Georgina Gale

g.gale.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Research title: Gothic Realities: the Relationship between Gothic Fiction and Late-Victorian Journalism

Research Summary

My project focuses on how late-Victorian journalists engaged with gothic modes when reporting on gender violence. Building upon existing studies of the Whitechapel murder reportage of 1888, I examine how specific cases prior to these crimes show earlier influence of the gothic in journalism, and consider how contemporary gothic modes were used by the press both as a means of advocating for social reform and as a tool to de-politicise stories of gender violence and poverty.

My broader research interests include: 

  • The gothic 
  • Victorian journalism
  • Scissors-and-paste publishing 
  • Periodical publishing
  • Fantasy horror fiction 
  • Gender in the nineteenth-century

Supervisors

External supervisors

Professor Christine Ferguson - University of Stirling

Grants

  • RSA-RSTG funding, £146.30 to visit the British Library's 'Barry Ono' collection. (2022) 
  • RSA-RSTG funding, £396.24 to attend the RSVP annual conference in Caen. (2023)
  • RSVP merit-based travel grant, $500.00 to attend the RSVP annual conference in Caen. (2023)

Conference

  • RSVP annual conference 'Currents in the Periodical Press', presenting 'Blame him (in)Stead: Manipulating Australian News to Attack ‘Maiden Tribute’'.  July 2023

  • (Upcoming:) Victorian Darknesses conference at the University of Vechta, presenting 'Transformed by the Darkness: The Gothic Othering of Working-class Girls in Stead’s ‘Maiden Tribute’ (1885)'. February 2024

Teaching

GTA for English Literature 1A: Poetry & Poetics 

Additional Information

Affiliations

Projects

  • Victorian Gothic An open access repository of nineteenth-century gothic texts, author biographies, and an accompanying blog. The aim of this project is to make texts more accessible, and to promote study of the Victorian era and gothic literature. 

Organisational Committees

  • Wicked Readings (co-host). PGR reading group focusing on fantasy horror literature, run by the University of Glasgow's Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic. For further information, see our Twitter or join the Discord server. 

Georgina Gale