Lecturer
Overview
I am Lecturer in American Studies in the School of Communication and Arts, specializing in literature and modernist studies. I am author of The Regional Development of the American Bildungsroman, 1900–1960 (Edinburgh UP 2023), and co-editor of the modernist studies journal Affirmations: of the Modern (Open Humanities Press), which is the organ journal of the Australasian Modernist Studies Network. My research has appeared in PMLA (Cambridge UP), American Literature (Duke UP), Modernism/Modernity (Johns Hopkins UP), The Mississippi Quarterly (Johns Hopkins UP), and Australian Feminist Studies (Routledge). I've also contributed to various published and forthcoming collections, including The Oxford Handbook of African American Women's Writing (Oxford UP, forthcoming),The Edinburgh Companion to Literature and Sound Studies (Edinburgh UP 2024); Black Lives Matter: Lessons From the Harlem Renaissance (Clemson UP, forthcoming); The Routledge Companion to Literature of the U.S. South (Routledge 2022); and recent collections on American authors including E. L. Doctorow and Carson McCullers. I am also co-editor of Revisiting the Poetics and Politics of Modernism: The Women of 1922 (Palgrave 2025), a collection that revisits perennial debates over modernism's geographies and temporalities by retracing the politics and poetics of women's literature across a range of global contexts in 1922: the annus mirabilis of modernism.
I have taught at the University of Adelaide, the University of New South Wales, Flinders University, and the Australian Catholic University. I received my doctorate in English Literature from UNSW, after completing my undergraduate degree there with First Class Honours; I also have a Masters of Teaching, specialising in teaching English.
I am currently writing two monographs: the first, Writing the Collar-Line, traces the literary history of the racial imaginary, white-collar labor, and the Black typewriter, a literary figure that was brought into representation to unsettle the processes whereby racist and heterosexist criteria regarding who could perform different classes of labor were reified anew not only through the bureaucratization of white-collar office work, c. 1886–1940, but also via cultural depictions of those processes. The second considers how U.S. writers and composers wrote about Black classical musical activism in response to the instrumentalization of classical music as a monolithic racial signifier of whiteness in 19th/20thC U.S. cultural and political discourse.
My other current research projects examine the radical history of typewriters; investigate how technologies of musical reproduction (scores, radio, phonography) guided modernist literary innovation; and trace the poetics of silent resistance that arose in African American women’s protest poetry in the early 1920s. I am generally interested in the history, theory, and politics of modern literature, technology, and sound.
My previous research attended to studies of prose fiction, critical regionalism, and the politics of U.S. literary geography. My monograph, The Regional Development of the American Bildungsroman, is the first scholarly work to probe the relationship between the aesthetics of regional fragmentation and the genre of the novel of development. As the first book to extensively scope the development of the U.S. Bildungsroman, this book challenges and reorients current understandings of where the Bildungsroman fits into nineteenth and twentieth century American literary history and the New Modernist Studies, by engaging in analyses of novels in regional clusters, including the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, and the West, featuring extensive commentary on the novels of African American and Native American writers, such as Wallace Thurman, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and John Joseph Mathews; as well as other American authors, including Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, James Farrell, Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and Willa Cather. It historicizes how the American Bildungsroman developed during the period associated with modernism (c. 1900–1960), in ways that challenge the perception of American modernist innovation as antiregionalist, and regionalism as an antimodernist enterprise.
I welcome Honours and HDR proposals on any topics adjacent to modern literature, especially those that intersect with the fields of American and African American studies; modernist studies; musico-literary and sound studies; or critical race studies, postcolonialism, and cultural studies of the Black Atlantic and Global South.
Research Interests
- Literary Studies
- American Studies
- Modernism
- American Literature
- African American Literature
- Musico-Literary Studies
Qualifications
- Masters (Coursework) of Teaching (Secondary), University of New South Wales
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales
- Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, University of New South Wales
Publications
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Journal Article: Playing amanuensis to inner urges: masculinity, authorial anxiety, and Wallace Thurman’s typewriter
Avery, Tamlyn (2024). Playing amanuensis to inner urges: masculinity, authorial anxiety, and Wallace Thurman’s typewriter. Modernism/Modernity, 31 (4).
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Book: The regional development of the American Bildungsroman, 1900–1960
Avery, Tamlyn (2023). The regional development of the American Bildungsroman, 1900–1960. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.
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Journal Article: “Split by the Moonlight”: Beethoven and the Racial Sublime in African American Literature
Avery, Tamlyn (2020). “Split by the Moonlight”: Beethoven and the Racial Sublime in African American Literature. American Literature, 92 (4), 623-652. doi: 10.1215/00029831-8780863
Supervision
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What we hear when we read: sound, ekphrasis and the novel
Master Philosophy
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Vision of the artist: the poetry of Mark Strand
Master Philosophy
Publications
Featured Publications
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Playing amanuensis to inner urges: masculinity, authorial anxiety, and Wallace Thurman’s typewriter
Avery, Tamlyn (2024). Playing amanuensis to inner urges: masculinity, authorial anxiety, and Wallace Thurman’s typewriter. Modernism/Modernity, 31 (4).
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The regional development of the American Bildungsroman, 1900–1960
Avery, Tamlyn (2023). The regional development of the American Bildungsroman, 1900–1960. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.
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“Split by the Moonlight”: Beethoven and the Racial Sublime in African American Literature
Avery, Tamlyn (2020). “Split by the Moonlight”: Beethoven and the Racial Sublime in African American Literature. American Literature, 92 (4), 623-652. doi: 10.1215/00029831-8780863
Book
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The regional development of the American Bildungsroman, 1900–1960
Avery, Tamlyn (2023). The regional development of the American Bildungsroman, 1900–1960. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.
Book Chapter
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Notes to literature: scores as musical reproduction in the literary text
Avery, Tamlyn (2024). Notes to literature: scores as musical reproduction in the literary text. The Edinburgh companion to literature and sound studies. (pp. 81-98) edited by Helen Groth and Julian Murphet. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.
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Avery, Tamlyn (2022). Classical Music. The Routledge Companion to Literature of the U.S. South. (pp. 157-161) edited by Katharine A. Burnett, Todd Hagstette and Monica Carol Miller. New York, NY United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003009924-41
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Current of music in Carson McCullers
Avery, Tamlyn (2020). Current of music in Carson McCullers. Understanding the short fiction of Carson McCullers. (pp. 191-211) edited by Alison Bertolini and Casey Kayser. Macon, GA, United States: Mercer University Press.
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Doctorow and the Halbbildungsroman
Avery, Tamlyn (2020). Doctorow and the Halbbildungsroman. E. L. Doctorow: a reconsideration. (pp. 33-52) edited by Michael Wutz and Julian Murphet. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press.
Journal Article
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Playing amanuensis to inner urges: masculinity, authorial anxiety, and Wallace Thurman’s typewriter
Avery, Tamlyn (2024). Playing amanuensis to inner urges: masculinity, authorial anxiety, and Wallace Thurman’s typewriter. Modernism/Modernity, 31 (4).
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Passing as white collar: the black typewriter and the bureaucratization of the racial imaginary
Avery, Tamlyn (2024). Passing as white collar: the black typewriter and the bureaucratization of the racial imaginary. PMLA, 139 (1), 66-81. doi: 10.1632/s0030812923001177
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Fredric Jameson, Richard Wright, and the Black National Allegory
Avery, Tamlyn (2021). Fredric Jameson, Richard Wright, and the Black National Allegory. Affirmations: of the Modern, 7 (1).
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“Split by the Moonlight”: Beethoven and the Racial Sublime in African American Literature
Avery, Tamlyn (2020). “Split by the Moonlight”: Beethoven and the Racial Sublime in African American Literature. American Literature, 92 (4), 623-652. doi: 10.1215/00029831-8780863
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Gretel Adorno, the Typewriter: Sacrificial Lambs and Critical Theory's 'Risk of Formulation'
Avery, Tamlyn (2019). Gretel Adorno, the Typewriter: Sacrificial Lambs and Critical Theory's 'Risk of Formulation'. Australian Feminist Studies, 34 (101), 309-324. doi: 10.1080/08164649.2019.1679020
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The Métis and the Multiple "Me" in Carson McCullers's The Member of the Wedding
Avery, Tamlyn (2019). The Métis and the Multiple "Me" in Carson McCullers's The Member of the Wedding. Mississippi Quarterly, 72 (1), 69-93. doi: 10.1353/mss.2019.0002
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Women’s work: the bildungsromance of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie
Avery, Tamlyn (2017). Women’s work: the bildungsromance of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. Affirmations: of the Modern, 5 (1), 1-28.
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Avery, Tamlyn (2014). Alienated, Anxious, American: The Crisis of Coming of Age in Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man' and the Late Harlem Bildungsroman. Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, 20 (2), 1-17.
Conference Publication
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Jean Toomer and the racial politics of modernist difficulty
Avery, Tamlyn (2023). Jean Toomer and the racial politics of modernist difficulty. Difficult Conversations in Modernist Studies: A Series of Online Events Organised by Five International Associations of Modernists, Online, July 2023.
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Pauline Hopkins and the racial imaginary of typewriter fiction
Avery, Tamlyn (2023). Pauline Hopkins and the racial imaginary of typewriter fiction. The American Literature Association Annual Convention, Boston, MA, United States, May 2023.
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Eliot's typewriter and the bureaucratization of the social imaginary
Avery, Tamlyn (2022). Eliot's typewriter and the bureaucratization of the social imaginary. The Waste Land at 100, Adelaide, SA, Australia, April 29-30 2022.
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Richard Wright, Fredric Jameson, and the Black National Allegory
Avery, Tamlyn (2019). Richard Wright, Fredric Jameson, and the Black National Allegory . Fredric Jameson's Allegory and Ideology: a Symposium, UNSW Sydney, 6 December 2019.
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After Bildung: towards a theory of the Halbbildungsroman
Avery, Tamlyn (2018). After Bildung: towards a theory of the Halbbildungsroman. The Bildungsroman: form and transformations, Sydney, NSW, United States, 22-25 November 2018.
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Avery, Tamlyn (2017). A Crude Awakening: Capital & the Bildungsromance of Women’s Labour in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. The Idea of Prose Style: A Symposium, UNSW and the University of Sydney, December 13–15 2017.
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Adapting Wright's Native Son: the intersection of American literary naturalism and film noir
Avery, Tamlyn (2017). Adapting Wright's Native Son: the intersection of American literary naturalism and film noir. CAMERA STYLO: Intersections in Literature and Cinema, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 10-12 July 2017.
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Avery, Tamlyn (2016). Feralized form in the Bildungsroman bloodline: Southern Dynasticism as Eternal Recurrence in O’Connor’s The Violent Bear It Away. ANZASA postgraduate and early career scholar conference, Sydney, NSW Australia, 6-8 July 2016.
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‘From Another Distanced Mind': monstrous self-representation in Plath’s The Bell Jar
Avery, Tamlyn (2015). ‘From Another Distanced Mind': monstrous self-representation in Plath’s The Bell Jar. Reason Plus Enjoyment Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 10-13 July 2015.
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Avery, Tamlyn (2014). From ‘Chemical Madness’ to ‘Goddamn Phonies’: voicing consumerist youth in Catcher in the Rye and the New York Bildungsroman. Rocky Mountains Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Boise, ID, United States, 9-11 October 2014.
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Avery, Tamlyn (2014). Disaffected youth: consumption and the early “Waning of Affect” in Catcher in the Rye and the American Bildungsroman. Australian Association of Literature Conference: Literature and Affect, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 2-4 July 2014.
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Avery, Tamlyn (2014). Slave to the dollar: capitalist alienation and urban ethnic anxiety in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and the late Harlem Bildungsroman. Fear and Loathing: 9th Annual Limina Conference, Perth, WA, Australia, 20 June 2014.
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From Joyce to Farrell, or Irish coming-of-age in 20th century American literature
Avery, Tamlyn (2013). From Joyce to Farrell, or Irish coming-of-age in 20th century American literature. 20th Australasian Conference for Irish Studies: The Ends of Ireland , Sydney, NSW, Australia, 4-7 December 2013.
Other Outputs
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Avery, Tamlyn (2023, 12 04). Lydia Davis’ amusing, insightful stories address the estrangements of everyday life – and resist the hollowing of language The Conversation
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Jean Toomer’s Cane at 100: the ‘everlasting song’ that defined the Harlem Renaissance
Avery, Tamlyn (2023, 03 14). Jean Toomer’s Cane at 100: the ‘everlasting song’ that defined the Harlem Renaissance The Conversation
PhD and MPhil Supervision
Current Supervision
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What we hear when we read: sound, ekphrasis and the novel
Master Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
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Vision of the artist: the poetry of Mark Strand
Master Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
