University of Edinburgh

William Godwin & the Activity of Reading in British Litertaure, 1783-1836

Academic History:

2015: PhD Candidate in English Literature, University of Edinburgh

2014 - 2015: MPhil in English Literature: Eighteenth Century & Romantic Studies, University of Cambridge

2010 - 2013: BA in English Literature, University of Exeter (First Class)

Supervisors:

Professor Penny Fielding

Dr Tim Milnes

Research Interests:

I am interested in the history of reading, particularly the relationship between literary portrayals of reading & cultural attitudes towards knowledge. My thesis will investigate the many discussions & portrayals of reading in the work of William Godwin, particularly attending to the ways in which the material natures of books & their readers are described. By situating Godwin’s anxiety about the social life of print in its cultural-historical context, the project will explore wider shifts in attitude towards the concept of reading, intellectual ‘enquiry’, & the roles of the book within society in the period 1780-1830. Of special interest is the extent to which such conceptions of ‘the reader’ manifest themselves in the way that British fiction itself is written – a wider strand of research that I hope to develop over the coming years.

Scholarships:

2015 – present: AHRC DTP Studentship

Contact details:

Address: School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures, University of Edinburgh, 50 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JU

Email: louise.mccray@ed.ac.uk

First published: 26 August 2015