Staff profile

Dr Alexis Harley

Lecturer

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry

HU2 507, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BA Hons (Univ Sydney), PhD (Univ Sydney).

Area of study

English
Creative Arts

Brief profile

Alexis Harley's research compasses literature from the late eighteenth century on, with particular focus on Victorian scientific literature and literary engagements with the idea of nature, animals, and evolutionary theories. Her doctoral research explored the autobiographies of Victorian atheists and agnostics, and she is currently writing a book about the influences of evolutionary theories on nineteenth-century autobiography. She has abiding interests in animal rights discourse and all forms of autobiography (from logbooks to microblogs), and an emerging interest in literary responses to climate change.

Research interests

Literary Studies

- Autobiography and religious un/belief

- Charles Darwin and evolutionary literature

- Science and Literature

- Victorian and Romantic literature and culture

Teaching units

  • ENG1TOT - Texts Over Time.
  • ENG2/3BAR - British and American Romanticism.
  • ENG4ABN - Autobiography: Narrative of the Self. 

Recent publications

Research projects

Autobiologies: Charles Darwin and the Natural History of the Self Machines-humans-animals, rights, and Romanticism The rhetoric of empathy