The Victorian Reading Group
The Victorian Reading Group at Western offers Graduate Students and Faculty opportunities to come together in an environment of informal discussion and community in order to share research interests, to read and discuss various Victorian genres (from categories in visual culture to poetry, from periodicals to literary criticism), and to provide a forum for input and feedback egarding fellow colleagues’ presented ideas and work. The primary (though not exclusive) goal of the VRG is to enjoy and critique the various literary creations, products, and developments occurring both during the Victorian period and in its cultural and theoretical after-lives within the 20th and 21st centuries. In other words, the VRG serves to provide a setting in which fellow scholars and Victorian enthusiasts can examine the areas that interest them in a manner that is critically engaged with questions concerning what constitutes and shapes Victorian Studies—in its past, present, and potential futures.The VRG is open to approaching the Victorian period, its philosophies, cultural exchanges, and historical narratives, through various perspectives and hopes to facilitate rigorous and interesting, interdisciplinary conversations and connections.
Types of Planned Activities Include:
- Monthly get-togethers in which a Graduate Student and/or Faculty member may present: a piece of personal, scholarly research, thoughts on current research trends in Victorian Cultural Studies, and/ or lead discussions on a particular topic of interest / work of literature.
- Plan and organize colloquiums and/or a small conference (open to all of UWO and its affiliate colleges) on a specific topic or area of critical interest located within Victorian Studies that also speaks to other fields of specialization and to other disciplines.
For more information, please contact Professor Matthew Rowlinson.
