationist.’