Romantic Realignments is one of the longest-running research seminars in Oxford.

Past speakers have included Marilyn Butler, Gerard Carruthers, David Chandler, Heather Glen, Paul Muldoon, Philip Shaw, Fiona Stafford and Peter Swaab, to name but a few.

All are very welcome to submit an abstract — we aim to provide a friendly 'workshop' setting in which speakers can try out new papers as well as more finished pieces, and in which lively discussion can flourish.

Held on Thursdays at 5.15pm, Seminar Room A, St Cross (English Faculty) Building.

If you would like to send us an abstract or suggest a speaker, please contact the current convenors Katherine Fender, Sarah Goode and Honor Rieley at: romantic.realignments@gmail.com

27/07/2012

PhD Studentship in Women's Writing at Leicester University

AHRC COLLABORATIVE DOCTORAL AWARD: PHD STUDENTSHIP IN ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Susanna Watts and Elizabeth Heyrick: Women's Writing in the Midlands 1750-1850

The University of Leicester and the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester, and Rutland are pleased to invite applications from outstanding postgraduates for an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD studentship, to commence October 2012. The studentship will pay full-time University UK/EU tuition fees and include an annual tax free stipend at standard AHRC rates (currently £13,590 a year).

Research Areas and Supervision
This collaborative doctoral project will investigate networks of correspondence and creativity in the Midlands in the 18th and 19th centuries, with particular emphasis on women writers who were religious Dissenters.

The project will begin with a focus on a specific archival collection in the Record Office: the papers of two local writers, Elizabeth Heyrick and Susanna Watts, women who, through their poetry, letters, and pamphlets, contributed to many of the major debates concerning human (and indeed animal) rights in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This study will be a starting point for the student's own exploration of other communities and creative practices, analysing the role of women in industrial culture, circles of provincial writers, and the importance of religious affiliation. One of the long-term aims of the project will be to engage schools, community groups and the general public with archival holdings and current research.

While the project should have a strong literary focus, it will be of interest to applicants with backgrounds in gender studies, cultural/religious history, and/or archival work as well as English literature.

The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr Felicity James (School of English, University of Leicester), with Professor Roey Sweet (School of Historical Studies, University of Leicester), and Jess Jenkins (Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland).

Entry Requirements
Applicants must have a first-class or high upper second-class honours degree (or equivalent qualification) in English or other relevant discipline and meet the University's standard English language entry requirements. Applicants should be able to demonstrate a committment to interdisciplinary research and it is expected that applicants should also have a Masters degree with merit or distinction in English or other relevant discipline or be able to show evidence that they will achieve this before October 2012.

The studentship is only available to applicants who are eligible to pay the UK/EU tuition fee - i.e., those who are permanently resident in the UK or another EU country. Please note that applicants from the EU (excluding the UK) must have been resident in the UK for at least three years prior to commencing the studentship to receive both the stipend and fee components of this award; EU applicants who do not meet this criteria will receive the fee waiver component only.

Applicants from outside the EU are not eligible for the studentship unless they have been granted permanent UK residency/citizenship. For more advice on applicable eligibility criteria, please see the AHRC Guide to Postgraduate Funding.

The studentship is for full-time study only and applicants must be able to commence their studies in October 2012.

Informal Enquiries
Informal enquiries are welcomed - please contact: Dr Felicity James, fj21@le.ac.uk +44 (0)116 252 2199

Apply Now
To apply, please go to http://www2.le.ac.uk/study/research/funding/womens-writing and follow the instructions to apply online.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 18:00 01 August 2012. It is anticipated that interviews will be held w/c 20 August 2012 and applicants should be available for interview at that time. Interviews will take place at the University of Leicester, but interview by telephone/Skype may be possible.

06/06/2012

CANCELLATION NOTICE

Dear All,


Unfortunately, our last Romantic Realignments this term has been cancelled -- please look to our forthcoming 2012-13  schedule for Dr Simon Kovesi's talk. There will be no talk tomorrow, Thursday 7th June.


We would instead like to invite you to the Romantic Graduate Forum, held at the Bajpai Room at Balliol College at 5:30pm on Tuesday, 12th June for a presentation by our very own Lucy Kellett! Refreshments will be provided!


Hope to see you all there, and an annual concluding dinner/drinks!


Thanks for a wonderful year,
Judyta

19/05/2012

John Mullan's Jane Austen

For all of you that missed John Mullan's wonderfully interactive talk last Thursday, the Guardian has recently published his article on his forthcoming book, What Matters in Jane Austen?


& for those of you that were in attendance, it contains the answers to his tricky questions!


The article can be read here.

25/04/2012

Trinity Term 2012

Dear all,
Welcome back to a not-so-sunny start of term! Let's not let the weather get the better of us, as we dive right into our line-up for Trinity:


1st Week: Please note this will be a joint event with St Anne's College, held on Friday, 27th April at 5pm in Seminar Room 5, 48 Woodstock Road.
Professor Jocelyn Harris, Otago, New Zealand
'Sanditon', the Duke of Clarence, and Sarrtjie Baartman, the 'Hottentot Venus.'





3rd Week: 10th May
Professor John Mullan, UCL, UK
Jane Austen's Quirks and Tricks

5th Week: 24th May
Professor Mary Favret, Indiana University, USA
Reading in the Dark; Keats's Vision


7th Week: 7th June
Dr Simon Kovesi, Oxford Brookes University, UK
John Clare: Violence, Peasantry and Reform


The remainder of the talks this term will be held in our usual location and time, Thursdays at 5:15pm in the English Faculty, Seminar Room A. 


Looking forward to seeing you all there! 
JF & LK

19/03/2012

Easter Holiday Special (at Brookes University)

Dear faithful Romanticists,

Thank you all for a very successful term of Romantic Realignments, from Picadilly Bookshops to the Ecchoing Wye! We look forward to seeing you all in Trinity Term (lineup TBC).

In the meantime, our fellow Romanticists at Brookes University are hosting Professor Gerard Carruthers, Reader at the University of Glasgow and a visiting fellow of All Soul's College, Oxford. He will be giving a talk on 'Romantic Scotland: Britain's Paradox' this Friday, March 23rd, in the Music Room at Headington Hill Hall, at 5:00pm.

All welcome!


28/02/2012

Double bill this week!

Dear all,

This week Romantic Realignments presents a double bill! On our regular Thursday slot, 1st March, our very own Dr Fiona Stafford will speak on 'Wordsworth and the Ecchoing Wye'. Dr Stafford, recipient of the British Academy Prize, will be talking about her research into Wordsworth's 'Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey' and the literary significance of rivers; focusing on the difference between landscapes and places. We look forward to see you all there! 


Our second speaker for this week is Dr Marshall Brown, Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Washington. We are extremely fortunate to have Dr Brown join us from overseas and offer to speak on to the title: 'The Voice of the Sod: Keats's Nightingale from Below'.


This talk will take place in our usual location, Seminar Room A, at 3:30pm this Friday, 2nd March. 



Wordsworth enthusiasts, Wye travellers, ornithologists, nature lovers and Keatsians alike - please feel free to come to one or both of these wonderful talks! Everyone welcome - we look forward to seeing you there! 



15/02/2012

This Romantic Realignments, we will have the very distinguished Professor Frederick Burwick joining us from UCLA to speak about 'Shakespearean Pantomime: the Dumbshow of Kemble and Siddons'. 


We urge all interested to come along - you do not have to be a Romanticist or an English student! We hope to have a large turnout and welcome Fred in the UK. After the seminar, we will be convening for drinks and continued conversation at a local watering hole and invite all that wish to join us for dinner!


See you all tomorrow, 5:15pm in the English Faculty, Seminar Room A!