Critical Studies Research Group

 

The next work-in-progress presentation will take place this Tuesday (22nd Oct). Dr. Vicky Margree will deliver a paper entitled “The Feminist Orientation of E. Nesbit’s Short Gothic Fiction. Vicky has provided two of Nesbit’s short stories that may be of interest (although her paper won’t presume knowledge of the stories). They can be found here and here.

The presentation will explore the critical contention that the supernatural story of the long 19th century provided women writers with ‘a public discourse for voicing feminine concerns’ (Vanessa Dickerson). I will focus on the case of Edith Nesbit, who, although famed as a children’s author, also wrote extensively for adults. Nesbit presents an interesting case study because of the ambivalence she evinced about the women’s movement. In many respects resembling the New Woman of the late-Victorian / Edwardian periods, she nonetheless refused to support the campaign for women’s suffrage. I will suggest that exploring the paradox of Nesbit’s position can lead to a more nuanced understanding of Victorian feminism and anti-feminism. My main argument, however, will be that a) that there is in fact a distinct feminist orientation in evidence in Nesbit’s short Gothic fiction, and that b) that this is the case suggests something interesting about the genre of the short supernatural story, both in respect of the possibilities presented by a departure from realism, and the possibilities presented by the very brevity of the form.

As always, the presentation will be hold in room 303 of Pavilion Parade (1-2pm).

The last 8th of October, the Critical Studies Research (CSRG) launched this term’s Work-in-Progress presentations. The CSRG meets most weeks on Tuesdays, 1-2, in Pavilion Parade (room 303). The group mainly presents work-in-progress to one another, but in the past has also organised conferences, seminar series and reading groups. Academic staff are also invited to present their work-in-progress.

Although the work-in-progress presentations are intended to be delivered by and to PhD students and academic staff, MA students and undergraduates are strongly encouraged to attend, ask questions, get involved in the CSRG organising other activities and, of course, present their work if they wish. If you would like to contact us either through our gmail account (brightoncsrg@gmail.com) or during the sessions. 

Armed Spartakists marching in Berlin, 1918 or 1919

Outline of the first work-in-progress presentations

The first work was presented by Dr. Mark Devenney (8th of October), who gave a paper entitled Plato, Benjamin and violence’ in which he drew upon some ideas of Plato and Benjamin on violence in relation to the Occupy movement in New York.

The last presentation was delivered by German Primera, who spoke about the “Body and Bare Life: a thanatopolitical reading of the biopolitical body”. German argued that the relation of the body with bare life passes through a biopolitical exchange that redefines and reassembles both in a manner that Agamben’s understanding of the production of bare life is incapable of grasping. Using Jean-Luc Nancy’s notion of the intruder and Haraway’s approach to technology – deactivated of its ontological weight – he proposed to read the production of bare life in terms of the indistinguishability of the inside and outside of the body and the destruction of the self, returning to Foucault’s notion of the materialist incorporeal and his rejection of phenomenology.

For the following sessions, we have asked the presenters to provide us with a small abstract of their presentations. We will be posting them in this blog.

We look forward to see you at the sessions.