Jennifer Nolan
Bio
Dr. Nolan’s research falls at the intersection of two interrelated domains: twentieth-century American literature and periodical studies. Her scholarship focuses on F. Scott Fitzgerald, the short story, and illustration, with particular emphasis on the cultural, historical, editorial, and visual contexts of popular American magazines in the first half of the twentieth century. She received her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park and teaches courses that incorporate interdisciplinary methods to explore twentieth-century U.S. literature, art, and cultures. She serves on the board of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society and was the program director for its 14th International Conference held in Saint Paul, MN in 2017.
Research Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles & Book Chapters
“Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age Magazine Market.” The Routledge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Philip McGowan, Ross Tangedal, and Helen Turner. Forthcoming 2026
“‘The Eyes of America:’ Illustration at the Saturday Evening Post.” Journal of Modern Periodical Studies special issue “‘Seen and Read Everywhere:’ The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 16, no. 1, 2025, pp. 9-26.
“‘Once More the Belt is Tight:’ The Rise and Fall of Fitzgerald’s Career at the Saturday Evening Post.” The Bloomsbury Handbook to F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Laura Rattray and Linda Wagner-Martin, 2025: 305-318.
Introduction. The Complete Magazine Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1921 – 1924, edited by Jennifer Nolan and Alexandra Mitchell, University of Edinburgh Press, 2023, pp. xi-xxxiii.
“Illustrating ‘Winter Dreams’ in Context.” The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 19, 2022, pp. 32-53
“The Clues on the Cover: Scribner, P. D. James, and the Making of a Literary Reputation.” Mean Streets: A Journal of American Crime and Detective Fiction, vol 2, Spring 2021, pp. 13-30.
“Langston Hughes: Refugee in the Post‘s America.” American Periodicals, vol 29, no. 2, September 2019. 163-177.
“The Car as a Vehicle for Teaching Ernest Gaines’s ‘A Long Day in November.'” Approaches to Teaching Gaines’s The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Other Works, edited by John Lowe, Modern Language Association of America, 2019. 212-218.
“May Wilson Preston and the Birth of Fitzgerald’s Flapper: Illustrating Social Transformation in ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair.” Journal of Modern Periodical Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, 2017. 56-80.
“Reading ‘Babylon Revisited’ as a Post Text: F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Horace Lorimer, and the Saturday Evening Post Audience.” Book History, vol. 20, 2017. 351- 373.
“Visualizing ‘The Rich Boy:’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, F. R. Gruger, and the Red Book Magazine. The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 15, 2017. 17-33.
“Gearing Up for War: Faulkner’s ‘Two Soldiers’ and the Saturday Evening Post.” Faulkner and Print Culture, edited by Jay Watson and Jaime Harker, University of Mississippi Press, 2017. 108-120.
“Towards a Life History of Reading.” Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History vol. 3, 2011, pp. 35-58.
Edition
Editor, The Complete Magazine Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1921 – 1924, edited by Jennifer Nolan and Alexandra Mitchell, University of Edinburgh Press, 2023.
Recent Presentations
Gatsby’s Apotheosis – from the Swinging 60s Onward: Charles Scribner III in Conversation with Jennifer Nolan. The 17th International F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Conference, New York, June 2025.
Plenary, Gatsby @100. “Beyond ‘Doctor Eckleburg’s Persistent Stare:’ Revisiting Chapter 2 in 2025.” The 17th International F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Conference, New York, June 2025.
“‘The Eyes of America:’ Illustration, Literature, and Jazz Age Popular Magazines.” Illustration Symposium for Jazz Age Illustration exhibition. Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington, DE. December 2024
“Entertaining Millions: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jazz Age Magazines.” Fitzgerald Birthday Celebration. F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival, October 2024. Online Presentation
Keynote Speaker: “F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jazz Age Mass Media.” Signature Scholars Research Program, O’Neal School, Southern Pines, NC, May 2024
Roundtable Participant: Modernist Lost and Found. Modernist Studies Association, Brooklyn NY, October 2023
“’Rags Martin-Jones,’ McCall’s, and the Prince of Wales.” The 16th Annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Conference, Sweden, June 2023
Invited Speaker: “F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age Magazine.” F. Scott Fitzgerald McDermott Lecturer, Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, September 2022
“‘This is a Magazine:’ Fitzgerald and ‘the American Periodical World.’” Panel organizer and speaker. Fitzgerald Summer School, F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, June 2021
Panelist, The Fitzgerald Pandemic Webinar Series, Episode 6: “The Short Stories, Volume 1.” Sponsored by Gatsby in Connecticut/Against the Grain Productions. December 18, 2020
“Repatriating Fitzgerald’s Americans in the Saturday Evening Post.” Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, & Publishing (SHARP) Annual Conference. Amherst, MA, July 2019
“‘Now Once More the Belt is Tight:’ ‘Summon[ing] the Proper Expression of Horror’ in Fitzgerald’s Post Stories of the Early 1930s.” Place and Placelessness: The 15th International F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Conference, Toulouse, France, June 2019
“Cosmopolitan Magazine and the Art of Commerce: Illustration, Advertising, and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” Hemingway in Paris: 18th International Hemingway Conference, Paris, France, July 2018
Education
Ph.D. American Studies University of Maryland, College Park
M.A. English Language and Literature University of Virginia
B.A. English and Philosophy University of Texas at Austin