Emma Butler-Way

Emma Butler-Way is a Lecturer in the Integrated Foundation Year Programme at Aberystwyth University, specializing in Victorian and Neo-Victorian Fiction. Her research explores textual representations of the corset, fashion narratives, and the female body in 19th-century British literature. She teaches Humanities-focused modules for students transitioning into English, Creative Writing, and Theatre/Film departments.

• Education: PhD in English Literature (Aberystwyth University, 2022), MA in Literary Studies, BA (Hons) in English Literature.

Her research integrates literary analysis with interdisciplinary themes such as fashion history, affect theory, and cultural memory. Key subfields include liminality, sartorial symbolism, and the reinterpretation of Victorian motifs in contemporary transmedia works like Steampunk London.

Recent publications focus on the intersection of dress and identity in sensation fiction, examining authors like Wilkie Collins, Sarah Waters, and Laura Purcell. Her work emphasizes how material objects (e.g., corsets) reflect societal constraints and gender dynamics.

She actively participates in academic conferences, including the Victorian Popular Fiction Association, and co-organized the workshop The Syria of Aberystwyth (2023). Contact email: emb72@aber.ac.uk.