Dr. Lacey Jones

Biography

Lacey Jones is a Lecturer in English at Yale University. Her current research traces a long intellectual arc of artistic conceptual movements, including Romanticism, Decadence, and Modernism, with a particular focus on self-conscious theory. Jones is engaged in a book project titled 'Breakdown: Modernity’s Metafictions,' which examines the longstanding critical promise of reflexivity from a reparative perspective. This project highlights a new intellectual history connected to the post-critical turn, moving away from what Eve Sedgwick referred to as 'hermeneutics of suspicion' towards methodologies that operate within the realm of language and affect. She argues for the importance of feeling in interpretation and the dynamics of representation in reality, as explored through metafiction. Additionally, her work includes a 21st-century reimagining of Robert Burton’s 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' which explores themes of despair and intimacy. At Yale, she teaches courses on melancholy and decay and works as an associate editor of the Yale Review. She is also a faculty affiliate with the Program in Humanities and Medicine at Yale Medical School, and her academic contributions can be found in notable journals such as Literature & Theology and Kenyon Review.

Research Interests

Courses