糖心原创

Department of American and Canadian Studies

 

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Ruth Maxey

Associate Professor of Modern American Literature, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

I graduated with a BA in English Language and Literature from Hertford College, Oxford in 1996 and then worked as a journalist and press officer in London before entering academia. I received my MPhil in American Literature from New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), Cambridge in 2003 and my PhD in British Asian and South Asian American Literature from University College London in 2008. I have taught at the 糖心原创 since 2006.

Expertise Summary

My research interests lie in contemporary American fiction, Asian North American cultural production, life-writing, and disability studies.

Teaching Summary

I teach undergraduate (UG) courses on 20th-century American literature, contemporary US fiction, and North American regionalism. I also run a UG/postgraduate (PG) module on ethnic and new immigrant… read more

Research Summary

I published my second monograph, Understanding Bharati Mukherjee, with the University of South Carolina Press in 2019. It was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2021.

My collection India at 70: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, co-edited with Paul McGarr, was published by Routledge in 2019 and my edited book, 21st Century US Historical Fiction: Contemporary Responses to the Past (Palgrave), appeared in 2020.

I have edited and introduced a critical edition of The Collected Short Stories of Bharati Mukherjee, published by Temple University Press in 2023.

My most recent book is Power Plays in Transnational American Fiction: Gender, Race and Genre, a volume of essays in honour of Judie Newman, co-edited with Daniel Robert King and under contract with Bloomsbury.

Selected Publications

  • MAXEY, R., 2019. Understanding Bharati Mukherjee University of South Carolina Press; named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2021.
  • MAXEY, R., ed., 2020. 21st Century US Historical Fiction: Contemporary Responses to the Past Palgrave.
  • MAXEY, R., 2023. Comparative American Studies: An International Journal. 20(1), 79-94
  • MAXEY, R., 2023. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. 54(1), 55-71

I teach undergraduate (UG) courses on 20th-century American literature, contemporary US fiction, and North American regionalism. I also run a UG/postgraduate (PG) module on ethnic and new immigrant writing in the United States from 1890 to the present day. In the past I have delivered a UG/PG course on Asian American literature and I have contributed to the MA American Studies and the UG module English Literature in European and American contexts.

I have supervised numerous dissertations at BA, MA and PhD level. I would welcome applications from prospective MA and PhD candidates interested in researching recent and contemporary American literature; Asian North American writing and cultural production, especially South Asian American and/or Canadian works; life-writing; immigrant literature; and representations of disability in literature.

I find teaching very rewarding and valuable and it is central to my academic role at the 糖心原创. My educational philosophy is humanistic. I draw on both student- and teacher-centred approaches, but with a greater emphasis on the former, striving to develop autonomous, active learning by making each student feel respected as a unique individual. In May 2016, I received a 糖心原创 Staff Oscar for Teaching - Best Feedback (Runner up). I have since been nominated for a Staff Oscar for Teaching - Most Inspiring (2018) and Teaching - Best All-Rounder (2019) and for a Lord Dearing Award for high levels of commitment to teaching and learning (2024).

Past Research

My research has principally focused upon Asian American literature and film, especially Bharati Mukherjee; British Asian writing and cinema; transatlantic cross-currents; postcolonial literature; and contemporary US fiction.

In this work I have considered conceptions of home and return, and travel and migration; whiteness, racial mixing, and mixed-race identity; food and eating in an immigrant context; narrative voice; intertextuality and literary legacies; and historical fiction as a genre. I have also explored American and postcolonial life-writing.

Future Research

I am currently at work on my third monograph which explores neurodivergent life writing in the United States.

  • MAXEY, R., 2026. "Performing 'yellow vernacular' in The Year of the Dragon". In: A. WAN and M. YOUNG, eds., Interventions: Asian American Rhetorical Activity across Time and Space Modern Language Association of America. (In Press.)
  • MAXEY, R. and D.R. KING, eds., 2026. Power Plays in Transnational American Fiction: Gender, Race and Genre - Essays in Honor of Judie Newman Bloomsbury. (In Press.)
  • MAXEY, R. and D.R. KING, 2026. "Reimagining Transnational American Fiction". In: R. MAXEY and D.R. KING, eds., Power Plays in Transnational American Fiction: Gender, Race and Genre - Essays in Honor of Judie Newman Bloomsbury. (In Press.)
  • MAXEY, R., 2026. "Pandemic Documentary and Graphic Narrative: Race, Disability, and the Chromatic Language of 'In/Vulnerable: Inequity in the Time of Pandemic'" Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. (In Press.)
  • MAXEY, R., 2025. "Aging, illness and storytelling in Sigrid Nunez鈥檚 What Are You Going Through". In: L.W. MAZZENO and S. NORTON, eds., Fiction and Poetry to Help Us Age: Criticism and Reflections by Professors of Literature Palgrave. 43-58
  • MAXEY, R., 2023. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. 54(1), 55-71
  • MAXEY, R., 2023. Comparative American Studies: An International Journal. 20(1), 79-94
  • MAXEY, R., ed., 2023. The Collected Short Stories of Bharati Mukherjee Temple University Press.
  • MAXEY, R., 2023. 鈥溾�楽trays... who... never really become part of life鈥�: Human and nonhuman vulnerability in Sigrid Nunez鈥檚 The Friend鈥�. In: P. P. PICIUCCO, ed., Contemporary Vulnerabilities Nuova Trauben. 179-193
  • MAXEY, R., 2023. "Positioning Bharati Mukherjee's Short Stories". In: R. MAXEY, ed., The Collected Short Stories of Bharati Mukherjee Temple University Press. xiii-xxix
  • MAXEY, R., 2022. Postcolonial Text. 17(4),
  • MAXEY, R., ed., 2020. 21st Century US Historical Fiction: Contemporary Responses to the Past Palgrave.
  • MAXEY, R., 2020. 鈥淯S Historical Fiction since 2000鈥�. In: R. MAXEY, ed., 21st Century US Historical Fiction: Contemporary Responses to the Past Palgrave. 1-14
  • MAXEY, R., 2020. "Creating a Usable Past: Writing the Korean War in Contemporary American Fiction". In: R. MAXEY, ed., 21st Century US Historical Fiction: Contemporary Responses to the Past Palgrave. 149-169
  • MAXEY, R., 2019. Understanding Bharati Mukherjee University of South Carolina Press; named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2021.
  • MAXEY, R., 2019. The Cambridge Quarterly. 48(1), 33-49; named Editor鈥檚 Choice
  • MAXEY, R. and P. MCGARR, eds., 2019. India at 70: Multidisciplinary Perspectives Routledge.
  • MAXEY, R. and P. MCGARR, 2019. "Framing India at 70". In: R. MAXEY and P. MCGARR, eds., India at 70: Multidisciplinary Perspectives Routledge. 1-11
  • MAXEY, R., 2016. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 57(2), 208-216
  • MAXEY, R., 2015. "Beyond National Literatures: Empire and Amitav Ghosh". In: M. SONG and R. SRIKANTH, eds., The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature Cambridge University Press. 567-582
  • MAXEY, R., 2015. European Journal of American Studies. 10(2), Online
  • MAXEY, R., 2012. South Asian Atlantic literature, 1970-2010 Edinburgh University Press.
  • MAXEY, R., 2012. "Beige outlaws": Hanif Kureishi, miscegenation and diasporic experience. In: SELL, J.P.A., ed., Metaphor and diaspora in contemporary writing Palgrave Macmillan. 80-98
  • MAXEY, R., 2012. Wasafiri. 27(1), 25-31
  • MAXEY, R., 2010. Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts. 22(2), 272-280
  • MAXEY, R., 2010. "Tom Perrotta in Conversation about Literary Adaptation" Literature/Film Quarterly. 38(4), 269-276
  • MAXEY, R., 2008. "Representative" of British Asian fiction? the critical reception of Monica Ali鈥檚 Brick Lane. In: MURPHY, N. and SIM, W., eds., British Asian fiction: framing the contemporary Cambria Press. 217-236
  • MAXEY, R., 2008. "Jhumpa Lahiri". In: The Literary Encyclopedia
  • MAXEY, R., 2008. "Maxine Hong Kingston". In: The Literary Encyclopedia
  • MAXEY, R., 2006. Textual Practice. 20(3), 529-547
  • MAXEY, R., 2006. Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 41(3), 5-25
  • MAXEY, R., 2006. "Interview: Meena Alexander" MELUS. 31(2), 21-39
  • MAXEY, R., 2006. "An Interview With Meena Alexander" Kenyon Review. 28(1), 187-194
  • MAXEY, R., 2005. "The Messiness of Rebirth as an Immigrant": Bharati Mukherjee鈥檚 Changing Language of Migration South Asian Review. 26(2), 181-201
  • MAXEY, R., 2005. Journal of the Short Story in English. 45, 47-62
  • MAXEY, R., 2005. Orbis Litterarum. 60(1), 1-15

Department of American and Canadian Studies

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