English Literature Research Group
Director of Research: Professor Ann Heilmann
Director of Postgraduate Studies: Dr Carl Plasa
Researchers in English Literature work closely with colleagues in the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory (CCCT) to provide a stimulating environment for both staff and postgraduate research. This includes the organisation of conferences, outside speakers, and full programmes of complementary subject-specific training and development for early career researchers.
The English Literature Research Group itself is especially committed to innovative research across a broad range of literary periods, theoretical fields, and cultural phenomena. Much emphasis is on individual research, but, increasingly, we are developing networks of researchers collaborating within and across disciplines.
The main periods of research in the English Literature Group are:
- Medieval Literature
- Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature
- Eighteenth-Century Literature
- Romanticism
- Victorian and Late Nineteenth-Century Literature
- Early Twentieth-Century Literature
- Contemporary Fiction
The main fields of research include:
- Austen and Book History
- Chaucer
- Crime Fiction
- Gothic and Gender
- Illustration Studies
- Literature and the Law
- Modern Medievalism
- Modernism
- Modern Drama
- Neo-Victorianism
- Old Norse
- Postcolonial Studies
- Robin Hood Studies
- Shakespeare and Theory
- The New Woman
- Wales-Ireland
- War and Literature
- Women's Writing
Research Centre and Research Networks
The English Literature Research Group hosts the Centre for Editorial and Intertextual Research (CEIR), and the Wales-Ireland network. Members of the Group are also active in the multidisciplinary Crime Narratives in Context research network. Members of the Centre for Editorial and Intertextual Research have an internationally-recognised record in producing on-line bibliographies, innovative databases and scholarly editions. Besides continuing its editorial and bibliographical work, the Centre is extending its research into the field of Illustration Studies, where it has recently launched a database of mid-Victorian Illustration and a new and innovative journal. CEIR also publishes Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780-1840.
Research into Irish Romanticism has recently begun to develop and theorise a wider ‘Celtic’ context, incorporating studies of relations with Scottish and, particularly, Welsh literatures, as well as with European fields of study. Furthering Cardiff’s tradition for well-theorised and innovative work in postcolonialism, the Wales-Ireland network is supported by a seminar series, and has been awarded AHRC funding towards the establishment of a two-year international and interdisciplinary research network. A third project also already underway builds on existing strengths in crime fiction, in developing, with colleagues in European Studies, a multidisciplinary Crime Narratives in Context research network, in which forensic linguists also participate, along with lawyers, sociologists and specialists in other literatures.
Research Seminar Series
A regular programme of research seminars is organised in conjunction with the Centre for Editorial and Intertextual Research. In addition to this, both the Crime Narratives in Context and the Wales-Ireland networks run seminar series. Many members of the English Literature Research Group also participate in the seminar programme organised by the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory.
Postgraduate Research Students and Visiting Scholars
The Group offers opportunities for postgraduate research students, including a list of particular strengths in which the School welcomes applications from well-qualified students. There are also opportunities for Visiting Scholars.
Cardiff Humanities Research Institute (CHRI)
The Cardiff Humanities Research Institute, founded in 2007, provides an exciting forum for developing inter and cross-disciplinary work in the Humanities. The School plays an active role in the Institute, which embraces both staff and postgraduate research activity. See our contributions to the Cardiff Research Papers in the Humanities.
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