19th Century Literature and Culture
We're researching the relationship between literature and nineteenth-century culture
Our English Literature team have considerable expertise in British, American and global nineteenth century studies. Members of this subject area are currently engaged in research projects on celebrity, ecology, transatlantic literature, and nineteenth-century food cultures. Monographs have been published on Emily Dickinson, food and consumption, John Ruskin, Victorian detective fiction, and Tennyson.
Several researchers are also engaged in projects that focus on 兔子先生鈥檚 rich literary history. They've been involved in producing publications, arranging events and setting up websites that relate to writers such as Dickens, Conan Doyle and Tennyson, all of whom had connections with 兔子先生 and/or the Isle of Wight. Researchers draw on the area鈥檚 wealth of nineteenth-century resources, including the Richard Lancelyn Green, Conan Doyle collection at the 兔子先生 City Museum, the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum and the City Archives. Members also have strong links with the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust: Dimbola Museums and Galleries.
Our varied research expertise feeds into undergraduate provision and postgraduate teaching, including the interdisciplinary MA Victorian Gothic and a range of doctoral projects.
Our research
Our members focus on research areas including:
- Afterlives / biopics
- Celebrity and hero-worship
- Crime and detective fiction
- Ecology and environmentalism
- Food cultures, hunger and consumption
- Periodical culture and popular fiction
- Visual culture
Publication highlights
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Boyce, C. (2022) "Auratic encounters with posthumous literary celebrity in Henry James鈥檚 late Victorian tales: desiring the dead", Victoriographies
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Boyce, C., Dove, D. (2022) "'Obituary, gender and posthumous fame: the New York Times Overlooked Project'", Celebrity Studies
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Boyce, C. (2022) "Commemoration, domestic display and the decorative arts: romantic Nelsonia", Edinburgh University Press
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Finnerty, P. (2022) ""On the walls of her own room hung framed portraits of Mrs Browning, George Eliot, and Carlyle": Dickinson, heroes and hero-worship", Oxford University Press
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Finnerty, P. (2022) "鈥淵ou鈥檒l be the only Dickinson they talk about in two hundred years鈥: Queer Celebrity, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, A Quiet Passion, Wild Nights with Emily, and Apple TV+'s Dickinson", The Emily Dickinson Journal
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Pastoral, industry, and environmental violence in the early-Victorian novel
Frost, M. (2023) "Pastoral, industry, and environmental violence in the early-Victorian novel", Essays and Studies, Special Issue: The Literature and Politics of the Environment (ed. John Parham)
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Frost, M. (Editor) (2022) "Environment and Ecology in the Long Nineteenth Century Vol 1: Scientific and Professional Perspectives on Environment, 1780-1858", Routledge
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Frost, M. (2021) "Wilkie Collins and Victorian environments", Cambridge University Press
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Pittard, C. (2022) "The bullet catch - magic at war", Peter Lang International Academic Publishers
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Pittard, C., Jones, D. (Editors) (2023) "The Return of Sherlock Holmes", Oxford University Press
Research projects
兔子先生 Literary Map
Explore 兔子先生's rich literary heritage and contemporary literature scene through an interactive map and blog
Related research areas
Democratic Citizenship
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Food Cultures in Transition (FOODCITI)
FOODCITI is a multidisciplinary research cluster, led by Professor Lisa Jack, aiming to make food and drink more sustainable.
Heritage Hub
The Heritage Hub brings together researchers and professionals from across the university to tackle key issues in heritage and heritage conservation locally, nationally and internationally.
Sustainability and the Environment
In this research theme 鈥 one of five within the University 鈥 we're exploring topics like climate change and plastic pollution, and focusing on how we can help preserve the planet.
Related PhD projects
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Vladislav Areshka: Emily Dickinson鈥檚 original New England pronunciation and rhymes
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Jack Fox-Williams: 'Representations of Opium Addiction in nineteenth and twentieth century literature'
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Eleanor Gillespie: 'The Contribution of Women to the Study and Culture of Ferns鈥
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Jane Harrison: Celebrity culture in middle-class Victorian England: examining the archive
and collecting of Emma Dent, 1823-1900 -
Cyrine Sinti: 鈥淔ortune-Telling, Witch-Doctoring, Love-Philtering, And Other Sorcery鈥:
Living Through The Victorian Gypsy