Episode 27 - Dr Barbara Franchi - Postcolonial Neo-Victorianism, and expanding the 'canon'

Victorian Legacies

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Barbara Franchi, who researches into neo-Victorian fiction, intertextuality and echoes of Empire. We consider issues such as the risks of nostalgia in society, and the enduring legacy of the 19th century in neo-Victorian works. We discuss the idea of a neo-Victorian 'canon' and how literature and critical scholarship is redefining this concept - as well as the whole genre of neo-Victorianism. We consider the roots of the field and genre in the reaction to Thatcherism, and how the British-centric approach is actually an Anglocentric one, and narrowed to a specific idea of Englishness.
About my guest: Dr Barbara Franchi obtained her PhD in 2017 from the University of Kent, where she wrote a thesis on A. S. Byatt’s fiction and intertextuality. She holds a BA in Modern Languages and an MA in English and Postcolonial studies, both from the University of Venice (Italy). Her research focuses on contemporary women's writing, cultural memory, historical fiction, and echoes of Empire in all of the above: it is through these angles that she approaches neo-Victorianism. She has published book chapters and articles on neo-Victorian and neo-historical authors such as Byatt (in Sea Narratives, ed. Charlotte Mathieson: Palgrave 2016), Eleanor Catton (Partial Answers, 2018), Rose Tremain and Isabel Allende (Neo-Victorian Studies, 2019), and David Mitchell (with the Italian journal MediAzioni, 2019). Future publications include a chapter on Byatt’s The Children’s Book and Peacock and Vine (in Neo-Victorian Decadences, forthcoming within Rodopi’s Neo-Victorian series), and an article on the novelist’s short stories (in the Journal of the Short Story in English). She has also worked on travel studies, co-editing Crossing Borders in Victorian Travel: Spaces, Nations and Empires (Cambridge Scholars 2018, with Elvan Mutlu): the collection examines imperialism and intercultural crossovers in Victorian travel writing, covering travel accounts, fiction and journalism. She has taught at the Universities of Newcastle, Kent, and Canterbury Christ Church, and is now a Teaching Fellow at Durham University.
For more information on Barbara's work, check out the details below:
Email: [e-mail]
Twitter: barbara_franchi
Academia: https://durham.academia.edu/BarbaraFranchi
Check out Barbara's suggestions:
Angels and Insects (1995 film)
Sophie Ellis-Bextor -- Love is a Camera (2014 single and video)
Sarah Waters : The Little Stranger
Abdulrazak Gurnah - Desertion, Afterlives
Episode Credits:
Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound
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Email: [e-mail]