Far-reaching recent work in English literature research.
13 Feb 2012
The rapidly developing esteem of the university's literacists has included several researchers being involved with international events and cross cultural critical practices.
This month Dr Peter Blake flies to Toronto for a conference, briefly joining Dr John Wrighton who is spending two years there at the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre, Ryerson University. Dr Dora Carpenter-Laitiri has photographs displayed at the Tunisian Chamber of Commerce, UTICA in Tunis, related to her ongoing research on the Arab Revolutions and identity, while doctoral student Ana Živković Snowley continues work on Montenegro in British writing, drawing on the supervision of Dr Andrew Hammond and Nigel Foxcroft. Adding to the international flavour, in her latest book, Fairground Attractions, Professor Deborah Philips considers the impact of "boys' own heroes" and the culture of the explorer as part of the in-depth analysis of visual iconography of popular pleasure grounds.
A series of photographs taken by Tunisian-born Dr Dora Latiri-Carpenter whilst visiting post-revolutionary Tunisia last year, are currently on display at the Tunisian Chamber of Commerce – UTICA in Tunis. [see image far left above] Her work on Tunisia includes the recent paper ‘Rewriting the Tunisian Constitution, debates on linguistic identity and room for change’ at The Arab Spring: Symposium to mark the 1st Anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution organised by the Faculty's Centre for Research in Memory, Narrative and Histories.
The images “convey the sense of vacuum created by decades of dictatorship whilst Tunisians struggle to establish democracy,” and were taken whilst she was visiting Tunisia to present a paper on art and revolution for the Anna Lindh Conference in June last year and later, in December, when she attended a conference held at UTICA. Dr Carpenter-Latiri's work on North Africa includes the analysis of cultural dialogues and frictions, for example exploring the social representation of the hairdresser in her recent paper, ‘Le coiffeur dans la ville, fonctions sociales et representations’.
Dr Peter Blake, recently appointed lecturer in Victorian Literature at the Faculty of Arts, will be speaking at 'Trans-Hemespheric Connections' the annual conference of the American Association of Australasian Literature (AAALS) in Toronto, 16-18 February.
A leading expert on George Augustus Sala, Dr Blake's paper will examine Sala's relationship with the celebrated Australian novelist, Marcus Clarke, a subject he brought to the faculty's literature research seminar series in January. Dr Blake returns to Brighton for a public lecture on 28th March at the Brighton Pavilion entitled 'Dickens and Brighton' to coincide with the bicentennial of Dickens's birth.
Dr John Wrighton continues into his second year of work at the Modern Literature and Culture Research Center (MLCRC), Ryerson University, Toronto, where he is undertaking a two-year International Research Fellowship. [see image, centre, above] The fellowship has established Dr Wrighton as a leading expert in contemporary poetry in English and his innovations in research through archival work and cross-disciplinary collaborations in USA, Canada, UK, and mainland Europe has broadened University of Brighton’s international reach and impact. Focussing on a 'turn to ethics in poetry', what he terms the poethical, Dr Wrighton's research explores the intersections between literature, society, ethics, and technological innovation through creative and critical enquiry, pioneering new innovations in cross-disciplinary research. He continues to build links with world-leading scholars, including collaborations with Tier One Canada Research Chair, Professor Irene Gammel.
For further details and live updates from Dr Wrighton’s International Research Fellowship, see his MLCRC profile and University of Brighton Research profile. You can also follow him on Twitter:@DrWrighton.
Professor Deborah Philips' latest book Fairground Attractions: A Genealogy of the Pleasure Ground is published with Bloomsbury Academic Press. [see illustration from publication far right, above] Investigating the visual iconography of popular pleasure grounds from the eighteenth-century pleasure garden to the contemporary theme park, Professor Philips identifies the literary genres, including fairy tale, gothic horror, Egyptiana and the Western, which are common to carnival sites, tracing their historical transition across a range of media to become familiar icons of popular culture. Accessible for public as well as an academic interest, chapter headings include: Mickey Mouse Chivalry; Fairy Tale Romance; Monsters, Murders and Vampires; The Riddles of the Sphinx; Boy's Own Stories; and Treasure Islands and Blue Lagoons.
"The figures of Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere mounted on horseback greet visitors to Brighton Pier and have done so since the building of the pier in 1899. The horses on fairground carousels from Brighton Pier to Disneyland are invariably bedecked with heraldic bridlery; as historians of popular art have noted, they ‘have something of the medieval knight's charger’ about them."
"The ‘adventure’ area of a theme park is invariably signalled by a map, suggesting that while the visitor may actually be within a carefully managed parkland in Florida, Paris, Tokyo or Britain, these are in fact uncharted areas that require courage and resourcefulness to enter."
Fairground Attractions: A Genealogy of the Pleasure Ground Published by Bloomsbury. ISBN-13: 978-1849664912. Available to view at www.bloomsburyacademic.com
As it establishes its reputation, English Literature at Brighton is able to offer doctoral students expert supervision in a number of fields including English writing about Eastern Europe. Nigel Foxcroft and Dr Andrew Hammond, experts in, respectively, Eastern European literatures and English writing on the Balkans, are supervising Ana Živković Snowley, whose provisional thesis title is Constructions of Montenegro in the Works of British Writers from the Nineteenth Century to the Present
The literature team organises a regular seminar series, and recent speakers are available to view on video:
To view the films and find more information about forthcoming seminars visit: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/research/news/english-literature-research-seminar-series-201112 or contact: Nigel H. Foxcroft: nhf@brighton.ac.uk
