Transforming the early modern archive: the Emmerson Collection at SLV. In 2015, State Library Victoria (SLV) received the bequest of the Emmerson Collection: a national treasure of over 5000 early modern rare books and manuscripts, the first and only early modern archive of scale to be held by an Australian institution. Bringing together experts in early modern studies and the digital humanities with specialist library staff, this project will uncover the contents and scope of the collection and ....Transforming the early modern archive: the Emmerson Collection at SLV. In 2015, State Library Victoria (SLV) received the bequest of the Emmerson Collection: a national treasure of over 5000 early modern rare books and manuscripts, the first and only early modern archive of scale to be held by an Australian institution. Bringing together experts in early modern studies and the digital humanities with specialist library staff, this project will uncover the contents and scope of the collection and promote its international scholarly significance to the wider world. In doing so, it will develop new digital tools designed to unlock the value of this unique public resource for a wide range of end-users.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100615
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$387,863.00
Summary
Digitisation and the immersive reading experience. This project aims to investigate how reading and literature work in the post-print age. Digitisation is the future of the preservation of and access to Australia's literary and cultural record and yet its implementation is not well understood. This project will investigate what determines forms of digitisation, which books are digitised, who can access them and how these changes influence our reading experiences. The project will use digitisatio ....Digitisation and the immersive reading experience. This project aims to investigate how reading and literature work in the post-print age. Digitisation is the future of the preservation of and access to Australia's literary and cultural record and yet its implementation is not well understood. This project will investigate what determines forms of digitisation, which books are digitised, who can access them and how these changes influence our reading experiences. The project will use digitisation cases studies to generate a history of digitisation and the policies that govern it. The project will develop recommendations for cultural infrastructure projects, nationally and internationally. This project will provide significant benefits including improved knowledge and policy for the future protection and development of digital text technologies.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100854
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,204.00
Summary
The Female Voice in Ancient Philosophical Dialogues. This project aims to conceptualise and communicate how a major innovation was accepted in the ancient world, when women for the first time began to serve as intellectual role-models for both men and women. This project will create a ground-breaking narrative of female intellectuals over 800 years of history. The expected outcome is a new history of the role women played in the intellectual life in the ancient world, and a new understanding of ....The Female Voice in Ancient Philosophical Dialogues. This project aims to conceptualise and communicate how a major innovation was accepted in the ancient world, when women for the first time began to serve as intellectual role-models for both men and women. This project will create a ground-breaking narrative of female intellectuals over 800 years of history. The expected outcome is a new history of the role women played in the intellectual life in the ancient world, and a new understanding of how their voices were used as authorities on certain issues in philosophy and the good life. In addition, reflection on how this innovation was accepted historically will help modern attempts to advance the social cohesion of men and women, especially in the intellectual life. Read moreRead less
Precarious Borders: The Nation-State and the Arab Diaspora Novel. This project aims to shed new light on diaspora voices in debates about the formation and narration of nations to argue for a more inclusive view of the nation and to challenge the dominance of canonical literature in these debates. Arab writing is closely tied to its diaspora, making it particularly significant for probing how fiction registers the transformative effects of migration on our grasp of the nation. Spanning four dias ....Precarious Borders: The Nation-State and the Arab Diaspora Novel. This project aims to shed new light on diaspora voices in debates about the formation and narration of nations to argue for a more inclusive view of the nation and to challenge the dominance of canonical literature in these debates. Arab writing is closely tied to its diaspora, making it particularly significant for probing how fiction registers the transformative effects of migration on our grasp of the nation. Spanning four diaspora sites and a century of writing, potential outcomes include a diaspora-focused approach to reassess the nation from a transnational perspective, a new awareness of the value of diaspora writers’ engagement with the nation, and the vital repositioning of Arab-Australian writing in this field of world literature.Read moreRead less
Future fables: literature, evolution and artificial intelligence. The future of AI is a site of considerable philosophical and cultural anxiety in the West. Given the future of AI is currently only available to publics through literary or fictional tropes, it is vital that we investigate the historical evolution of these literary or fictional tropes of AI to understand its future direction. This project aims to understand (1) how the post-Darwinian literary imagination has shaped our current anx ....Future fables: literature, evolution and artificial intelligence. The future of AI is a site of considerable philosophical and cultural anxiety in the West. Given the future of AI is currently only available to publics through literary or fictional tropes, it is vital that we investigate the historical evolution of these literary or fictional tropes of AI to understand its future direction. This project aims to understand (1) how the post-Darwinian literary imagination has shaped our current anxieties about AI and (2) how literary and scientific writers after Darwin rethink the future of the human species by imagining the co-evolution of humans, animals and machines. Expected outcomes of the project include conceptual resources to understand the human-nonhuman relation and the future of AI.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101206
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$329,246.00
Summary
Provincial Poets and the Making of a Nation. This project aims to rediscover, document and analyse prominent regional voices swept aside by the powerful forces constructing national identity in nineteenth-century France in order to argue for a more positive view of provincialism and challenge the division between central and peripheral cultures. Expected outcomes of this project include a more inclusive and representative literary canon, a new awareness of the crucial role of regional poets in t ....Provincial Poets and the Making of a Nation. This project aims to rediscover, document and analyse prominent regional voices swept aside by the powerful forces constructing national identity in nineteenth-century France in order to argue for a more positive view of provincialism and challenge the division between central and peripheral cultures. Expected outcomes of this project include a more inclusive and representative literary canon, a new awareness of the crucial role of regional poets in the formation of the modern nation state, a new and advanced 'transregional' theoretical framework to revalue the potential of locality and place, as well as a wealth of novel evidence in support of public debates aimed at bridging the urban-rural divide in Australia, France and beyond. Read moreRead less
The Oulipo Group and literary invention. This project aims to explain the emergence of the Oulipo group, a new force in world literature based in France. The project will contribute to the broader search for points of fruitful contact between abstract reasoning and artistic practice. It will provide a new theoretical account of the Oulipo's writing practice, an explanation of how that practice relates to similar currents in contemporary writing around the world, and improved access to the group’ ....The Oulipo Group and literary invention. This project aims to explain the emergence of the Oulipo group, a new force in world literature based in France. The project will contribute to the broader search for points of fruitful contact between abstract reasoning and artistic practice. It will provide a new theoretical account of the Oulipo's writing practice, an explanation of how that practice relates to similar currents in contemporary writing around the world, and improved access to the group’s recent work via translation. Among the anticipated benefits are a deeper understanding of literary form and its historical development, and a mapping of the areas in which the Oulipo's innovative approach to writing is yet to be tried.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101675
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$419,950.00
Summary
War-Widow, Mother, Slave, Refugee: Andromache in Romantic Europe. This project aims to uncover how Andromache, a prominent classical figure in the Trojan wars, was represented and deployed to shape the literature, politics and culture of Romantic-era Europe. Its expected outcome is a significant reassessment of an understudied figure, focusing on her portrayals as a grieving widow, slave and refugee in times of national crisis and change, especially the Napoleonic wars. Its innovative method com ....War-Widow, Mother, Slave, Refugee: Andromache in Romantic Europe. This project aims to uncover how Andromache, a prominent classical figure in the Trojan wars, was represented and deployed to shape the literature, politics and culture of Romantic-era Europe. Its expected outcome is a significant reassessment of an understudied figure, focusing on her portrayals as a grieving widow, slave and refugee in times of national crisis and change, especially the Napoleonic wars. Its innovative method combines literary studies, musicology, cultural and material history, and emotions history. The project intends to strengthen Australia’s leading role in Romantic studies, enrich cultural life, and foster community reflection on the significant challenges of migration, refugees, gender and violence, war and emotions.Read moreRead less
The International Orwell: Case Studies from Eastasia, Oceania and Eurasia. This project aims to reorient our understanding of George Orwell via case studies of different zones demarcated in Nineteen Eighty-Four: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Its significance derives from uncovering and assessing for the first time Orwell's diverse, evolving international importance. The project will produce innovative area studies that integrate literary criticism, international political history, and studies i ....The International Orwell: Case Studies from Eastasia, Oceania and Eurasia. This project aims to reorient our understanding of George Orwell via case studies of different zones demarcated in Nineteen Eighty-Four: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Its significance derives from uncovering and assessing for the first time Orwell's diverse, evolving international importance. The project will produce innovative area studies that integrate literary criticism, international political history, and studies in publishing, translation and adaptation. These studies will fashion the new figure of an International Orwell. The expected outcome will be a radical re-evaluation Orwell's literary, cultural and political impact. The benefit will be a fuller understanding of the most important political writer of the last century. Read moreRead less
Journals in Theory: Practices of Academic Judgment. This project aims to examine the way key journals transformed the discipline of literary studies from 1946 to now. It expects to generate new knowledge of how editorial practices of academic judgement institutionalised and legitimated new modes of reading, thinking and writing. Based on archival research on journals including Critical Inquiry, Tel Quel and The Australian Journal of Cultural Studies, the project's outcomes will show how, in brin ....Journals in Theory: Practices of Academic Judgment. This project aims to examine the way key journals transformed the discipline of literary studies from 1946 to now. It expects to generate new knowledge of how editorial practices of academic judgement institutionalised and legitimated new modes of reading, thinking and writing. Based on archival research on journals including Critical Inquiry, Tel Quel and The Australian Journal of Cultural Studies, the project's outcomes will show how, in bringing together new intellectual passions, governance structures and imagined readerships, journals bestowed on criticism its current working definition. Expected benefits include a better account of the relationship between conceptual innovation and institutional mechanisms for research integrity.Read moreRead less