Dr Isabelle Wentworth

National School of Arts and Humanities

Isabelle Wentworth

Areas of expertise: literary studies; cognitive literary criticism; Hispanic literature

Email: isabelle.wentworth@acu.edu.au

ORCID link: 0000-0001-5608-5670

Isabelle is a lecturer in the School of Arts and Humanities at ACU. She completed her PhD at the University of NSW in 2019.

Her research operates at the intersection of literary criticism, cognitive science, and cultural studies. She is interested, broadly, in empathetic interactions between readers and literary texts. Her research has looked at issues such as why and how we read, the effects texts have on readers, and the emotional and ethical implications of literature. Her first monograph, Catching Time: Temporality, Interaction, and Cognition in the Novel, proposes a novel account of interactive narrative time, using research on empathy to understand how characters and readers can 'share' a moment, and how this modulates both interpersonal dynamics and textual effects. Her other projects have been published in journals of literary theory, cognitive science, Australian literature and Latin American literature.

Select publications

Books

  • Wentworth, I, 2024, Catching Time: Temporality, Interaction, and Cognition in the Novel, Routledge.

Edited books and special issues

  • Vernay, J.F, Wehrs, D & Wentworth, I, 2024, The Productivity of Negative Emotions in Postcolonial Literature,
  • Wentworth, I, Kilroy, R & Nara, V, 2020, "Bodies of Work", Special issue, Philament: A Journal of Literature, Arts, and Culture, 26.1.
  • Eldridge, B & Wentworth, I, 2018, "Peripherality." Special Issue, Philament: A Journal of Literature, Arts, and Culture, 24.2.

Journal articles and book chapters

  • "Interactive Narrative Time", in Unorthodox Minds: Innovative Exchanges Between Cognitive Studies, Narrative Theory and Contemporary Fiction, eds. G. Maziarczyk and J. Klara Teske, Routledge (2024).
  • "An Introduction to Negative Emotions in Postcolonial Literature", The Productivity of Negative Emotions in Postcolonial Literature, eds. D. Wehrs, I. Wentworth, J.F. Vernay, Routledge.
  • "Fear and Figures of the so-called 'Global South'", in The Productivity of Negative Emotions in Postcolonial Literature, eds. D. Wehrs, I. Wentworth, J.F. Vernay, Routledge.
  • "A Systematic Literature Review of Attitudes, Intentions, and Behaviours of Teaching Academics Pertaining to AI and Generative AI in Higher Education" (with S. Nikolic; S. Sheridan, E. Duursma, R. Jones, R. Middleton & S. Moss), Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. (forthcoming).
  • "The Fluid Dynamics of Queer Desire: Ellen van Neervan's "Water" and Lía Chara's Agua", Journal of Modern Literature. (forthcoming),
  • "The Aporia of Anxiety in First Nations Poetry", The Journal of Postcolonial Writing. (forthcoming).
  • "Neurocognitive Interpretations of Australian Literature" (2023), Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 1, 142-147.
  • "Bodies and Technologies in Los cuerpos del verano" (2022), Textual Practice, 1, 1-20.
  • "La aritmética que encarna 'El cuerpo en que nací' de Guadalupe Nettel" (2022), (with Martin Garcia Calle). Acta Literaria, 64, 59-77.
  • "Cycles Of Time And Space In Isabel Allende's La casa de los espíritus." (2022), Hispanic Studies Review, 6.1.
  • "Cognitive Literary Studies Down Under" (2021), Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 1, 172-183.
  • "Embodiment and the Animal in Guadalupe Nettel's 'El matrimonio de los peces rojos'" (2021), Revista de crítica literaria latinoamericana, 9.16.
  • "Direct Social Perception of Intersubjective Time" (2021), Cognitive Systems Research, 69.1, 91-103.
  • "Subjective Time, Place, and Language in Lisa Gorton's The Life of Houses" (2021), Journal of Literary Semantics, 50.2, 107-125.
  • "Bodies of Work: An Introduction" (2020), Philament, 26.1, 1-8.
  • "Body Time: A Cognitive Perspective on Don DeLillo's The Body Artist" (2019), Poetics Today, 40.4, 699-720.
  • "Autism & Absurdism: Philosophical Ramifications of Cognitive Criticism in Camus' L'Etranger" (2015), Journal of Camus Studies, 1, 133-160.

Projects

  • "AI Integration in Tertiary Education", with S. Sheridan, S. Nikolic, E. Duursma, R. Jones, R. Middleton & S. Moss. Global Challenges.
  • "AI Bias in Multilingual Texts", forthcoming.

Awards

2023 UOW Global Challenges Grant 'AI Integration in Tertiary Education'

2020 UNSW Dean's Award for Best HDR Publication

2015-18 Australian Postgraduate Award

2015-18 UNSW Academic Excellence Award

2018 UNSW Exceptional Achievement grant

UNSW Postgraduate Research Scholarship

External Research Grant

2017 International World Literature Annual Session scholarship

Online Study Australia Scholarship

Public engagement

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