This lecture will examine the ways in which the visual image (from fine art to film and even television) has permeated American fiction of the twentieth century. Professor Morley will discuss the ways in which a series of American writers have integrated the image, railed against it, or sought to mimic its forms in their writing. Drawing on books and short stories she has examined throughout her career, Professor Morley will offer her thoughts on why the image, whether static or moving, fascinates, perplexes and challenges the writer.

Professor Catherine Morley was educated in Ireland and received her BA and MA from University College Cork. During her MA she received the inaugural George J. Mitchell Peace Prize, under which she travelled to the University of Maine and developed her love of American literature. Following her MA she undertook an AHRC-funded PhD at Oxford Brookes University, which led to a UKRI Fellowship in the Cultures of Modernism. She joined the University of Leicester in 2008. She is Head of the School of Arts, Media and Communication.