Professor Avril Horner
Faculties, departments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Humanities
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
- Penrhyn Road
Emeritus Professor of English
- Email:
- [email protected]
About
Before joining Kingston University as Professor of English in 2002, I was Associate Dean Research and Director of the European Studies Research Institute at the University of Salford.
I have been a member of the AHRC panel in English Language and Literature and Visiting Professor at the universities of Toulouse le Mireil (now Jean Jaures) (France) and Zaragoza (Spain).
I was co-president of the International Gothic Association (2005-9) and am a member of the Advisory Board for the journal Gothic Studies and also a General Editor for the 'International Gothic' series, Manchester University Press.
I was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Emeritus Fellowship for 2012-2014. I have given plenary lectures in the UK and abroad and have acted as External Examiner for UG, MA and PhD level work at several universities, including Cardiff, Leeds and Greenwich. As an Emeritus Professor, I no longer teach but I still research and publish.
Qualifications
- PhD, Manchester University
- MA, Salford University
- PGCE, Swansea University
- BA Hons, Sussex University
Domains
My research interests focus on women's writing and Gothic fiction. I have co-authored several books and many articles with Sue Zlosnik, including Daphne du Maurier: Writing, Identity and the Gothic Imagination (1998); Gothic and the Comic Turn (2005) and Women and the Gothic (2016). I have also written several articles with Janet Beer, with whom I co-authored the book Edith Wharton: Sex, Satire and the Older Woman (2011). My edited books include European Gothic: A Spirited Exchange (2004) and (with Anne Rowe), Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch, 1934-1995 which was published by Chatto & Windus in 2015 and by Princeton University Press and Viking Press (paperback) in 2016. Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence, my biography of the twentieth-century author, was published by Manchester University Press in 2024 and issued in paperback in 2025. I am currently working on Rebecca: Biography of a Novel, which charts the inspiration for and the writing of du Maurier's most famous novel; its publication and marketing history; the many ways in which it has been read and its cultural legacy.
Publications
The legend and the crazy novelist: Graham Greene's role in Barbara Comyn's writing career
Horner, Avril, 2021, TLS: The Times Literary Supplement, 6149 pp 10-11, Published
'The great panorama': Edith Wharton as historical novelist
Beer, Janet and Horner, Avril, 2015, Modern Language Review (MLR) (110), 1 pp 69-84, Published
Women, power and conflict: The Gothic Heroine and "Chocolate Box" Gothic
Horner, Avril, 2010, Anglophonia: French journal of English studies (27) pp 319-330, Published
'Myself when Others: Daphne du Maurier and the Double Dialogue with "D"'
Zlosnik, Sue and Horner, Avril, 2009, Women: A Cultural Review (20), 1 pp 9-24, Published
Wharton the 'renovator': Twilight Sleep as Gothic satire
Beer, Janet and Horner, Avril, 2007, The Yearbook of English Studies (37), 1 pp 177-192, Published
Skin chairs and other domestic horrors: Barbara Comyns and the female gothic tradition
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue, 2004, Gothic Studies (6), 1 pp 90-102, Published
Dead funny: gothic, gender and the comic turn
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue, 2004, Anglophonia: French journal of English studies (15) pp 185-198, Published
"This isn't exactly a ghost story": Edith Wharton and parodic Gothic
Beer, Janet and Horner, Avril, 2003, Journal of American Studies (37), 2 pp 269-285, Published
Agriculture, body sculpture, gothic culture: gothic parody in Gibbons, Atwood and Weldon
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue, 2002, Gothic Studies (4), 2 pp 167-177, Published
Dead funny: Eaton Stannard Barrett's The heroine as comic gothic
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue, 2000, Cardiff Corvey: reading the romantic text (5), 2, Published
'Releasing spirit from matter': comic alchemy in Spark's The Ballad of Peckham Rye, Updike's The witches of Eastwick and Mantel's Fludd
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue, 2000, Gothic Studies (2), 1 pp 136-147, Published
A "disembodied spirit": the letters and fiction of Daphne du Maurier
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue, 1996, Prose Studies: History, Theory, Criticism (19), 2 pp 186-199, Published
'Those curious, sloping letters': reading the writing of du Maurier's Rebecca
Horner, A. and Zlosnik, S., 1996, Barcelona English language and literature studies (7) pp 105-115, Published
Geoffrey Hill, John Cowper Powys, and 'The laurel axe'
Horner, Avril and Lindop, Grevel, 1991, Notes and Queries (38), 3 pp 347-348, Published
'Linnaean Pentecosts': Geoffrey Hill's 'An apology for the revival of Christian architecture in England'
Horner, Avril, 1990, Literature and Theology (4), 1 pp 84-103, Published
Geoffrey Hill, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and 'Christmas trees'
Horner, Avril, 1989, Notes and Queries (36), 2 pp 209-210, Published
Hill's 'Asmodeus'
Horner, Avril, 1987, The Explicator (46), 1 pp 50-53, Published
Barbara Comyns: a savage innocence
Horner, Avril (2024). Manchester, U.K.: [Published]
Comic Gothic: an Edinburgh companion
(2024). Edinburgh, U.K.: (Edinburgh University Press) [Published]
Living on paper: letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995
(2016). London, U.K.: [Published]
Women and the Gothic: an Edinburgh companion
(2016). Edinburgh, U.K.: (Edinburgh University Press) [Published]
Living on paper: letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995
(2015). London, U.K.: [Published]
Living on paper: letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995
(2015). Princeton, NJ, U.S.: [Published]
Iris Murdoch: texts and contexts
(2012). Basingstoke, U.K.: [Published]
Edith Wharton: Sex, Satire and the Older Woman
Horner, Avril and Beer, Janet (2011). Basingstoke, U.K.: [Published]
The heroine or adventures of a fair romance reader by Eaton Stannard Barrett. 1813
(2011). Kansas City, U.S.A.: [Published]
Iris Murdoch and morality
(2010). Basingstoke, U.K.: [Published]
Le Gothic: influences and appropriations in Europe and America
(2008). Basingstoke, UK: [Published]
Gothic and the comic turn
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2005). Basingstoke, UK: [Published]
European Gothic: a spirited exchange 1760-1960
(2002). Manchester, UK: [Published]
Body matters: feminism, textuality, corporeality
(2000). Manchester, UK: [Published]
Daphne du Maurier: writing, identity and the gothic imagination
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (1998). Basingstoke, U.K.: [Published]
Landscapes of desire: metaphors in modern women's fiction
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (1990). Hemel Hempstead, U.K.: [Published]
Daphne du Maurier: sex and death the Italian way
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2020). In: Newton, Michael, van Leeuwens, Evert Jan, (eds.), Abingdon, U.K.: pp 107-122 [Published]
Gothic and surrealism: subculture, counterculture and cultural assimilation
Horner, Avril (2019). In: Punter, David, (eds.), Edinburgh, UK: pp 148-158 [Published]
Introduction
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2016). In: Horner, Avril, Zlosnik, Sue, (eds.), Edinburgh, U.K.: Edinburgh University Press pp 1-14 [Published]
No country for old women: gender, age and the Gothic
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2016). In: Horner, Avril, Zlosnik, Sue, (eds.), Edinburgh, U.K.: Edinburgh University Press pp 184-198 [Published]
Southern hauntings: Kate Chopin's Gothic
Beer, Janet and Horner, Avril (2016). In: Castillo Street, Susan, Crow, Charles L., (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 95-107 [Published]
Apocalypses now: collective trauma, globalisation and the new Gothic sublime
Horner, Avril (2014). In: Nadal, Marita, Calvo, Monica, (eds.), London, U.K.: Routledge pp 35-50 [Published]
Gothic configurations of gender
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2014). In: Hogle, Jerrold E., (eds.), Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press pp 55-70 [Published]
The apocalyptic sublime: then and now
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2014). In: Germana, Monica, Mousoutzanis, Aris, (eds.), London, U.K.: Routledge pp 57-70 [Published]
'The Dark Knight': fear, the law and liquid modernity
Horner, Avril (2013). In: Byron, Glennis, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press pp 175-187 [Published]
Comic Gothic
Zlosnik, Sue and Horner, Avril (2012). In: Punter, David, (eds.), Chichester, U.K.: pp 321-324 [Published]
Introduction
Rowe, Anne and Horner, Avril (2012). In: Rowe, Anne, Horner, Avril, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 1-9 [Published]
The 'wondrous necessary man': Canetti, 'The unicorn' and 'The changeling'
Horner, Avril (2012). In: Rowe, Anne, Horner, Avril, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 163-176 [Published]
Victorian Gothic and national identity: cross-Channel "mysteries"
Horner, Avril (2012). In: Smith, Andrew, Hughes, William, (eds.), Edinburgh, U.K.: pp 108-123 [Published]
Introduction: Art, morals and 'The discovery of reality'
Rowe, Anne and Horner, Avril (2010). In: Rowe, Anne, Horner, Avril, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 1-14 [Published]
'Refinements of evil': Iris Murdoch and the gothic
Horner, Avril (2010). In: Rowe, Anne, Horner, Avril, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 70-84 [Published]
Comic gothic
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2009). In: Mulvey-Roberts, Marie, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 109-109 [Published]
Daphne du Maurier
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2009). In: Mulvey-Roberts, Marie, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 26-27 [Published]
Edith Wharton and modernism: The mother's recompense
Horner, Avril and Beer, Janet (2009). In: Morley, Catherine, Goody, Alex, (eds.), Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.: pp 69-92 [Published]
Keeping it in the family: incest and the female gothic plot in du Maurier and Murdoch
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2009). In: Wallace, Diana, Smith, Andrew, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 115-132 [Published]
Introduction
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2008). In: Horner, Avril, Zlosnik, Sue, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 1-11 [Published]
Kate Chopin, choice and modernism
Horner, Avril (2008). In: Beer, Janet, (eds.), Cambridge, U.K.: pp 132-146 [Published]
Glimpses of the dark side
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2007). In: Taylor, Helen, (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 242-248 [Published]
Barbara Comyns
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2006). In: Hammill, Faye, Sponenberg, Ashlie, Miskimmin, Esme, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: [Published]
Daphne du Maurier
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2006). In: Hammill, Faye, Sponenberg, Ashlie, Miskimmin, Esme, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: [Published]
Female gothic
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2006). In: Powell, Anna, Smith, Andrew, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 107-120 [Published]
'Small female skull': patriarchy and philosophy in the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy
Horner, Avril (2003). In: Michelis, Angelica, Rowland, Antony, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.: pp 99-120 [Published]
A detour of filthiness: French fiction and Djuna Barnes's Nightwood
Horner, Avril (2002). In: Horner, Avril, (eds.), Manchester, UK: pp 230-251 [Published]
Introduction
Horner, Avril (2002). In: Horner, Avril, (eds.), Manchester, UK: pp 1-16 [Published]
'Moving pictures': family portraits, gothic anxieties and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2002). In: Hughes, William, Smith, Andrew, Mason, Diane, (eds.), Bath, U.K.: pp 170-182 [Published]
Unreal cities and undead legacies: T.S.Eliot and gothic hauntings in Waugh's A handful of dust and Barnes's Nightwood
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2002). In: Beer, Janet, Bennet, Bridget, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.: pp 224-241 [Published]
Dame Daphne Du Maurier
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2001). In: Clark, Robert, (eds.), Norwich, U.K.: [Published]
Strolling in the dark: gothic flanerie in Djuna Barnes's Nightwood
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2001). In: Smith, Andrew, Wallace, Jeff, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 78-94 [Published]
Comic gothic
Zlosnik, Sue and Horner, Avril (2000). In: Punter, David, (eds.), Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell pp 242-254 [Published]
Daphne du Maurier: the French connection
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2000). In: Todd, Richard, Flora, Luisa, (eds.), Amsterdam, The Netherlands: pp 173-184 [Published]
Daphne du Maurier and Gothic signatures: Rebecca as vamp(ire)
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (2000). In: Horner, Avril, Keane, Angela, (eds.), Manchester, UK: pp 209-222 [Published]
Deaths in Venice: Daphne du Maurier's 'Don't look now'
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (1999). In: Glennis, Byron, Punter, David, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 219-232 [Published]
'Extremely valuable property': the marketing of Rebecca
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue (1998). In: Simons, Judy, Fullbrook, Kate, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.: pp 48-65 [Published]
Heroine
Horner, Avril (1998). In: Mulvey-Roberts, Marie, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 115-119 [Published]
Transgression
Horner, Avril (1998). In: Mulvey-Roberts, Marie, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 286-287 [Published]
Unheimlich (the uncanny)
Horner, Avril (1998). In: Mulvey-Roberts, Marie, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.: pp 287-288 [Published]
"The poet's true commitment": Geoffrey Hill, the computer, and original sin
Horner, Avril (1995). In: Salyer, Gregory, Detweiler, Robert, (eds.), Atlanta, U.S.: pp 159-176 [Published]
Cernunnos arisen: the Celtic element in Geoffrey Hill's Mercian hymns
Horner, Avril (1994). In: Thomas, Neil, (eds.), Lewiston, U.S.: pp 47-59 [Published]
Virginia Woolf, history, and the metaphors of Orlando
Horner, Avril (1991). In: Easson, Angus, (eds.), Cambridge, U.K.: D.S. Brewer pp 70-87 [Published]
Walpole, the Gothic, and surrealism
Horner, Avril(2013). [Published]
Edith Wharton: sex, satire and the older woman
Horner, Avril and Beer, Janet(2012). [Published]
Apocalypses now: collective trauma and global gothic
Horner, Avril(2011). [Published]
Global gothic
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue(2010). [Published]
The gothic heroine: the reins of power and the conflicted self
Horner, Avril(2009). [Published]
The Gothic heroine revived
Horner, Avril and Zlosnik, Sue(2009). [Published]
Daphne du Maurier and the double dialogue with D
Horner, Avril(2007). [Published]