Neo-Victorian Biofiction: Reimagining Nineteenth-Century Historical Subjects
- Submitting institution
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Swansea University / Prifysgol Abertawe
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 50573
- Type
- B - Edited book
- DOI
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- Publisher
- Brill / Rodopi
- ISBN
- 9789004434134
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- September
- Year of publication
- 2020
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This collection, the sixth co-edited with Christian Gutleben as part of Brill│Rodopi’s ground-breaking Neo-Victorian Series, forms part of my on-going foundational research (along with the open-access Neo-Victorian Studies e-journal) in the still comparatively new, inter-disciplinary field of neo-Victorian Studies. The first major in-depth study of the intersections between neo-Victorianism and life-writing, Neo-Victorian Biofiction examines biofiction’s implication in the complex identity politics surrounding the commemoration and re-vision of the Long Nineteenth Century in present-day cultures. Rather than producing a traditional introduction, Gutleben and I deliberately opted for a stand-alone critical 20,000-word chapter (53 pp.), which situates neo-Victorian biofiction as a distinct subset of biofiction that engages in significant topical debates, including ‘postauthenticity’ and the belated ‘working through’ of Western nations’ traumatic colonial histories.
My research contribution necessitated extensive research into life-writing and biofiction, and I acted as the contributors’ and publisher’s main point of contact throughout the collection’s collation, overseeing our joint conception of the project, screening of proposals, working closely with contributors on developing and revising their chapters before and after peer review, and taking the lead in writing our co-authored chapter. Together with Gutleben, I shaped the volume’s teleology, ensured quality control, and suggested cross-references to other chapters to enhance overall coherence. Biofiction, we argue, plays a crucial role in shaping popular perceptions of the past, based as much on fictions as facts in an increasingly ‘post-truth’ society. Hence we actively interrogate biofiction’s links with ethics, as well as potential unethical appropriations (and distortions) of past lives for dubious ideological agendas. While prior stand-alone articles/chapters on neo-Victorian biofiction have mainly dealt with portrayals of iconic Victorian writers, our collection significantly expands this focus to include marginalized and subaltern historical figures (such as Aboriginal and disabled subjects) and address other media (e.g. film, musicals, and visual/photographic archives).
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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