Prof Valerie Heffernan

    German Studies, School of Modern Languages, Motherhood Project, Arts and Humanities Institute

    Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies

    Arts Building
    30
    (01) 708 3708

    Biography



    Valerie Heffernan is Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies and Head of the Maynooth University School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures. She studied at University College Dublin, the Université de Lausanne (Switzerland) and the HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin (Germany). She received her PhD in 2004.

    Dr Heffernan's interdisciplinary research interests encompass feminist theory, cultural studies and literary studies. Her current work critically explores how motherhood is represented in contemporary literature and culture. Together with Gay Wilgus (CUNY), she recently edited a special issue of Women: A Cultural Review on “Imagining Motherhood in the Twenty-First Century”. This special issue will be republished in book form by Routledge in 2020. Other significant recent publications include Robert Walser: A Companion, co-edited with Samuel Frederick (Penn State) and published by Northwestern University Press in 2018.

    Valerie Heffernan is the recipient of a number of highly prestigious grants from the Irish Research Council, the Royal Irish Academy and the National University of Ireland, as well as scholarships from the Mexican Government, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and the Swiss Government Excellence programme, among others. In recent years, she has performed a number of leadership roles for the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission, assisting with the evaluation of a number of calls within the Horizon 2020 Excellent Science pillar.

    Research Interests



    Valerie Heffernan’s research interests encompass 20th and 21st century literature, feminist literary theory and cultural studies. She has published widely on contemporary German literature, with a particular focus on women writers and German-speaking Swiss writers. Her current research considers the representation of mothers, mothering and motherhood in contemporary European literature and culture. From 2014-2016, she was Principal Investigator of a research project entitled “The Cultural Transmission of Motherhood in Europe: A Case Study”, for which she was awarded a prestigious Irish Research Council Research Project Grant.


    Post Doctoral Fellows/Research Team

      Researcher Name Project Role Funding Body
    Egle Kackute Motherhood and Migration: Between Languages, Cultures and Identities Post Doctorate Irish Research Council (IRC)
    Katherine Stone Sexual Violence in German Memory since 1945 Post Doctorate
    Kira Janina Collins The Non-Traditional (M)Other: The Representation of Young Motherhood and Ambivalent Motherhood in Contemporary German and Irish Films Postgraduate student Irish Research Council (IRC)

    Books

      Year Publication
    2007 Provocation from the Periphery. Robert Walser Re-examined.
    Heffernan, Valerie (2007) Provocation from the Periphery. Robert Walser Re-examined. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann. [Details]

    Edited Books

      Year Publication
    2021 Imagining Motherhood in the Twenty-First Century
    Valerie Heffernan and Gay Wilgus (Ed.). (2021) Imagining Motherhood in the Twenty-First Century London: Routledge. [Details]
    2018 Robert Walser: A Companion
    Samuel Frederick and Valerie Heffernan (Ed.). (2018) Robert Walser: A Companion Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. [Details]
    2013 Transitions: Emerging Women Writers in German-language Literature
    Valerie Heffernan & Gillian Pye (Ed.). (2013) Transitions: Emerging Women Writers in German-language Literature Amsterdam: Rodopi. [Details]
    2010 Schweiz schreiben. Zu Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Mythos Schweiz in der Gegenwartsliteratur
    Jürgen Barkhoff & Valerie Heffernan (Ed.). (2010) Schweiz schreiben. Zu Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Mythos Schweiz in der Gegenwartsliteratur Tübingen: De Gruyter. [Details]

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2021 '#regrettingmotherhood in Germany: Feminism, motherhood, and culture'
    Heffernan V.;Stone K. (2021) '#regrettingmotherhood in Germany: Feminism, motherhood, and culture'. Signs, 46 (2):337-360 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2018 'Mending the Torn Fragments of a Relationship: An Interview with Sarah Strong'
    Heffernan, V (2018) 'Mending the Torn Fragments of a Relationship: An Interview with Sarah Strong'. Women: A Cultural Review, 29 :97-111 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2018 'Introduction: Imagining Motherhood in the Twenty-First Century - Images, Representations, Constructions'
    Heffernan, V;Wilgus, G (2018) 'Introduction: Imagining Motherhood in the Twenty-First Century - Images, Representations, Constructions'. Women: A Cultural Review, 29 :1-18 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2017 'Dementia narratives in contemporary German women’s writing'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2017) 'Dementia narratives in contemporary German women’s writing'. Journal of Romance Studies, 13 (3):361-378 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2010 'Swimming against the current? Rolf Lappert's Nach Hause schwimmen'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2010) 'Swimming against the current? Rolf Lappert's Nach Hause schwimmen'. FIGURATIONEN: GENDER-LITERATUR-KULTUR, 1 :113-127 [full-text] [Details]

    Book Chapters

      Year Publication
    2021 'International Responses to Regretting Motherhood'
    Valerie Heffernan & Katherine Stone (2021) 'International Responses to Regretting Motherhood' In: Angela Fitzgerald (eds). Women’s Lived Experiences of the Gender Gap. Singapore: Springer. [DOI] [Details]
    2018 'Introduction. Robert Walser: Modernist at the Margins'
    Heffernan, Valerie and Samuel Frederick (2018) 'Introduction. Robert Walser: Modernist at the Margins' In: Heffernan, Valerie and Samuel Frederick (eds). Robert Walser: A Companion. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. [Details]
    2018 'Parodies of Power: Robert Walser's Dramatic Scenes'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2018) 'Parodies of Power: Robert Walser's Dramatic Scenes' In: Heffernan, Valerie and Samuel Frederick (eds). Robert Walser: A Companion. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. [Details]
    2015 'Matrilineal Narrative and the Feminist Family Romance'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2015) 'Matrilineal Narrative and the Feminist Family Romance' In: Hester Baer and Alexandra Merley Hill (eds). German Women’s Writing in the Twenty-First Century. Rochester, NY: Camden House. [full-text] [Details]
    2015 'Versstücke, Szenen und Dialoge der Berner Zeit'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2015) 'Versstücke, Szenen und Dialoge der Berner Zeit' In: Robert Walser Handbuch. Stuttgart: Metzler. [Details]
    2014 'Mediating the Mommy Wars in Contemporary Germany'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2014) 'Mediating the Mommy Wars in Contemporary Germany' In: Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Gayle Letherby (eds). Stay-at-Home Mothers: Dialogues and Debates. Bradford, ON: Demeter Press. [full-text] [Details]
    2013 'Perspectives on the Borderline: Julia Franck's lagerfeuer'
    Valerie Heffernan (2013) 'Perspectives on the Borderline: Julia Franck's lagerfeuer' In: Valerie Heffernan and Gillian Pye (eds). Transitions: Emerging Women Writers in German-language Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi. [full-text] [Details]
    2013 'Trends and Transitions in Contemporary German-language Writing by Women'
    Valerie Heffernan and Gillian Pye (2013) 'Trends and Transitions in Contemporary German-language Writing by Women' In: Valerie Heffernan and Gillian Pye (eds). Transitions: Emerging Women Writers in German-language Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi. [full-text] [Details]
    2011 'Julia Franck, Die Mittagsfrau: Historia Matria and Matrilineal Narrative'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2011) 'Julia Franck, Die Mittagsfrau: Historia Matria and Matrilineal Narrative' In: Emerging German-Language Novelists of the Twenty-First Century. Rochester, NY: Camden House. [full-text] [Details]
    2010 'Einleitung: ›Mythos Schweiz‹. Zu Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Schweizerischen in der Literatur'
    Heffernan, Valerie & Jürgen Barkhoff (2010) 'Einleitung: ›Mythos Schweiz‹. Zu Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Schweizerischen in der Literatur' In: Schweiz schreiben. Zu Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Mythos Schweiz in der Gegenwartsliteratur. Tübingen: De Gruyter. [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2010 'Unschweizerische Schweizerliteratur? Ruth Schweikert, Peter Stamm, Zoë Jenny'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2010) 'Unschweizerische Schweizerliteratur? Ruth Schweikert, Peter Stamm, Zoë Jenny' In: Schweiz schreiben. Zu Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Mythos Schweiz in der Gegenwartsliteratur. Tübingen: De Gruyter. [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2008 'Robert Walser: Lange wohnte sie nun schon im Turm der Geduld'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2008) 'Robert Walser: Lange wohnte sie nun schon im Turm der Geduld' In: Prose Project: Irish Germanists interpret German Short and Very Short Narrative Texts. Konstanz: Hartung-Gorre Verlag. [full-text] [Details]
    2008 'Nicht wahr, es klingt so schoen. Zur Musik des Walser-Textes'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2008) 'Nicht wahr, es klingt so schoen. Zur Musik des Walser-Textes' In: Bildersprache Klangfiguren. Spielformen der Intermedialitaet bei Robert Walser. Munich: Wilhelm Fink. [full-text] [Details]
    2007 'Walter M. Diggelmanns Die Hinterlassenschaft and the landscape of Swiss Vergangenheitsbewältigung'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2007) 'Walter M. Diggelmanns Die Hinterlassenschaft and the landscape of Swiss Vergangenheitsbewältigung' In: From the Margins to the Centre: Irish Germanists on Swiss Culture and Literature. Bern: Peter Lang. [full-text] [Details]
    2007 'Walsers hybride Subjekt. Zur dramatischen Szene Die Chinesin/Der Chinese'
    Heffernan, Valerie (2007) 'Walsers hybride Subjekt. Zur dramatischen Szene Die Chinesin/Der Chinese' In: Robert Walsers Ferne Nähe. Neue Beiträge zur Forschung. Munich: Fink. [Details]

    Conference Contributions

      Year Publication
    2015 Ageing: Histories, Mythologies and Taboos.
    Valerie Heffernan (2015) Ageing: Histories, Mythologies and Taboos. [Oral Presentation], Dementia Narratives in Contemporary German-language Literature: Memory, Legacy, Identity, University of Bergen, Norway , 30-JAN-15 - 31-JAN-15 [Details]
    2015 Popular Culture Association Conference.
    Valerie Heffernan (2015) Popular Culture Association Conference. [Oral Presentation], Motherhood in Contemporary German Young Adult Fiction, New Orleans, USA , 01-APR-15 - 04-APR-15 [Details]
    2015 Women and Ageing: New Cultural and Critical Perspectives.
    Valerie Heffernan (2015) Women and Ageing: New Cultural and Critical Perspectives. [Oral Presentation], Ageing Maternal Bodies, Ageing Maternal Minds: Contemporary Narratives of Dementia, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland , 20-MAY-15 - 22-MAY-15 [Details]
    2015 Missing, presumed dead: Absent Mothers in the Cultural Imagination.
    Valerie Heffernan (2015) Missing, presumed dead: Absent Mothers in the Cultural Imagination. [Oral Presentation], The Murdered Mother of YA Fiction: Alina Bronsky’s Broken Glass Park (2008), Umeå University, Sweden , 12-JUN-15 - 13-JUN-15 [Details]
    2015 Ageing and Dementia in Recent German-language Literature.
    Valerie Heffernan (2015) Ageing and Dementia in Recent German-language Literature. [Oral Presentation], Women's Ageing in Contemporary Women's Writing, King's College London, UK , 21-JUL-15 [Details]
    2016 Trauma and Gender in 20th Century European Literature.
    Valerie Heffernan (2016) Trauma and Gender in 20th Century European Literature. [Oral Presentation], Reproducing Trauma, Reproducing Motherhood: War and its Aftermath, University of Strathclyde, Scotland , 11-MAR-16 - 12-MAR-16 [Details]
    2019 Mediating Motherhood.
    Valerie Heffernan (2019) Mediating Motherhood. [Oral Presentation], #regrettingmotherhood in Germany: Feminism, Motherhood, and Culture, Maynooth University, Ireland , 29-MAR-19 - 29-MAR-19 [Details]
    2019 Robert-Walser Sculpture.
    Valerie Heffernan (2019) Robert-Walser Sculpture. [Oral Presentation], Parodies of Power: Robert Walser’s Dramatic Scenes, Biel, Switzerland , 10-JUL-19 - 10-JUL-19 [Details]
    2020 Motherhood and Mothering in Literary, Medical and Media Narratives.
    Valerie Heffernan (2020) Motherhood and Mothering in Literary, Medical and Media Narratives. [Oral Presentation], Transnational Matrilineal Narratives in Contemporary German Women’s Writing, Uppsala University, Sweden , 14-OCT-20 - 16-OCT-20 [Details]
    2021 Doing Women's Film & Television History.
    Valerie Heffernan (2021) Doing Women's Film & Television History. [Oral Presentation], Matrescence and TV comedy series The Letdown and Workin’ Moms, Maynooth University , 10-JUL-21 - 11-JUL-21 [Details]

    Book Review

      Year Publication
    2017 German Women Writers and the Spatial Turn: New Perspectives.
    Heffernan, V (2017) German Women Writers and the Spatial Turn: New Perspectives. MADISON: Book Review [Details]
    2014 Review of Reproducing Women: Family and Health Work Across Three Generations by Marilyn Porter and Diana L. Gustafson.
    Heffernan, Valerie (2014) Review of Reproducing Women: Family and Health Work Across Three Generations by Marilyn Porter and Diana L. Gustafson. Book Review [Details]
    2013 The Limits of Language. Preserving Unrest.
    Heffernan, Valerie (2013) The Limits of Language. Preserving Unrest. LONDON: Book Review [Details]
    2009 Paul Klee: Poet/Painter.
    Heffernan, Valerie (2009) Paul Klee: Poet/Painter. LEEDS: Book Review [Details]

    Conference Hosted

      Year Publication
    2014 Bracha Ettinger and The Matrixial .
    Moynagh Sullivan, Valerie Heffernan, Tina Kinsella (2014) Bracha Ettinger and The Matrixial . Conference Hosted [Details]
    2015 Motherhood and Culture Conference.
    Moynagh Sullivan, Valerie Heffernan, Susan Gottlöber, Tanya Cassidy (2015) Motherhood and Culture Conference. Conference Hosted [Details]
    2013 Emerging Women Writers Workshop.
    Heffernan, Valerie (2013) Emerging Women Writers Workshop. Conference Hosted [Details]
    2006 Mythos Schweiz? Zur Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Schweizerischen in der Gegenwart.
    Heffernan, Valerie (2006) Mythos Schweiz? Zur Konstruktion und Dekonstruktion des Schweizerischen in der Gegenwart. Conference Hosted [Details]

    Honours and Awards

      Year Title Awarding Body
    2011 Mexican Government Scholarship for Foreigners
    2002 University College Dublin Faculty of Arts Fellowship
    2000 IRCHSS Government of Ireland Scholarship
    2000 University College Dublin Open Postgraduate Scholarship
    1997 Swiss Government Scholarship
    1998 Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Scholarship

    Committees

      Committee Function From / To
    Faculty Research Committee Chair 2013 / 2016

    Education

      Year Institution Qualification Subject
    2004 University College Dublin Ph.D
    1995 University College Dublin M.A.
    1993 University College Dublin B.A. (Hons)

    Teaching Interests

    Professor Heffernan is one of the conveners of Maynooth University's elective stream on "Gender and Sexuality in Society and Culture", which comprises modules IS201 and IS202.