MARTA MIQUEL-BALDELLOU

Marta Miquel-Baldellou has a degree in English Studies with outstanding Award and an International Doctorate in English Studies from the University of Lleida. She has a postgraduate degree in Literary Studies specializing in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from the Open University of Catalunya and a Master's degree in Women's Studies, Gender and Citizenship from the University of Barcelona. She is a member of the research group Grup Dedal-Lit of the Department of English and Linguistics of the University of Lleida, specialized in the study of cultural gerontology in the field of humanities and a member of the European Network of Aging Studies.  

She has participated in different research projects related to literary studies and cultural gerontology financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, such as "Perceptions of Old Age in Contemporary Literature written in English" (BFF2000-1076), led by Dr. Brian Worsfold, and "Ageing and Gender in Contemporary English Literary Creation" (FFI2012-37050), led by Dr. Núria Casado, in which her research focused on the study of the late short fiction of the English writer Daphne du Maurier. She has also collaborated as a researcher in European projects in the fields of creativity and cultural gerontology such as "Stories for a Possible Europe," led by Dr. Fidel Molina-Luque, and "SIforAGE," under the supervision of Dr. Elena Urdaneta.

During her doctoral studies she received a Research Training Grant (AGAUR-FI) as well as a Research Fellowship (AGAUR - BE2) which she undertook in the English Department of the University of Leicester in the UK. Regarding gender studies, she received the "IV Cristina de Pizan Research Fellowship" which served to finance her research to carry out her final work for the Master's Degree in Equal Opportunities for Women at the University of Lleida. Recently she has received the "Maria Teresa Turell Postdoctoral Research Scholarship", granted by the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies (AEDEAN), to carry out a research project in the field of comparative literature and narratology.

Her areas of research include age and ageing studies, comparative literature, popular fiction, cultural studies, and gender studies. In the framework of these specialties, she has presented papers at national and international conferences and has published articles in journals and volumes of international publishers such as Transcript Verlag, Peter Lang, Cambridge Scholars Publishing and Farleigh Dickinson University Press

Her research work within the framework of the current project "Ageing, Quality of Life and Creativity in Narrative" (FFI2016-79666-R) focuses on the study of the late fiction of contemporary English writer Susan Hill.   

SCIENTIFIC OUTPUT OF THIS PROJECT:

Book Chapters:

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “‘Now, I Was That Old Man’: Images of Aging and the Mirror of Old Age in Susan Hill’s The Mist in the Mirror.” Understanding the Discourse of Aging: A Multifaceted Perspective. Eds. Vicent Salvador and Agnese Sampietro. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020. 217-232. (ISBN 978-1-5275-5785-7)

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “‘Children Were Terrified of Her’: Interpreting Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black as a Folktale.” Contemporary Fairy-Tale Magic: Subverting Gender and Genre. Eds. Lydia Brugué and Auba Llompart Pons. Leiden: Brill/Rodopi, 2020. 189-200. (ISBN 978-9-0044-1898-1)

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “‘I may be retired ― however, I am still a very busy man’ Recollecting and Reimagining through Aging and Mentorship in Mitch Cullin’s A Slight Trick of the Mind.” Re-Discovering Age(ing): Narratives of Mentorship. Eds: Núria Casado-Gual, Emma Domínguez-Rué and Maricel Oró-Piqueras. Wetzlar: Transcript, 2019. 29-45. (ISBN: 978-3-8376-4396-1).  

Journal Articles:

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “‘I Wanted to Be Old’: Gender and Aging in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and Susan Hill’s Mrs de Winter.” 1616: Anuario de la Sociedad Española de Literatura General y Comparada 8 (2018): 87-105. (ISSN 0210-7287).

SCIENTIFIC OUTPUT IN PARALLEL WITH THE PROJECT AND DIRECTLY RELATED TO ITS MAIN TOPIC:

Journal articles:

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “A Ghost ‘Dressed in Deep Black’? Evoking Dracula through Victorian Gothic and Gender Archetypes in Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black.” Verbeia 6 (2021): 112-134. (ISSN 2444-1333). 

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “’The  End Lies in the Beginning’ Embracing Childhood and Old Age in Susan Hill’s Ghost Novels The Small Hand and Dolly.” International Research in Children’s Literature 14.3 (2021): 315-329. (ISSN 1755-6198). 

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “Masculinities in Distress: Aging and Gender Trouble in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Caxtons.” Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies (Special Issue on Age and Gender: Aging in the Nineteenth-century)13.2 (2017): 1-13. (ISSN 1556-7524)

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “Disrupting Dictates of Gender and Ageing through Creativity: Daphne du Maurier’s Writing Persona in The Breaking Point.” Frame: Journal of Literary Studies (Special Issue on Ageing Lines) 30.1 (2017): 49-66. (ISSN 0924-7750)

Conference Papers:

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “Aging in Circles: A Twilight Portrait of an Aging Lady in Richard Matheson’s Night Call and Spur of the Moment.” Fear of Ageing: Old Age in Horror Fiction and Film. Universidade do Porto, Portugal. Online Conference. 17 July 2021. 

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. "'He Had Turned into a Picture': Neo-Victorian Representations of Victorian Corporeal Aesthetics of Ageing in Susan Hill's The Man in the Picture." Progressive Connexions: Interdisciplinary Life: The Stories Bodies Tell. Oxford, UK. Online Conference. 24-25 July 2021.

Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “‘The stock character of a middle-aged woman?’ Rediscovering The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone through Age and Gender Performance.” Conference: Cultural Narratives, Processes and Strategies in Representations of Age and Aging. Joint Conference of ENAS (European Network of Aging Studies) and NANAS (North-American Network of Aging Studies). University of Graz, Austria. 2017.