Spinoza and literature for life: A practical theory of art. This project aims to construct a Spinozistic theory of art that shows how the enjoyment of art promotes the art of living well. Many artists have celebrated the inspirational force of Spinoza’s philosophy on their works, but philosophers have denied or neglected the relevance of his philosophy to art. By working across literary and philosophical resources, this project will show how Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist writers drew on his ....Spinoza and literature for life: A practical theory of art. This project aims to construct a Spinozistic theory of art that shows how the enjoyment of art promotes the art of living well. Many artists have celebrated the inspirational force of Spinoza’s philosophy on their works, but philosophers have denied or neglected the relevance of his philosophy to art. By working across literary and philosophical resources, this project will show how Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist writers drew on his thought. This project expects to contribute to Spinoza studies, philosophy and literature and ethics, and show how and why artistic enjoyment is essential for human health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Literature and Science in the Early Middle Ages. This project aims to investigate the interplay between early medieval science and the literary imagination. The project focuses on Anglo-Saxon England, which provides a fully developed and well-preserved vernacular literary record, beside a learned Latin literary culture. It aims to investigate an important reciprocal relationship at a transitional moment in Western culture: the ways scientific learning influenced the early medieval literary imagi ....Literature and Science in the Early Middle Ages. This project aims to investigate the interplay between early medieval science and the literary imagination. The project focuses on Anglo-Saxon England, which provides a fully developed and well-preserved vernacular literary record, beside a learned Latin literary culture. It aims to investigate an important reciprocal relationship at a transitional moment in Western culture: the ways scientific learning influenced the early medieval literary imagination, and how the literary imagination influenced early medieval science. Study of the relationship between science and literature provides an insight into how people have understood the world around them and their relationship with it, interpreted in the light of inherited knowledge and the imagination.Read moreRead less
Complex Words: Literary Judgments in the British Commonwealth, 1920-1970. Examining the 'traffic' in ideas about literature between Britain and Australia in the context of a broad comparative study will add a historical perspective to contemporary debates over globalization and 'cultural imperialism', and Australian culture's place in those debates. Because the project engages with questions that are studied extensively by historians elsewhere in the world, it will integrate Australian history f ....Complex Words: Literary Judgments in the British Commonwealth, 1920-1970. Examining the 'traffic' in ideas about literature between Britain and Australia in the context of a broad comparative study will add a historical perspective to contemporary debates over globalization and 'cultural imperialism', and Australian culture's place in those debates. Because the project engages with questions that are studied extensively by historians elsewhere in the world, it will integrate Australian history further into European and North American discussions of imperialism and the circulation and reception of ideas and books.Read moreRead less
Germany in China: Colonial Interactions, Qingdao 1897-1914. The project will assist in increasing Australia's knowledge base about both colonialism in general and social change in China; to add to Australia's international reputation as a major center of research on China; and to provide additional information on local development in Qingdao, a major growth area in East China, that assists those engaged in government and business relations.
Antipodean America: Australasia, colonialism, and the constitution of US literature. This project will revise the cultural histories of Australia and the United States by showing the broad extent of Australasian influence on the construction of American literature and national identity since the 1780s.
Reading Children in Early Modern Culture. This project will offer new understandings of childhood as a historically- and culturally-contingent construct that will impact on perceptions of childhood in twenty-first-century Australia. It will use local and international archives to uncover a variety of early modern texts that were produced for children but have not yet been considered in terms of child readership. It is important to explore the significant historical links between children and lit ....Reading Children in Early Modern Culture. This project will offer new understandings of childhood as a historically- and culturally-contingent construct that will impact on perceptions of childhood in twenty-first-century Australia. It will use local and international archives to uncover a variety of early modern texts that were produced for children but have not yet been considered in terms of child readership. It is important to explore the significant historical links between children and literature as it will enable us to access the history of this marginalized group and will result in a more nuanced understanding of the cultural processes of educating children and the important role of literature in defining childhood identities, issues that continue to be relevant today.Read moreRead less
Women's Poetry and Classicism in Early Modern England, 1500-1700. The primary national/community benefit of the project is the charting of how women pursued sophisticated education and imaginative literary expression despite the gender-biased structures of exclusion prevalent in early modern England. The period from Isabella Whitney's first published book (1567) to Margaret Cavendish's (1653) sees nothing less than the first emergence of Englishwomen as publishing authors. It is of great importa ....Women's Poetry and Classicism in Early Modern England, 1500-1700. The primary national/community benefit of the project is the charting of how women pursued sophisticated education and imaginative literary expression despite the gender-biased structures of exclusion prevalent in early modern England. The period from Isabella Whitney's first published book (1567) to Margaret Cavendish's (1653) sees nothing less than the first emergence of Englishwomen as publishing authors. It is of great importance that this historical emergence be interrogated because it will help us understand how women rose from domestic silence to public voice, how they turned masculine classical resources to 'feminist' ends, and how the idea of the woman writer developed in England in the age of print. Read moreRead less
Linguistic Structures and Identity in a Multicultural Society: Idiolect and Social Dialect in the Zenon Archive. This project offers a unique insight into the linguistic facet of multiculturalism in Hellenistic Egypt. It will be the first study to combine newly developed electronic tools with existing resources in order to interpret linguistic structures and identity. The distinctive language of individuals within the speech community (idiolects) and the distinctive language of social groups wit ....Linguistic Structures and Identity in a Multicultural Society: Idiolect and Social Dialect in the Zenon Archive. This project offers a unique insight into the linguistic facet of multiculturalism in Hellenistic Egypt. It will be the first study to combine newly developed electronic tools with existing resources in order to interpret linguistic structures and identity. The distinctive language of individuals within the speech community (idiolects) and the distinctive language of social groups within that speech community (social dialects) will be analysed. The anticipated outcome will be a powerful and transferable model for interpreting individual and group identity in Greek and other languages.Read moreRead less
A Critical Investigation into the Life and Writings of Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850). Insofar as our culture was and to a large extent remains a development of the culture of Britain during the Romantic period, and of its often conflicting ideas of nature and subjectivity, individualism and nationalism, my research into Jeffrey's career and writings will bring benefit to Australia by making conceptual advances in key areas of our cultural and political history. The only places where Francis Jeffre ....A Critical Investigation into the Life and Writings of Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850). Insofar as our culture was and to a large extent remains a development of the culture of Britain during the Romantic period, and of its often conflicting ideas of nature and subjectivity, individualism and nationalism, my research into Jeffrey's career and writings will bring benefit to Australia by making conceptual advances in key areas of our cultural and political history. The only places where Francis Jeffrey's enormously influential 'Edinburgh Review' was read more avidly than in Britain in the early decades of the nineteenth century were in the ex-colony of America and in British colonies like Australia. Read moreRead less
The medieval town imagined: representations of urban culture in medieval literature. As the size and number of towns in north-west Europe expanded from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, the cultural response to economic and social changes produced by urbanisation was articulated in literary texts. The project aims to examine ways in which towns and urban culture are represented in medieval English, Welsh and French literature, foregrounding the attitudes constructed by the texts towards town ....The medieval town imagined: representations of urban culture in medieval literature. As the size and number of towns in north-west Europe expanded from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, the cultural response to economic and social changes produced by urbanisation was articulated in literary texts. The project aims to examine ways in which towns and urban culture are represented in medieval English, Welsh and French literature, foregrounding the attitudes constructed by the texts towards towns, townspeople and the impact of the urban economy. The resulting monograph and database of references will provide new evidence for the competitive relationships between feudal nobilities and emerging urban elites.Read moreRead less