Rate My Professor Caroline Webb

Associate Professor Caroline Webb serves in the School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science at the University of Newcastle, Australia, specializing in English literature since 1900, with a particular focus on fantasy literature. She completed her PhD in English Literature and Language at Cornell University, supported by a Fulbright Postgraduate Travel Grant and the Andrew D. White Fellowship, as well as a Master of Arts from Cornell and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney. After her PhD, she taught as Assistant Professor in the English Department at Wellesley College in Massachusetts from 1987 to 1995. She joined the University of Newcastle in July 1995 as a Lecturer in English, was promoted to Senior Lecturer in January 2002, and to Associate Professor in January 2016.

Webb's research investigates the politics of form through subtle textual details in Modernist works, particularly Virginia Woolf, and applies feminist affective narratology to authors like Angela Carter and Jeanette Winterson. Her ongoing projects encompass British fantasy literature of the 1920s and representations of guilt in English children’s literature. She published the scholarly monograph Fantasy and the Real World in British Children’s Literature: The Power of Story with Routledge in 2014, analyzing the children's fantasies of J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett, and Diana Wynne Jones. Notable publications also include “ ‘A different logic’: Animals, transformation, and rationality in Angela Carter’s ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ ” (Marvels & Tales, 2017, co-authored with Helen Hopcroft), chapters on narration in Winterson’s fairy tales, and analyses of Carter’s Bloody Chamber stories, Joyce’s Portrait, and Woolf’s polemics. Among her honors are the 2015 Faculty of Education and Arts Dean’s Award for Research Supervision Excellence, the 2014 Australian Office of Learning and Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, and the 2012 University of Newcastle Career Enhancement Fellowship for Academic Women. She has undertaken significant administrative roles, including Head of the Discipline of English and Writing, multiple Deputy Head of School positions, Assistant Dean (Teaching and Learning), and President of the Australasian Children’s Literature Association for Research (2018-20). Her teaching expertise spans narrative and representation, modern British literature, women’s writing since 1900, and science fiction and fantasy genres.