This episode discusses Jacqueline Roy's 2000 debut novel The Fat Lady Sings and themes such as race, gender and sexuality, and mental health. It turns out this is an incredibly apt novel to wrap up an exceptionally heavy semester on a note of hope and joy. CW: sexual assault, loss of a loved one

In this student-led episode, Kath, Addison, and Brooke discuss the Theatre of the Absurd in relation to Samuel Beckett’s play Krapp’s Last Tape and Enda Walsh’s play Penelope. Bibliography Beckett, Samuel. Krapp's Last Tape. Faber and Faber Ltd, 2014. Billington, Michael. “Penelope | Theatre Review.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 July 2…

In this student-led episode, Jamey, Alexis, and Emma discuss Christopher Isherwood’s novel Prater Violet in connection with film and propaganda. Bibliography Prater Violet by Christopher Isherwood “Breakfast at the Prater: Christopher Isherwood, His Women and Men” by Ercolino, Stefano, et al. Imaginary Films in Literature. Brill | Rodopi, 2016. Pro…

In this student-led episode, Darian, Robby, Alicia, Jessica, and Ashley walk us through the concepts of stream of consciousness and how this narrative style became a trademark of modernist works such as Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway.

In this episode our guest scholar, Jonathon Patterson, explores poetry from World War One. He explains why poetry was one of the primary media outlets for soldiers and citizens during this era and how it was politicized. He also discusses broadening representations in our definition of WWI poets and why these works remain relevant over 100 years la…

This episode we welcome guest scholar Dr. Ashley Nadeau as she examines Dracula as a novel that draws from popular Victorian genre fiction, and detective fiction in particular. She also uses examples of material culture within the novel—railways, blood, nightdresses, and typewriters—as objects that help us better understand Dracula’s narrative. Dr.…

In this student-led episode, Braydon, JoAnne, and Kialey discuss six different forms of Victorian new media as they appear in Bram Stoker's Dracula, posing questions about new media's reliability in constructing larger narratives. Bibliography Fava-Verde, Jean-François. “Victorian Telegrams: The Early Development of the Telegraphic Despatch and Its…

Today we are joined by guest scholar Dr. Ellen Campbell who discusses women’s rights under marriage contract law in the 19th century and the New Woman figure in Dracula. Dr. Campbell received her doctorate from Southern Illinois University Carbondale where her dissertation discussed marriage trauma narratives in transatlantic 19th-century fiction. …

In this student-led episode Aubree, Sage, Melanie, and Emily lead us through a conversation about Victorian print culture and serialized fiction especially in relation to Wilkie Collins' novel The Moonstone.

In this episode, we welcome Dr. Trent Olsen as our guest scholar. He will be discussing the impact Charles Darwin’s discoveries and published work in The Origin of Species had on the wider 19th century. He discusses points of literary connection between Darwin, William Wordsworth, Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Pfeiffer, H.G. Wells, and Thomas Hardy…

This episode, I’m excited to present our first student-led episode which discusses the movement for #Bigger6 Romanticism. Alanna Camargo leads our conversation about the purpose behind the movement and collective as well as how broadening our perspectives of race and empire can introduce us to a much more vibrant and textured understanding of the R…

In this episode we are joined by guest scholar, Dr. Karali Hunter, as we discuss the cross-sections between literary and musical Romanticism, particularly in the context of romantic themes, such as breaking away from rigid form and structure, evoking emotion, and embracing the individual and national voices of the period. Dr. Hunter has a DMA in pi…

Today’s episode seems nearly ripped from the headlines as Dr. Zan Cammack discusses sedition, riots, and rumor as part of the larger new media networks at play in Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey. We’ll examine the pervasive theme of surveillance and political upheaval in the novel, the innovations in mapping that more concretely trace the netw…

In our first episode our guest scholar Dr. Emily Grover discusses precursors to Austen’s novels, the fraught history of female authors and readers, and the dangers of falling too deep into fiction. Bibliography Anne Radcliffe. The Mysteries of Udolpho, Project Gutenberg. Charles Lamb, and Mary Lamb. The Works Of Charles and Mary Lamb, Miscellaneous…

Welcome to the Students and Scholars podcast for English 2620-British Literature before 1800.