Bowers of Bliss: Literary and Cultural Representations of Luxury in Early Modern England, 1580-1630. Luxury consumption is now commonplace in western societies including our own. It is also the subject of intense moral and ethical debate and part of an international discussion about human well-being. Our desire to consume has a long and complex history which is elucidated by early modern representations of luxury and by their recourse to enduring myths, symbols and rituals, still associated with ....Bowers of Bliss: Literary and Cultural Representations of Luxury in Early Modern England, 1580-1630. Luxury consumption is now commonplace in western societies including our own. It is also the subject of intense moral and ethical debate and part of an international discussion about human well-being. Our desire to consume has a long and complex history which is elucidated by early modern representations of luxury and by their recourse to enduring myths, symbols and rituals, still associated with luxury today. As a credit-based society addicted to luxury consumption, Australia is part of an ongoing global discussion about consumption, morality and society: this project will expand our contribution to that debate, while also furthering our own understanding of a concept whcih continues to evoke both fear and fascination.Read moreRead less
Anglicanism and the modernisation of English literary culture. This project significantly deepens our understanding of historical relations between religion and culture in the West. This is important in the current geopolitical situation where religion, culture and politics are so interconnected. More specifically, by offering an innovative account of how Anglicanism helped produce English culture, it helps us recognize that religion has played a formative role in shaping the secular modern for ....Anglicanism and the modernisation of English literary culture. This project significantly deepens our understanding of historical relations between religion and culture in the West. This is important in the current geopolitical situation where religion, culture and politics are so interconnected. More specifically, by offering an innovative account of how Anglicanism helped produce English culture, it helps us recognize that religion has played a formative role in shaping the secular modern forms and values that characterise Western cultures. Furthermore, it will help Australia become a research leader in a field of cultural studies and cultural history that is increasingly important to the humanities and social sciences globally.Read moreRead less
Romantic Literary Celebrity and the Emergence of Modern Literary Culture, 1798-1910. This project will produce the first full-length study of Romantic literary celebrity (1798-1910). It will argue that a new form of literary fame emerged in the Romantic era, which required developed cultural and media markets. Romantic literary fame helped shape modern institutions of literary production and reception around tensions between popular cultures of celebrity and publicity and high-cultural concepts ....Romantic Literary Celebrity and the Emergence of Modern Literary Culture, 1798-1910. This project will produce the first full-length study of Romantic literary celebrity (1798-1910). It will argue that a new form of literary fame emerged in the Romantic era, which required developed cultural and media markets. Romantic literary fame helped shape modern institutions of literary production and reception around tensions between popular cultures of celebrity and publicity and high-cultural concepts of the literary artist. Using cultural history and cultural theory, the project examines transformations in the history of literary celebrity from its emergence to the modernist period by analysing intersections between literary culture and wider structures of sociability and sexuality.Read moreRead less
Complexions of Empire: racial ideology, West Indian slavery and British romanticism. The aim is to undertake a major interdisciplinary study of British culture and colonialism in the 18th century, with a particular focus on identity formation, the development of racial ideology, and the rhetoric of abolitionism. By focussing on the representation of the West Indies and West Indian social identity and customs, in the context of social conditions in England, the project will advance our current un ....Complexions of Empire: racial ideology, West Indian slavery and British romanticism. The aim is to undertake a major interdisciplinary study of British culture and colonialism in the 18th century, with a particular focus on identity formation, the development of racial ideology, and the rhetoric of abolitionism. By focussing on the representation of the West Indies and West Indian social identity and customs, in the context of social conditions in England, the project will advance our current understanding of the dynamic of metropolitan/colonial relations.Read moreRead less
War, Literary Culture and Masculinity in Romantic Period Britain, 1750-1850. The Romantic period represents a formative moment in the history of Australia and my reconsideration of Romantic culture and war has relevance for understanding this history. Australia's own experience of war first originated with the frontier wars of 1788-1838. My research into British Romantic military and naval war writing will provide key insights into the military culture that dominated this formative moment of Aus ....War, Literary Culture and Masculinity in Romantic Period Britain, 1750-1850. The Romantic period represents a formative moment in the history of Australia and my reconsideration of Romantic culture and war has relevance for understanding this history. Australia's own experience of war first originated with the frontier wars of 1788-1838. My research into British Romantic military and naval war writing will provide key insights into the military culture that dominated this formative moment of Australian military history. War has, more broadly, been pivotal in the formation of Australian nationhood and identity. My project will contribute to our understanding of the role of war in Australian culture by providing fresh insight into the historical role of war writing in constructing modern forms of identity.Read moreRead less
Gothic Fiction and Imagined Worlds: Popular Literature, Emotion, and the transformation of experience in modernity. This project revises our understanding of Gothic Fiction, the most important prose genre of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Its ground-breaking argument and innovative methodology help develop Australia's international reputation in Romantic studies, while expanding the methodological repertoire of literary studies. The project adds to our culture by contributin ....Gothic Fiction and Imagined Worlds: Popular Literature, Emotion, and the transformation of experience in modernity. This project revises our understanding of Gothic Fiction, the most important prose genre of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Its ground-breaking argument and innovative methodology help develop Australia's international reputation in Romantic studies, while expanding the methodological repertoire of literary studies. The project adds to our culture by contributing to debates about the 'truth' status of (and relation between) emotions, literature, and imagined worlds. It adds to our understanding of the present, through its revisionary account of a key stage in the development of contemporary notions of experience, the fictive, imagined/virtual worlds, and the modern crisis of representation.Read moreRead less
Multiplying Worlds: Romanticism, Modernity, and the emergence of Virtual Reality. This project contends that virtual reality first emerges during the Romantic Period (1780-1830). Further, it argues that the contemporary prominence of virtual reality rests to a surprising degree on assumptions about the virtual that derive from this earlier period. To establish this aetiology of perhaps the most important phenomenon of the digital age, the project focuses on the production of virtual reality in E ....Multiplying Worlds: Romanticism, Modernity, and the emergence of Virtual Reality. This project contends that virtual reality first emerges during the Romantic Period (1780-1830). Further, it argues that the contemporary prominence of virtual reality rests to a surprising degree on assumptions about the virtual that derive from this earlier period. To establish this aetiology of perhaps the most important phenomenon of the digital age, the project focuses on the production of virtual reality in Enlightenment schemes for managing the real, popular entertainment, and Romanticism. It will make a major contribution to debates concerning Romanticism and (post)modernity, and to our understanding of the cultural histories that shape our reception of computer technologies.Read moreRead less
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
Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subs ....Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subsequent history as a powerful symptomatic register of the strategies by which the monarchy adapts its traditional heritage to changing social contexts. Comprehending this dynamic will revise our understanding of the relationship between medieval culture, tradition and modernity.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