Have you written a physical book I can buy?
Three! I cry a lot but I am so productive! They are:
Stars Around My Scars: The Annotated Poetry of Taylor Swift.
Bake It Off: Tasty Taylor Swift-Inspired Bakes (out 2 Oct)
Swifterature. A Love Story: English Literature and Taylor Swift (Out 4 Nov)
You can ask your local bookshop to order them for you, or buy online.
How did you get the idea for Swifterature and English Literature (Taylor’s Version)?
I was inspired by the connections I kept noticing between Taylor’s songs and works of English literature. This became even clearer to me with folklore and evermore, and with ‘The Great War’, from Midnights (read more about this here), and I decided to take the chance. I wanted to see what my students would think of it, and to show connections between older literary works and modern popular culture. Older texts (e.g. those from the 10th century) can often seem inaccessible and irrelevant, particularly if English is not one’s first language (as is the case with many of my students), and I wanted to show that such texts often deal with timeless themes, themes still being explored by Taylor today, just in different ways. Creating and examining these ‘red threads’ is the primary aim of English Literature (Taylor’s Version).
How did you come up with the ideas for your classes?
I sat down when I created the module and thought of some themes raised by her songs, which I could relate to literature. I then picked 3-5 songs for each theme. Some were easy: in the class on elegy, we look at all her songs about death and grief, so that was easy to select. Some are harder: in the class on feminism, there are a lot of options to choose from, so I had to be more selective. In the end I ended up doing two sessions on feminism, one on writing and power, and one on the antihero or unlikeable protagonist.
Do you just sit in class and listen to Taylor and read her lyrics?
No. Students are asked to listen to several songs before each seminar, and we spend the first half an hour or so discussing the lyrics, in order to draw out themes that we then relate to works of English literature, from the 10th century to the 19th. You can find more details on what we do in class on the blog.
Is English Literature (Taylor’s Version) taught online? Can I have your lecture recordings?
Unfortunately not, and I do not record my classes (they are seminars, not lectures, so there is a lot of student participation and discussion). If I ever do branch out into hybrid teaching, I’ll let you know.
Can I sign up for English Literature (Taylor’s Version)?
The class is taught September to January at Ghent University (Belgium). You must either be registered at a Belgian university to take part (either as a home or Erasmus/exchange student), or sign up on a ‘credit contract’, for which there is a fee. You must have (BA or MA-level) experience of English literature to sign up.
What do you think about some of the negative reactions to English Literature (Taylor’s Version)?
I’ve written about this here. TLDR: I shake it off.
Why is Taylor Swift so popular?
The age-old question.
1: Because she has a song, and lyrics, for every mood and situation. She deals with themes that are timeless, themes that have surfaced throughout the ages in literature and culture.
2: Because although she deals with very relatable themes, she also does so using highly specific details from her own life, which prompt us to reflect on our own lives in similar detail and thus, somewhat paradoxically, find her work even more relatable.
3: You can’t deny that her songs are catchy as hell.
4: She has managed to maintain an intimacy with her fans, and a ‘girl next door’ persona, against all odds (despite, for example, achieving billionaire status).
Can I interview you for my school or university project?
I’m so sorry, but I get hundreds of requests like this, and I just don’t have the time to reply to them all. You can find a lot of information on this website, however.
Why do you support Taylor when she is ruining the planet with her private jet usage, or not speaking out about Palestine?
I’ve written in detail on this here. TLDR: I certainly don’t pretend Taylor is perfect, nor is that the idea I promote to my students. In fact, I encourage them to think critically about everything Taylor-related and to examine their own fandom with fresh eyes.
Is Taylor a feminist icon?
Although I think there are problems with Taylor’s feminism (I think of it as ‘feminism lite’ – a kind of aesthetically pleasing, very uncontroversial brand of feminism designed at least in part to sell merchandise), anything that gets people thinking more about the gendered power imbalance in our world is a positive thing. She’s a huge inspiration to many, and also to me, and I think the work she has done to shake up the music industry is very empowering. If she encourages people, particularly young women, to embrace their emotions, to love themselves, to carry on when life gets tough, then that’s a good thing, to my mind. Equally, I do have some reservations, not least because it is a very white form of feminism that may feel unrelatable to many.
Is Taylor Swift the new Shakespeare?
I believe this is the wrong question to ask. Clio Doyle has written eloquently on this here.
Will Taylor Swift win the Nobel Prize for Literature like Bob Dylan did?
Again, I’m not sure this is the right question to ask. We would be better off asking why Dylan won that prize, what it tells us about how we perceive and evaluate popular culture and alternative cultural forms, and whether Taylor Swift has changed this in a similar way to Dylan. (But, if you want my honest opinion: I doubt it. I feel like the committee awarded that prize to Dylan to make a point about what literature is and can be, and that point has been made now).
Have you been contacted by Taylor Swift herself/her team?
Believe me, you’d hear about it if I had.
How long have you been a Swiftie?
Since I heard ‘I’d Lie’ and ‘I’m Only Me When I’m With You’ back in 2006.
What is your favourite Taylor Swift song/era?
Completely depends on my mood, but if I had to choose a top three, they would be ‘All Too Well (10 minute version)’; ‘Style’; and ‘Treacherous’. My favourite era is 1989.
Swifterature 