Imperialism, reform and the making of Englishness in Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë is usually thought to be imprecise about the time period of Jane Eyre. Working from a close chronology established from Brontë's historical allusions to West Indian slave rebellions, I propose to write a pioneering book about the novel and aspects of its reception, situating them and Brontë's juvenilia in relation to axes of reform politics in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s. I draw on innovative primary research on ....Imperialism, reform and the making of Englishness in Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë is usually thought to be imprecise about the time period of Jane Eyre. Working from a close chronology established from Brontë's historical allusions to West Indian slave rebellions, I propose to write a pioneering book about the novel and aspects of its reception, situating them and Brontë's juvenilia in relation to axes of reform politics in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s. I draw on innovative primary research on the articulation of gender, empire and Englishness in relation to these axes and address the implications of Brontë's invocation in 1847 of an earlier reform complex.Read moreRead less
The Dissemination and Control of Clandestine Writing in England 1695--1774. The literary underworld of the eighteenth century is the subject of serious academic pursuit internationally by literary historians, historians of sex and sexuality, philosophers and feminists. Australia's reputation will be enhanced by participating in this rapidly evolving field. Australia already has an internationally significant profile in bibliography and eighteenth-century literary studies due to a combination o ....The Dissemination and Control of Clandestine Writing in England 1695--1774. The literary underworld of the eighteenth century is the subject of serious academic pursuit internationally by literary historians, historians of sex and sexuality, philosophers and feminists. Australia's reputation will be enhanced by participating in this rapidly evolving field. Australia already has an internationally significant profile in bibliography and eighteenth-century literary studies due to a combination of outstanding scholars and resources. This project will enhance Australian strength in, and contribution to, the world-wide study of these two subjects. This study will also be informed by, and contribute to, the contemporary philosophical, religious and ethical debate concerning the distribution of contentious material.Read moreRead less
Insect societies and social butterflies: natural history and sociability in the Romantic period. During the eighteenth century, the Pacific islands and New Holland replaced America as the testing ground for ideas about the state of natural man and the origins of society. In looking at Enlightenment ideas about the natural, the human, and the social, this project will help us to learn more about ourselves as the dominant species.
Romantic Literary Celebrity and the Emergence of Modern Literary Culture, 1798-1910. This project will produce the first full-length study of Romantic literary celebrity (1798-1910). It will argue that a new form of literary fame emerged in the Romantic era, which required developed cultural and media markets. Romantic literary fame helped shape modern institutions of literary production and reception around tensions between popular cultures of celebrity and publicity and high-cultural concepts ....Romantic Literary Celebrity and the Emergence of Modern Literary Culture, 1798-1910. This project will produce the first full-length study of Romantic literary celebrity (1798-1910). It will argue that a new form of literary fame emerged in the Romantic era, which required developed cultural and media markets. Romantic literary fame helped shape modern institutions of literary production and reception around tensions between popular cultures of celebrity and publicity and high-cultural concepts of the literary artist. Using cultural history and cultural theory, the project examines transformations in the history of literary celebrity from its emergence to the modernist period by analysing intersections between literary culture and wider structures of sociability and sexuality.Read moreRead less
Portrait of a Lady: Victorian Women's Novels and the Construction of Female Subjectivity. This country enjoys an excellent reputation in the areas of feminism and Victorian Studies. This project will help keep Australia at the forefront of international scholarship in these fields by making a significant original contribution and by achieving the high level of visibility provided by a monograph with a major international publisher. More generally, 19th century England was a crucible for modern c ....Portrait of a Lady: Victorian Women's Novels and the Construction of Female Subjectivity. This country enjoys an excellent reputation in the areas of feminism and Victorian Studies. This project will help keep Australia at the forefront of international scholarship in these fields by making a significant original contribution and by achieving the high level of visibility provided by a monograph with a major international publisher. More generally, 19th century England was a crucible for modern conceptions of the self, and by examining the contribution of women writers to theories of identity and self-construction, the project will help us to learn more about ourselves. Read moreRead less