The post below is Paul St George’s initial response to the questions posed in the JVC Online roundtable on Paul St George’s Telectroscope. Paul St George is an artist and the creator of the Telectroscope. To view the questions and ongoing conversation, as well as the other participants’ initial responses, use the links below. Questions & Ongoing Conversation || Jay Clayton || David L. Pike || Paul St George I thought I would join this conversation by answering one of
Read moreAuthor: lisa hager
Roundtable on Paul St George’s Telectroscope – Jay Clayton
The post below is Jay Clayton’s initial response to the questions posed in the JVC Online roundtable on Paul St George’s Telectroscope. Jay Clayton is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. To view the questions and ongoing conversation, as well as the other participants’ initial responses, use the links below. Questions & Ongoing Conversation || Jay Clayton || David L. Pike || Paul St George In May, 2008, two enormous drills burst upward through piers on
Read moreMerrick Burrow, ‘The Imperial Souvenir: Things and Masculinities in H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines & Allan Quatermain’
By Merrick Burrow (University of Huddersfield) This post accompanies Merrick Burrow’s Journal of Victorian Culture article published (2013). It can be read in full here. H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines ends with a letter in which Sir Henry Curtis, one of the main protagonists, highlights the significance of hunting and battle trophies brought back from the ‘lost world’ of Kukuanaland for his renewed sense of his own hegemonic masculinity: The tusks of the great bull that killed poor Khiva
Read moreTweeting It Up @ #bavs2012
By Jo Taylor It is the first evening at BAVS 2012 (@VictorianValues). Delegates lounge around the bar at The Edge, our venue at Sheffield University, discussing such critical matters of Victorianist interest as William Morris’s relationship to bubble-wrap, the various ‘funny Victorians’ Tumblr pages, and the benefits of ice cream provision. In a dark corner, a table is surrounded by silent academics, lit only be an eerie glow from beneath. The sparse light falls on fast-moving fingers and slightly glazed
Read moreDominic Janes, ‘William Bennett’s Heresy: Male Same-Sex Desire and the Art of the Eucharist’
In ‘William Bennett’s Heresy: Male Same-Sex Desire and the Art of the Eucharist,’ Dominic Janes’ continues to develop his study of the history of Christian ethics and aesthetics—first, in the context of the early Church, and secondly, in relation to the nineteenth century. In Victorian Reformation: The Fight over Idolatry in the Church of England, 1840-1860 (2009), he explored the discourses surrounding ‘idolatry’, which was, in a narrow sense, the worship of idols, but, in a broad sense, could mean
Read moreCall for JVC Online Contributors
As part of our continual development of JVC Online, we are currently seeking to bring a few people on board as Contributors, and we invite applications to be part of this group. Contributors would be expected to post two blog entries per month: one “serious” piece that would relate to the author’s current research activities and teaching interests & one “fun” piece that would highlight popular culture connections to Victorian studies. These entries should be short (no longer than 500
Read moreWill Abberley, ‘To Make a New Tongue’: Natural and Manufactured Language in the Late Fiction of William Morris
In 1885 William Morris wrote that poetry had become near-impossible in the modern age, since ‘language is utterly degraded in our daily lives, and poets have to make a new tongue each for himself: before he can even begin his story he must elevate his means of expression from the daily jabber to which centuries of degradation have reduced it’ (IIB 483). Abberley explores the intellectual influences that shaped Morris’s belief in such linguistic degradation, and how his late fiction
Read moreAndrew Hobbs and Claire Januszewski, The Local Press as Poetry Publisher, 1800-1900
The local press as poetry publisher, 1800-1900 English local newspapers probably published around two million poems during the nineteenth century – more, if we include Scottish, Irish and Welsh papers. Although poetry in periodicals is acknowledged in recent research and scholarly databases, newspaper poetry has received less attention. Studies of working-class poets acknowledge in passing that much of their writing was first published in the local press, before moving on to more prestigious (but less widely read) publication in volume
Read moreI Believe in Sherlock Holmes: Sherlockian Fandom Then & Now
By Jeanette Laredo “You really do, don’t you?” Sherlock’s voice was quiet, not a whisper but more like he was talking to himself than to John, “Even after everything. You still… believe in me.” —from “I Believe in Sherlock Holmes,” a Sherlockian fanfic by Cennis I was on my way to a job talk, weaving through the crowd of students that poured out from the corridors leading to the lecture hall, when my eye caught a flash of that unmistakable
Read moreMrs. Beeton’s Valentine’s Day Bake-Off: Lisa’s Half-Pay Pudding
The Challenge || Lisa’s Half-Pay Pudding || Lucie’s Brandy Pudding || Ryan’s Savoy Cake Unlike my estimable colleagues, I lack a flair for the culinary arts. In my household, I’m the dishwasher not the chef. However, for you, Dear Readers, and the spirit of academic and culinary inquiry, I was willing to roll up my sleeves, open up Mrs. Beeton’s ubiquitous book, and see if I couldn’t at least create something recognizable and edible. Given these goals, I poured through
Read more