Books by Sue Norton
Camden House / Boydell & Brewer: European Studies in North American Literature and Culture, 2018
Academic Articles & Papers by Sue Norton
The John Updike Review, 2024
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 2022
Using the framework of Rita Felski in her 2015 book The Limits of Critique, this essay offers a p... more Using the framework of Rita Felski in her 2015 book The Limits of Critique, this essay offers a postcritical analysis of William Carlos Williams’ 1915 poem “The Young Housewife.” Its intention is to show how Williams’ poem or any poem can be approached through a variety of critical lenses, but that these may get in the way of more immediate, rewarding ways of reading. Shel Silverstein's well-known 1964 short book The Giving Tree is similar at the level of “plot” to “The Young Housewife.” Taken in tandem, these two texts neatly exemplify the value of postcritical/non-resistant reading.
Irish Journal of Education, 2020
This essay considers higher education policy in Ireland that, in limited optional ways, is divers... more This essay considers higher education policy in Ireland that, in limited optional ways, is diversifying the undergraduate curriculum to incorporate wider reading across disciplines. Such policies, now gaining traction, aim to foster greater graduate employability, understood as the resilience and resourcefulness to secure positions in the workplace over time, and in fluctuating periods of supply and demand; they also support graduates to live more meaningfully in society. This essay's three sections draw upon several sources including a business consultancy website, journal articles, and academic papers and reports. It extrapolates in particular from the research of Julia Preece and Anne-Marie Houghton (2000) who have observed the benefits of higher education qualifications for those living in socially disadvantaged areas in Great Britain, where graduates did not necessarily find paid work or graduate positions. It also refers to the positive findings of researchers in the University of Notre Dame Australia regarding the measurability of graduate attributes in the arts and humanities. Finally, it makes a case for, specifically, literary readings (both fiction and nonfiction) to be introduced broadly across disciplinary curricula, especially in the technological sector of higher education in Ireland. It cites as a template the now long-standing presence of college-wide reading programmes, such as Common Book and the Novel Experience in American and Canadian universities.
Current Issues in Tourism, 2020
Taking account of research into the relationship between the reading of narrative fiction and nic... more Taking account of research into the relationship between the reading of narrative fiction and niche tourism, this article speculates on the role of the university lecturer of literature in shaping the touristic desires of students. It is especially interested in the influence of European based lecturers of American fiction as they stimulate the geographic imaginations of their learners. Since cultural capital accrues through the reading of serious works of literature, the influence of lecturers is likely to have some bearing on the eventual travel destinations of university graduates prompted to seek out the material locations that they have read about in books.
Irish Journal of American Studies, 2020
The John Updike Review, 2020
Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 2019
When Literature Scholars Write for General Readers a two-person, first-person essay sue norton an... more When Literature Scholars Write for General Readers a two-person, first-person essay sue norton and laurence w. mazzeno This dually authored first-person essay offers a narrative account of the far-ranging writing experiences of two well-established academics who, like many others working in higher education, contribute writing to mainstream publications as well as to scholarly ones. The essay considers the implications for professional and personal reputations when material targeted at one kind of audience is easily accessible by another through internet 'context collapse. ' It argues for an inextricable connection between authorial ethics and the essential rigour of all good writing, and it encourages scholar-writers to invest their energies in non-scholarly writing for its value to society.
John Updike Review (Univ. of Cincinnati), 2017
All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Jun 2016
This article considers the challenges confronted by instructors of composition and writing skills... more This article considers the challenges confronted by instructors of composition and writing skills in higher education. Identifying key aspects of grammar, syntax, and punctuation, it argues that a grammatically informed terminology is helpful to learner-writers endeavouring to improve the clarity of their written assignments. To aid assimilation of this terminology, and the concepts it signifies, e-learning tools can be integrated into the curriculum so that students can consolidate knowledge through their own construction of it. As they create blogs and peer to peer quizzes, they become more theoretically and practically informed about the basis of effective writing practices.
Irish Journal of American Studies, 2016
Co-authored with Laurence W. Mazzeno: This article considers the central preoccupations and modu... more Co-authored with Laurence W. Mazzeno: This article considers the central preoccupations and modus operandi of the American writer John Updike as an essayist with personal, autobiographical intent. Best known in the American canon for his many works of fiction, he produced nonfiction in equal measure over the course of his lengthy career. His far-ranging critical reviews and topical, discursive writings have occupied pride of place in the most prominent periodicals of our times and have garnered much critical and popular attention. Yet his specifically self-referential essays, especially those composed in the final years of his life, deserve closer notice for the ways in which they reveal a survival impulse that speaks to the willing vulnerability not only of Updike, but of all who write about themselves.
American, British, and Canadian Studies Journal (De Gruyter), Feb 2015
All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2015
This article considers whether instructors of writing in higher education ought
prescriptively to... more This article considers whether instructors of writing in higher education ought
prescriptively to involve students in the mechanics of standard written English or,
rather, encourage them to prioritise ideas and content. Recognizing the
reluctance of many practitioners to distract learner-writers with rules, and thereby
alienate them from their creativity, it nevertheless recommends judicious delivery
of lessons in conventional grammar, syntax, and punctuation. Taking standard
written English as a variant that continues to hold sway in general, academic,
and professional readerships, the article concludes with a selection of language
components relevant to undergraduate writing and commonly addressed by
readily available resource materials.
Vector: The Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association, Dec 2014
The John Updike Review (Univ. of Cincinnati), 2014
The Explicator (Taylor & Francis), 2013
New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, Mar 2013
Level 3, Dublin Institute of Technology, May 2008
English Teaching Professional, Issue 48, Jan 2007
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Books by Sue Norton
Academic Articles & Papers by Sue Norton
prescriptively to involve students in the mechanics of standard written English or,
rather, encourage them to prioritise ideas and content. Recognizing the
reluctance of many practitioners to distract learner-writers with rules, and thereby
alienate them from their creativity, it nevertheless recommends judicious delivery
of lessons in conventional grammar, syntax, and punctuation. Taking standard
written English as a variant that continues to hold sway in general, academic,
and professional readerships, the article concludes with a selection of language
components relevant to undergraduate writing and commonly addressed by
readily available resource materials.
prescriptively to involve students in the mechanics of standard written English or,
rather, encourage them to prioritise ideas and content. Recognizing the
reluctance of many practitioners to distract learner-writers with rules, and thereby
alienate them from their creativity, it nevertheless recommends judicious delivery
of lessons in conventional grammar, syntax, and punctuation. Taking standard
written English as a variant that continues to hold sway in general, academic,
and professional readerships, the article concludes with a selection of language
components relevant to undergraduate writing and commonly addressed by
readily available resource materials.