Bibliography

This is a bibliography of academic writing that discusses Swift’s work from the perspective of literature and related fields such as gender and media studies. I have also included selected work in the field of literature and music more broadly, mostly focusing on discussions of Bob Dylan (this is based on my personal interests; people write much more widely than this about music and literature!) And finally, I have given a brief list of theoretical works at the end that I think inform this field.

This is very much a work in progress. I will update this when I can, but I can’t promise to do so more frequently than every six months. Do let me know in the comments or by sending me a message if you know of (or have written!) something I should include.

Academics writing in popular media

Bate, Jonathan, “Why Taylor Swift is a literary giant — by a Shakespeare professor,” The Sydney Morning Herald (reprinted from The Times)

Doyle, Clio, Studies in Taylor Swift (and this newsletter, obviously)

McCausland, Elly, Swifterature

Semler, Liam, “Should Taylor Swift be taught alongside Shakespeare? A professor of literature says yes,” The Conversation

Swift and Literature (this is obviously a little hard to separate out from the category below but I’m specifically including anything that is mostly about Swift as an author or that talks about her relationship to literature):

Hibbett, Ryan (ed.), Lit-Rock: Literary Capital in Popular Music, London: Bloomsbury, 2022. [Note: especially the introduction by Hibbett and the chapter by Weishun Lu].

McNutt, Myles, “From ‘Mine’ to ‘Ours’: Gendered Hierarchies of Authorship and the Limits of Taylor Swift’s Paratextual Feminism,” Communication, Culture and Critique, 13(1), 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcz042.

Tontiplaphol, Betsy Winakur and Anastasia Klimchynskaya, eds., The Literary Taylor Swift: Songwriting and Intertextuality, London: Bloomsbury, 2024. [Note: this is forthcoming October 2024].

Taylor Swift and Music/Media/Gender/Celebrity Studies

Cullen, Shaun, “The Innocent and the Runaway: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, and the Cultural Politics of Racial Melodrama. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 28(1), 2016, https://doi.org/10.1111/jpms.12160.

Dubrofsky, Rachel, “A Vernacular of Surveillance: Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus Perform White Authenticity,” Surveillance & Society, 14(2), 2016, https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v14i2.6022.

Dyer, Elizabeth, “Whitewashed African Film Sets: Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams and King Solomon’s Mines,” The African Studies Review, 59(3), 2016, 10.1017/asr.2016.93.

Fitzgerald, Jon and Philip Hayward, "Mountain Airs, Mockingjays and Modernity: Songs and their Significance in The Hunger Games," Science Fiction Film and Television, 8 (1), 2015, Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/572286.

Fogarty, Mary and Gina Arnold, “Taking Taylor Seriously,” Contemporary Music Review, 40(1), 2021, https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2021.1976586. [Note: this is a special issue on Swift].

Franssen, Gaston, ed., "Policing the Celebrity of Taylor Swift,” Celebrity Studies, 13(1), 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2022.2026148. [Note: this contains a special issue of the Forum section on Swift].

Fuller, Glen. “The #tay4hottest100 New Media Event: Discourse, Publics and Celebrity Fandom as Connective Action,” Communication Research and Practice 4(2), 2018, https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2017.1295221.

Galloway, Kate, “Listening Strategies, Fandom, and the Sonic Environments of Taylor Swift Podcasting,” Journal of Popular Music Studies, 35 (4), 2023, https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2023.35.4.91.

Isaksen, Judy and Nahed Eltantawy, “What Happens when a Celebrity Feminist Slings Microaggressive Shade?: Twitter and the Pushback Against Neoliberal Feminism,” Celebrity Studies, 12(4), 2021, https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2019.1678229.

McGrath, John, “The Return to Craft: Taylor Swift, Nostalgia, and Covid-19,” Popular Music and Society, 46(1), 2023, 10.1080/03007766.2022.2156761.

Morris, Amelia, “Drew a map on your bedroom ceiling: fandoms, nostalgic girlhood and digital bedroom cultures in the Swiftie-sphere,” Celebrity Studies, 10.1080/19392397.2024.2338540

Nisbett, Gwendelyn and Stephanie Schartel Dunn, ‘Reputation Matters: Parasocial Attachment, Narrative Engagement, and the 2018 Taylor Swift Political Endorsement’, Atlantic Journal of Communication, 29(1), 2021, https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2019.1704758.

Ordoñez, Olivia, ““I’m Still Trying Everything to Keep You Looking at Me”: Taylor Swift and the Autotheoretical Construction of Public Selves,” Feminist Studies 49(2-3), 2023, 10.1353/fem.2023.a915915. [Note: I haven’t read this yet - I have to wait for the British Library to get unhacked for access to it.].

Prins, Annelot, “From Awkward Teen Girl to Aryan Goddess Meme: Taylor Swift and the Hijacking of Star Texts,” Celebrity Studies, 11(1), 2020, https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2020.1704431.

Werner, Ann, Feminism and Gender Politics in Mediated Popular Music, London: Bloomsbury, 2022.

Wilkinson, Maryn, ‘Taylor Swift: the Hardest Working, Zaniest Girl in Show Business….’ Celebrity Studies, 10(3), 2019, https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2019.1630160.

On Music and Literature More Broadly (Mostly Bob Dylan-Related)

Bowden, Betsy, Performed Literature: Words and Music by Bob Dylan, Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2001.

Dettmar, Kevin, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Dylan, Bob, The Nobel Lecture, London: Wymer Publishing, 2017.

Frith, Simon and Andrew Goodwin, On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word, London: Routledge, 1990.

Frith, Simon, Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Ricks, Christopher, Dylan's Visions of Sin, Edinburgh: Canongate, 2011.

Cultural Studies, Media studies, and Sociology

Bourdieu, Pierre, tr. Richard Nice, Distinction : A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, London: Routledge, 1984.

Fiske, John, Understanding Popular Culture, London: Routledge, 1989.

Hennion, Antoine, tr. Margaret Rigaud, The Passion for Music: A Sociology of Mediation, London: Routledge, 2015.

Jenkings, Henry, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, London: Routledge, 1992.

McLuhan, Marshall, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, London: Sphere Books, 1971.