PACIFISM IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 'Pacifism in English Literature' will be a single author monograph examining and analysing English literature from the point of view of classical pacifist thought. It will be a development from my two former ARC-funded books, 'Natural Law in English Renaissance Literature' (1996) and 'Natural Rights in English Romanticism of the 1790s' (2001). This will be achieved by the same successful research process as the other books - by ARC funding giving teaching relief f ....PACIFISM IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 'Pacifism in English Literature' will be a single author monograph examining and analysing English literature from the point of view of classical pacifist thought. It will be a development from my two former ARC-funded books, 'Natural Law in English Renaissance Literature' (1996) and 'Natural Rights in English Romanticism of the 1790s' (2001). This will be achieved by the same successful research process as the other books - by ARC funding giving teaching relief for one semester per year for three years.Read moreRead less
Keats's Anatomy of Melancholy: Poems (1820) as a unified volume. The primary aim of this proposal is to research and publish the first sustained critical study of John Keats's important collection of poems, 'Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, And Other Poems' (1820). Considered as a volume in its own right, the collection exhibits principles of thematic and aesthetic unity as yet unnoticed. Whereas other books on Keats's poetry invariably deal with individual poems in the chronological order ....Keats's Anatomy of Melancholy: Poems (1820) as a unified volume. The primary aim of this proposal is to research and publish the first sustained critical study of John Keats's important collection of poems, 'Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, And Other Poems' (1820). Considered as a volume in its own right, the collection exhibits principles of thematic and aesthetic unity as yet unnoticed. Whereas other books on Keats's poetry invariably deal with individual poems in the chronological order of their composition, this project aims to focus on Keats's shaping of the contents into a considered structure, grounded in themes that create a unified whole and provide a new context for the individual poems.Read moreRead less
An interdisciplinary investigation of literary tourism and literary subjectivity. Literary tourism is an under-exploited cultural resource in Australia, despite well-organised tourism industries, an established literary canon, identifiable literary landscapes and locales, and strong links between literature and popular culture. Australia has much to learn from British literary tourism, with its established systems and advanced image marketing; and from a deeper understanding of reader-tourist mo ....An interdisciplinary investigation of literary tourism and literary subjectivity. Literary tourism is an under-exploited cultural resource in Australia, despite well-organised tourism industries, an established literary canon, identifiable literary landscapes and locales, and strong links between literature and popular culture. Australia has much to learn from British literary tourism, with its established systems and advanced image marketing; and from a deeper understanding of reader-tourist motivations and behaviours. This research lays the methodological foundations for essential and genuinely interdisciplinary research into Australian literary tourism, and establishes a partnership that promises to deliver palpable national benefits in this and future projects, advancing understanding of our region and the world.Read moreRead less
A critical study of the works of V.S. Naipaul. This project aims to study V.S. Naipaul, whose books defy the protocols of post-colonial theory. Literature students have met Naipaul’s books with outright denigration and unnerving silence, leading to an absence of serious engagement with the genesis of his works and their relationship to post-colonial criticism. This project will emphasise post-colonial texts rather than post-colonial theory and criticism. It will use the Naipaul Tulsa archive to ....A critical study of the works of V.S. Naipaul. This project aims to study V.S. Naipaul, whose books defy the protocols of post-colonial theory. Literature students have met Naipaul’s books with outright denigration and unnerving silence, leading to an absence of serious engagement with the genesis of his works and their relationship to post-colonial criticism. This project will emphasise post-colonial texts rather than post-colonial theory and criticism. It will use the Naipaul Tulsa archive to uncover the difficulty in the material itself. A close reading of textual variants, their transmission and reception is expected to show a post-colonial writer's struggle with form, aesthetics and ideology.Read moreRead less
A textual and critical study of Charlotte Brontë. This project aims to reinterpret Charlotte Brontë’s original novels, which are stranger, more unsettling, and more artistically and socially challenging than the available editions lead readers to believe. This strangeness, so apparent in her manuscripts, is moderated in all print versions of the novels because Brontë’s punctuation was radically altered by the printers who altered them for the first editions, with profound effects on the novels a ....A textual and critical study of Charlotte Brontë. This project aims to reinterpret Charlotte Brontë’s original novels, which are stranger, more unsettling, and more artistically and socially challenging than the available editions lead readers to believe. This strangeness, so apparent in her manuscripts, is moderated in all print versions of the novels because Brontë’s punctuation was radically altered by the printers who altered them for the first editions, with profound effects on the novels and their interpretation. This project will restore the original versions in a new scholarly print/digital edition, reproduce them along with the print versions in an innovative online critical archive of Brontë texts and contexts and analyse them in a book-length reinterpretation of the novels. In collaboration with prestigious international cultural institutions including The British Library, Morgan Library and Brontë Parsonage Museum, this project will create new ways for the general public to engage closely with some of the most important and least accessible documents of western literary heritage.
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Styles of Meaning-making in Poetry by Victorian Scientists. While much has been written about the attitudes of canonical poets to science in Victorian Britain, the complementary perspectives of scientists who wrote poetry have been entirely overlooked. What is most striking about their poetry (and indeed that of neglected feminist poets of the 1880s and 1890s which the study will also examine) is the agreeable relations that it, unlike canonical Victorian poetry and most scholarship in the area, ....Styles of Meaning-making in Poetry by Victorian Scientists. While much has been written about the attitudes of canonical poets to science in Victorian Britain, the complementary perspectives of scientists who wrote poetry have been entirely overlooked. What is most striking about their poetry (and indeed that of neglected feminist poets of the 1880s and 1890s which the study will also examine) is the agreeable relations that it, unlike canonical Victorian poetry and most scholarship in the area, sees to exist between poetry and science. The substantial revisionary monograph I propose will focus upon the discursive modes that scientists brought to their poetry and the ontologies which underpin them.Read moreRead less
Shakespeare and film genres. The monograph will enhance the reputation of Australian academicians as world experts in topical and important original research. It will also complement the flow of outstanding Australian films, by showing that the industry is supported by important and relevant academic scholarship. The research will also indirectly show that Australia, like all countries, is part of a global cultural community which is not only internationally diverse and plural but also a produ ....Shakespeare and film genres. The monograph will enhance the reputation of Australian academicians as world experts in topical and important original research. It will also complement the flow of outstanding Australian films, by showing that the industry is supported by important and relevant academic scholarship. The research will also indirectly show that Australia, like all countries, is part of a global cultural community which is not only internationally diverse and plural but also a product of history which includes literary and dramatic history. Read moreRead less
Rushdie Annotated: Definitive explanations of all obscure references in the Salman Rushdie corpus and extended critical commentaries on the author. In an Australia where the literary work of art now attends to issues which are multicultural, this reference text on Rushdie would show how crucial the creative use of language is in the formation of cultural identity. As a key spokesperson for liberal values, Rushdie and his works are informed by those communal values which have a direct bearing on ....Rushdie Annotated: Definitive explanations of all obscure references in the Salman Rushdie corpus and extended critical commentaries on the author. In an Australia where the literary work of art now attends to issues which are multicultural, this reference text on Rushdie would show how crucial the creative use of language is in the formation of cultural identity. As a key spokesperson for liberal values, Rushdie and his works are informed by those communal values which have a direct bearing on definitions of the Australian nation state. Ongoing debates in Australia about citizenship in a globalized world, about the relative autonomy of the literary work of art, about the links between culture and religion find valuable expression in Rushdie's works.Read moreRead less
Medieval war in modern imagination. This project analyses for the first time the growth of medievalist imaginations of war in Australia from colonial times onward. It also investigates for the first time the influence of medievalism on Australian war literature and cinema, exploring how common themes in the representation of Australian war - male group loyalty, anti-authoritarianism, self-sacrifice and posthumous honour - relate to medievalist traditions. The project is of great relevance to cur ....Medieval war in modern imagination. This project analyses for the first time the growth of medievalist imaginations of war in Australia from colonial times onward. It also investigates for the first time the influence of medievalism on Australian war literature and cinema, exploring how common themes in the representation of Australian war - male group loyalty, anti-authoritarianism, self-sacrifice and posthumous honour - relate to medievalist traditions. The project is of great relevance to current discussions of Australian national identity, and to the public conception of our military role in world and regional affairs, with special relevance to understandings of Australian masculinity, ethnicity and border defence.Read moreRead less
Books before printing: discovering technologies and culture from manuscripts to e-Books. This project identifies textual technologies before printing and tracks book-culture from manuscripts to e-books producing a smarter model for technological change, recasting methods of inquiry and initiating new international collaborations. Outcomes will provide digital access to rare and valuable medieval books and two new book-length studies.