Close
Dr Erin Goeres
Associate Professor
SELCS
Faculty of Arts & Humanities
- Joined UCL
- 1st Sep 2013
Research summary
I am currently writing a book about the representation of 1066 in the literatures of England, Normandy, and Scandinavia. My study brings together historiography from all three regions, as well as saints' lives, romance, and myth. I am particularly interested in how trauma, memory, and negative emotions are portrayed in literature, and how medieval authors adapt the same story for different audiences.
My doctoral thesis examined the social functionsof commemorative skaldic verse during the Viking age and has since been published as Poetics of Commemoration: Skaldic Verse and Social Memory, c. 890-1070 (Oxford University Press, 2015). In this book I trace the evolution of commemorative poetry from its rootsin the disparate kingdoms of pre-Christian Scandinavia through to its emergenceas a highly crafted, Christian art form in the eleventh century. I argue that that poeticcommemoration played a key role in the construction of a shared history andidentity for members of the elite, courtly communities of early medievalScandinavia.
Teaching summary
I teach a number of modules on Old Norse language and literature for undergraduate and postgraduate students. I also contribute to modules on Scandinavian literature and history, medieval English and French literature, and poetry from the medieval to the modern period.
Biography
I received my doctorate from the University of Oxford English Faculty in 2010. I also hold an MA in Medieval Studies from the University of York and a BA(Hons) in English Literature and French Studies from the University of Winnipeg, Canada. After completing my doctorate I lectured in medieval languages and literature for two years at the University of Oxford before taking up a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto. I joined UCL in September 2013.