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Victorian Lives, Loves and Limelight

A free public evening to celebrate the work of the Victorian Studies Centre at the University of Leicester at 6pm, Wednesday 3 February

Issued on 29 January 2010

The Victorian Studies Centre at the University of Leicester has had a prolific year, with four of the Centre’s academics producing book length studies of Victorian lives and literature.

The evening’s celebration will include talks and discussions with the four academics - Holly Furneaux, Gail Marshall, Julian North and Joanne Shattock. It is an opportunity to welcome Gail Marshall, the University’s new Professor of Victorian Literature and the new Director of Victorian Studies.

Professor Gail Marshall will be discussing her recent book entitled Shakespeare and Victorian Women, published by Cambridge University Press in 2009. Professor Joanne Shattock will introduce the new Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1830-1914 which she has edited (forthcoming February 2010). Dr Holly Furneaux will speak about her new book, Queer Dickens: Erotics, Families, Masculinities, which applies queer theory to the much loved work of Charles Dickens and was published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) in December 2009. Dr Julian North’s study, The Domestication of Genius, was also published by OUP and considers the biographical afterlives of the Romantic Poets.

Speakers will give a brief overview of these projects, and use this to open up discussion about new approaches in Victorian Studies, and future directions for the discipline. Conversation will continue in a wine reception, sponsored by the School of English.

Dr Furneaux, who has been involved in organising the evening, commented:

“In 2007 we celebrated the 40th birthday of the Centre, the first of its kind in Britain. With the arrival of Professor Gail Marshall as a new director of the Centre, and a range of recent publications, this feels like an appropriate moment to register the Centre’s continuing and evolving energy. We hope the evening will allow us to look out from our new work, to explore collectively new directions in Victorian Studies. ”

‘Victorian Lives, Loves and Limelight’ is free and open to all. The evening will begin at 6pm on Wednesday 3rd February 2010 in Ken Edwards Lecture Theatre 2, University of Leicester.

Notes to Newsdesk:

For further information about the evening, please contact Holly Furneaux on hf35@le.ac.uk.

The Victorian Studies Centre at the University of Leicester has a distinguished record of innovation and excellence in interdisciplinary research and teaching at postgraduate level. Established in 1966 with a generous grant from the Leverhulme Trust it is the longest established Victorian Studies Centre in Britain. The Centre's research and teaching staff are drawn from the School of English, the School of Historical Studies which includes the internationally renowned Centres for Urban History and English Local History, and the Department of History of Art and Film.