G19C Reading Group
The Global 19th Century Studies reading group is intended to be an informal reading group for PhD students and early career researchers across departments, who are interested in thinking about the many ways in which we can read literary and cultural texts in relation to historical conditions and interactions around the world in the nineteenth century.
The Group intends to expand the usual focus on Britain in Victorian Studies to include other geographical areas. The Group is also particularly interested in networks of relations between different areas in the world in the nineteenth century, rather than on geographical areas treated as discrete entities.
Permanent faculty members are welcome to attend, but discussions will be led by postgraduate students and postdocs.
Upcoming Events:
Reading group session
We would like to invite all PhD students, postdocs and faculty members to attend our upcoming session on the rather salacious topic of "Victorian Prostitution". We will be asking how "Victorian" this phenomenon is, and how we could study this phenomenon from a transnational perspective that looks at the migration of women into and out of Britain. This topic seems quite under-researched, so we would be glad if you could come along and join the discussion.
Date: 25th May 2016 (Wednesday)
Time: 5-6pm
Venue: Seminar Room 1, Wolfson Research Exchange, Library Floor 3
Recommended readings:
Walkowitz, Judith. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class and the State (1980) - Chapter "The Common Prostitute in Victorian Britain"
E-book available through the Warwick library catalogue
Slater, Stefan. "Pimps, Police and Filles de Joie: Foreign Prostitution in Interwar London." The London Journal 32.1 (2007)
See attached PDF.
Walter. My Secret Life (1888) extracts
See attached PDF.
Tromp, Marlene, Maria K. Bachman, and Heidi Kaufman, eds. Fear, Loathing and Victorian Xenophobia (2013) - Introduction
See attached PDF.
We hope to see many 19th Century enthusiasts there! Please drop me a line at W dot Y dot Loh at warwick dot ac dot uk if you're interested in coming.
Reading group session
The Group will be holding its next meeting on 25th February (Thursday). This session, we'll be reading two recent critical works that look at how we can read Victorian literature (or literature in general) in relation to the transnational movements of things and people.
Date: 25th February 2016 (Thursday)
Time: 5pm - 6pm
Venue: Seminar Room 3, Wolfson Research Exchange, Library Level 3
Readings:
Levine, Caroline. "From Nation to Network." Victorian Studies 55.4 (2013): 647-666.
Wagner, Tamara S. "Introduction: Narrating Domestic Portability: Emigration, Domesticity, and Genre Formation." Victorian Settler Narratives: Emigrants, Cosmopolitans, and Returnees in Nineteenth-Century Literature. Ed. Tamara S. Wagner. London: Taylor and Francis, 2015.
(Both readings are available online through the Warwick library.)
Braddon, Mary E. Lady Audley's Secret (1862) (optional case study)
If you're interested in joining our reading group, please drop me an email at W dot Y dot Loh at warwick dot ac dot uk
Outing to "Liberty in Fashion" exhibition
The reading group is organising an outing to the "Liberty in Fashion" exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. This is going to be a follow-up to our earlier session on Indian textiles in 19th-century British novels, but don't worry if you missed the earlier session. People working on the global textile trade, Orientalism, Aestheticism, and 19th-century consumer culture might find this of interest too. Everyone is welcome to join us!
Date: 5th December 2015 (Saturday)
Time: 2pm
Venue: Fashion and Textile Museum, London
Ticket price: £6 for students
We'll be meeting at the London Bridge Tube station (Northern and Jubilee lines), at 2pm. You'll have to buy your own tickets online in advance (no free tickets this time, I'm afraid). Here's the link:
"Liberty in Fashion" exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum
If you're interested, drop me an email at W dot Y dot Loh at warwick dot ac dot uk so that I have an idea how many people are going.
Summer field trip to Knebworth House *UPDATED*
We are organising a summer field trip to Knebworth House, the historic family home of the Victorian novelist Edward Bulwer Lytton, and a major heritage tourist attraction and filming location today.
The IAS Travel and Mobility Studies Network has very generously offered to cover the admission fees to Knebworth.
Date: 12th September (Saturday)
Time: 10:00 at King's Cross train station (in London), at the platform for the 10:22 train to Stevenage
The train should arrive at Stevenage at 10:46. We'll then share a cab from Stevenage to Knebworth, and arrive at Knebworth when the house opens at 11:00.
Tickets to the House, Park, and Gardens normally cost £12.50 per adult, but we have funding to cover the cost of admission. Admission will be FREE OF CHARGE!! So please don't miss this opportunity!!
Please let us know if you'd like to join in. I can be contacted at W dot Y dot Loh at warwick dot ac dot uk.
We hope to see many of you at Knebworth!
Recommended readings to be announced soon! As this is a reading group, after all :)
Organisers:
Waiyee Loh
PhD student
English and Comparative Literary Studies
W dot Y dot Loh at warwick dot ac dot uk
Chiaki Ohashi
PhD student
English and Comparative Literary Studies