Sandrock

Scottish Colonial Literature: Writing the Atlantic, 1603-1707. Edinburgh Critical Studies in Atlantic Literatures and Cultures. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021.

This book focuses on three undertakings at Nova Scotia (1620s), East New Jersey (1680s) and the Isthmus of Panama, then known as Darien (1690s). Analysing works written in the larger context of the Scottish Atlantic, it examines how the Atlantic influenced seventeenth-century Scottish literature and vice versa. The relationship between art and ideology is key to the author’s discussion as Sandrock argues early modern writing employed utopianism as a tool for empire-building and as a means of claiming power over the Atlantic.

Gender and Region: Maritime Fiction in English by Canadian Women, 1976-2005. Beiträge zur Kanadistik 15. Augsburg: Wißner, 2009.

Maritime fiction by women writers constitutes an important focal point for the interaction between gender and regionalist discourses. It heralds the naissance of a new, dialogic tradition that includes the works of Canadian authors studied in this book: Susan Kerslake's Middlewatch (1976), Donna E. Smyth's Subversive Elements (1986), Carol Bruneau's After the Angel Mill (1995), Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall On Your Knees (1996), and Joan Clark's An Audience of Chairs (2005). These works ascertain how diversely contemporary women have become involved in the literary representation of the Canadian Maritimes and how their works reconfigure established topics, motifs, and generic conventions of regional writing.

“Britain’s Imperial Past and Contemporary Borders in Adichie’s Americanah and Zadie Smith’s “Fences”. Borders in Globalization Review 5.1 (2024) (Open access)

“Glocal Borders in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast (2021)”. Review of Irish Studies in Europe 6.2 (2023): 58-72. (Open Access)

Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical film Belfast (2021) tells the story of a young boy, Buddy, growing up in Belfast in the sectarian border zones that internally fissured the state of Northern Ireland. This article suggests that the movie’s critical success partly rests on the movie’s glocal approach to Belfast’s history, including its border zones. The film employs a number of aesthetic devices to turn the local experiences of Buddy into a global narrative about childhood, family and border zones. Among these tools are the use of self-referential framing devices, the child’s perspective and elements of nostalgia that link local history to transnational bonds of affection. By using a child's perspective, Belfast transcends the ruptures inherent in Belfast’s zones of division to create connections across cultural, ideological and physical spaces. Situated in a glocal framework, Buddy’s childhood symbolically embodies the experiences of a collective Irish diaspora, one that thinks back to its own or its family’s migrant experiences and turns it into a source of emotional belonging.

with Lars Klein. “Border Narratives.” Focus on Border Narratives. Anglistik 34.3 (2023): 7-18. (Open Access)

"Class in John Lanchester’s Fiction: From Urban Environments to the Anthropocene." Anglistik 34.1 (2023): 165-175.

"Scottishness, Humour, and the Aesthetics of Settler Colonialism in Thomas Chandler Haliburton's The Clockmaker." Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne 47.1 (2022).

“Discourses of Travel Writing.” B. Schaff (ed.): Handbook of British Travel Writing. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2020): 31-54.

This handbook offers a systematic exploration of current key topics in travel writing studies. It addresses the history, impact, and unique discursive variety of British travel writing by covering some of the most celebrated and canonical authors of the genre as well as lesser known ones in more than thirty close-reading chapters. Combining theoretically informed, astute literary criticism of single texts with the analysis of the circumstances of their production and reception, these chapters offer excellent possibilities for understanding the complexity and cultural relevance of British travel writing.

"Border Temporalities, Climate Mobility, and Shakespeare in John Lanchester's The Wall." Journal of Modern Literature. 43.3 (2020): 163-180

John Lanchester's The Wall (2019) takes its titular border as a springboard from which to explore a number of territorial and temporal border themes, including the shifting boundaries of climate mobility and British border epistemologies. Following up on earlier works in which Lanchester investigates the ethical dimensions of societal crises, The Wall engages readers in a conversation about twenty-first century border issues that range from rebordering processes to environmental instability to global nomadism. Lanchester uses narrative techniques such as defamiliarization, plot reversal, and the narrator's emotional inaccessibility to project border themes onto the reader-text relationship and, in so doing, include readers in the bordering experiences. Shakespeare enters the scene as an intertextual interlocutor whose status as archetype of Britishness opens up a further heuristic dimension for exploring the epistemologies of British borders and for questioning the role of the nation-state in the age of the Anthropocene.

"Border Thinking, Brexit, and Literature." Journal for the Study of British Cultures. Special Issue "Literatures of Brexit." 2 (2019): 141-152.

"Globalization and Postcolonial Transculturation in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah." Transgressions / Transformations: Literature and Beyond. Ed. Brigitte Glaser and Wolfgang Zach. Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag, 2018. 125-14.

"Robert Burns, Selected Poetry (1791-1795)." Handbook of British Romanticism. Ed. Ralf Haekel. Handbooks of English and American Studies 6. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017. 259-76.

The Handbook of British Romanticism is a state of the art investigation of Romantic literature and theory, a field that probably changed more quickly and more fundamentally than any other traditional era in literary studies. Since the early 1980s, Romantic studies has widened its scope significantly: The canon has been expanded, hitherto ignored genres have been investigated and new topics of research explored. After these profound changes, intensified by the general crisis of literary theory since the turn of the millennium, traditional concepts such as subjectivity, imagination and the creative genius have lost their status as paradigms defining Romanticism. The handbook will feature discussions of key concepts such as history, class, gender, science and the use of media as well as a thorough account of the most central literary genres around the turn of the 19th century. The focus of the book, however, will lie on a discussion of key literary texts in the light of the most recent theoretical developments. Thus, the Handbook of British Romanticism will provide students with an introduction to Romantic literature in general and literary scholars with a discussion of innovative and groundbreaking theoretical developments.

"Ancient Empires and Early Modern Colonialism: William Alexander’s Monarchicke Tragedies." Renaissance Studies 31.3 (2017): 346-64.

"The Poetics of Justice in Salman Rushdie’s Joseph Anton: A Memoir: Narrative Construction and Reader Response." Postcolonial Justice. ASNEL Papers 21. Ed. Anke Bartels, Lars Eckstein, Nicole Waller, and Dirk Wiemann. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2017. 125-40.

The poetics in justice in Salman Rushdie’s Joseph Anton: A Memoir (2012). It primarily explores narratological aspects of the representation of justice in the text, asking specifically how the role of the author, the narrator, and the focalizer are used to convey a sense of what is right and what is wrong, both within and beyond the narrative.

"Truth and Lying in Early Modern Travel Narratives: Coryat's Crudities, Lithgow's Totall Discourse and Generic Change." European Journal of English Studies 19.2 (2015): 189-203.

This article looks at concepts of truth and falsehood in early modern travel narratives, focusing particularly on Thomas Coryat’s Crudities (1611) and William Lithgow’s The Totall Discourse (1614). It argues that these travelogues point towards a change in the generic conventions of literature, especially the split between factual and fictional narratives that emerged in the course of the early modern period and which is decisive for understanding conceptions of mendacity in literary accounts. Partly, the texts by Coryat and Lithgow still cling to long-established practices of myth-making in travel writing; but partly, they already follow new expectations concerning the veracity of travel narratives and, in the case of Coryat, they even use (a simulation of) accuracy for spectacular and satirical effects.

"Postcolonial Perspectives on the Scottish Independence Debate." Scotland 2014 and Beyond - Coming of Age and Loss of Innocence? Ed. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2015. 337-352.

"The Legacy of Scotland’s Colonial Schemes: From the 1620s Until Now." Medievalia et Humanistica 41 (2015): 231-46.

Since its founding in 1943, Medievalia et Humanistica has won worldwide recognition as the first scholarly publication in America to devote itself entirely to medieval and Renaissance studies. Since 1970, a new series, sponsored by the Modern Language Association of America and edited by an international board of distinguished scholars and critics, has published interdisciplinary articles. In yearly hardcover volumes, the new series publishes significant scholarship, criticism, and reviews treating all facets of medieval and Renaissance culture: history, art, literature, music, science, law, economics, and philosophy.Volume 41 is a special issue which features twelve outstanding articles from the International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Language and Literature.

"Venice in Coryat’s Crudities (1611): Between Multicultural Community and Christian Archetype,” in: Locating Italy: East and West in British-Italian Transactions. Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenenden Literaturwissenschaft 161. Ed. Kirsten Sandrock and Owain Wright. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2013. 149-167.

Locating Italy: East and West in British-Italian Transactions is part of a series of books that examines cross-cultural processes between Britain and Italy. The volume explores for the first time British-Italian exchanges in terms of East-West, rather than North-South. In so doing, it reveals that Italy has long been a meeting point of East and West as much as one of North and South. Comprising essays from the fields of history, politics, the philosophy of language, linguistics, literature, and the arts, the collection illustrates that the dynamics of British–Italian transactions have long been shaped by a fascinating process of location and relocation. Locating Italy is pathbreaking in questioning the traditional categories of North, South, East, and West in interactions between these two countries and their respective cultures.

"The Quest for Authenticity: History and Class in Ian Rankin's Rebus Novels." Scottish Literary Review 3.1 (Spring/Summer 2011): 153-167.

Formerly the Scottish Literary Journal (1974–2000) and Scottish Studies Review (2000–08), Scottish Literary Review is the premier journal of Scottish literature and literary studies. With literature at its heart, the journal publishes critical and scholarly articles and reviews. Scottish Literary Review has a distinguished international editorial board which includes many major scholars of Scottish culture. With the establishment of Scottish Studies centres in Scotland, Europe and North America, Scottish Literary Review is positioned internationally as the leading journal in this field. It is published two times a year.

"Rethinking the Region in Canadian Postcolonial Studies." Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 31.2 (2011): 78-92.

Die maritimen Provinzen werden oftmals als marginale Region innerhalb Kanadas wahrgenommen. Vor dem Hintergrund von postkolonialen Theorien versucht dieser Artikel, diese Marginalisierung neu zu denken und gleichzeitig die Region in den Fokus von postkolonialen Studien zu rücken. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt wird dabei auf die regionale Literatur von Frauen aus ethnischen Minderheiten gelegt. Die Werke von Antonine Maillet, Maxine Tynes und Rita Joe schreiben gegen den sogenannten Unschuldsmythos in den Maritimen Provinzen an und rücken diejenigen Geschichten und Stimmen ins Zentrum, die lange im Verborgenen blieben.

"The Changing Geographies of Ian Rankin's Edinburgh: Crime and the City." Anglistentag 2010 Proceedings. Ed. Joachim Frenk and Lena Steveker. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2011. 81-90.

"Travelling with Ian Fleming: From Thrilling Cities (1963) to James Bond. "The Cultures of James Bond. Ed. Joachim Frenk and Christian Krug. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2011. 209-17.

“Medieval vs. Early Modern: Travel Narratives and other Genres in The Tempest," in:  Wissenschaftliches Seminar Online 9 (2011): 15-25.

"Motherhood and Madness in Joan Clark's An Audience of Chairs." Apropos Canada / À propos du Canada. Fünf Jahre Graduiertentagungen der Kanada-Studien. Ed. Eugen Banauch, Elisabeth Damböck, Anca-Raluca Radu, Nora Tunkel, Daniel Winkler. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2010. 49-62

"Carnevalizing Cape Breton: Multiculturalism in Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees."The Canadian Mosaic in the Age of Transnationalism. Ed. Jutta Ernst and Brigitte Glaser. Heidelberg: Winter, 2010. 203-16.

"Regionalism Revisited: Canadian Regions and the Literary Imagination Today." Canada in Grainau/Le Canada à Grainau: A Multidisciplinary Survey of Canadian Studies after 30 Years. Canadiana 7. Ed. Klaus-Dieter Ertler and Hartmut Lutz. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2009. 175-93.

"Against Monologization: The Subversive Voice of Christa Wolf's Cassandra." From Word to Canvas: Appropriations of Myth in Women's Aesthetic Production. Ed. Sanja Bahun-Radunović and V.G. Julie Rajan. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishers, 2009. 73-92.

"Beyond the Canadian Mosaic: Gender and Race in the Poetry of Maxine Tynes." Her Na-rra-tion, Women's Narratives of the Canadian Nation. Canadensis Series. Ed. Françoise Le Jeune and Charlotte Sturgess. Nantes: Université de Nantes, 2009. 181-191.

"Scottish territories and Canadian Identity: Regional Aspects in the Literature of Alistair MacLeod." Translation of Cultures. ASNEL Papers 12. Ed. Petra Rüdiger and Konrad Gross. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2009. 169-82.

with Wolfram Keller. "Beyond the Limits of Individuality? Genre and Nation in Lady Grisell Baillie's Household Book." Further From the Frontiers... Cross-currents in Irish and Scottish Studies. Ed. Aimee McNair and Jacqueline Ryder. Aberdeen: AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, 2009. 63-73.

with Astrid Lohöfer and Anca-Raluca Radu. "What’s in a Title? Translations of English-Canadian Titles into German." Ahornblätter: Marburger Beiträge zur Kanada-Forschung 20 (2008): 42-66.

"Zwischen Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit: Das kulturelle Gedächtnis in der Adoleszenz." Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 3/4 (2007): 171-186.

"Regional (Be)Longing in Canada – Newfoundland’s Unrequited Dream? Identity Politics in the Writing of Wayne Johnston." Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 27.2 (2007): 58-72.

with Eva Knopp. "'Dis-Orientation in the New World Order': GNEL/ASNEL-Annual Conference, Magdeburg, 28-31, Mai 2003.

ed. with Dunja M. Mohr. "The Politics of Literature in Margaret Atwood's Work". Margaret Atwood Studies, Volume 17 (2024).

Sandrock, Kirsten and Lukas Lammers, ed. Shakespeare Seminar Online 19, “Shakespeare’s Odysseys”

ed. with Ralf Hertel. Failures East and West. Edinburgh University Press (2023).

Often, the story of encounters between Asia and the West has been told as one of success, of cross-fertilization, reciprocal stimulation and an exchange of commodities and knowledge. Yet, the history of East-West encounters is riddled with prominent examples of misunderstandings, ignorance, unrealistic expectations or unbridgeable cultural differences. Bringing together scholars working across Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, English Studies and French Studies, this book presents new perspectives on such instances by theorizing epistemologies of failure. Providing examples from different periods and disciplines, it reveals how culturally informed expectations and biases, performative and linguistic practices and imaginative horizons specific to the cultures involved shape notions of failure and success. Case studies range from first encounters in the early modern period to contemporary novels and focus on actual or imaginary encounters between East Asia and Western European cultures.

ed. with Lukas Lammers.  Shakespearean Translations, Translating Shakespeare. Special Issue of Shakespeare Seminar Online 16 (2019).

ed. with Lukas Lammers.  Shakespeare Reformed, Shakespearean Reformations. Special Issue of Shakespeare Seminar Online 15 (2017).

ed. with Lukas Lammers.  Shades of Green: Shakespeare's Green Wor(l)ds. Special Issue of Shakespeare Seminar Online 14 (2016).

ed. with Frauke Reitemeier. Crimelights: Scottish Crime Writing - Then and Now. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier (2015).

ed. with Florian Freitag.  Transnational Approaches to North American Regionalism. Special Issue of European Journal of American Studies 9.3 (2014).

ed. with Lukas Lammers. Celebrating Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Festivities. Special Issue of Shakespeare Seminar Online 12 (2014).

ed. with Wolfram R. Keller and J. Derrick McClure. Scottish Renaissances. Special issue of European Journal of English Studies 18.1 (2014).

ed. with Owain Wright,  Locating Italy: East and West in British-Italian Transactions. Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenenden Literaturwissenschaft 161. Amsterdam: Rodopi (2013).