Introduction to the Special Issue: Honoring Linda Peterson

Abstract

Introduction to the Special Issue:Honoring Linda Peterson Alexis Easley, Editor, VPR In the cover photo to this special issue, Linda Peterson smiles as she looks up from her laptop computer. She is clearly in her element—preparing a lecture aboard the Sea Cloud II with her husband Fred Strebeigh at her side. Those of us who knew Linda recognize her welcoming smile and remember the engaging conversation that was always soon to follow. Fred tells me that the photo was taken during the winter of 2013 when they were co-teaching a course for Yale alumni titled "The History and Gardens of the Caribbean." I can only envy the lucky students who listened to Linda's lectures and spent time sailing with her among those tropical isles. I, like so many other members of RSVP, was a frequent beneficiary of Linda's mentorship and collegiality. She was the first scholar to cite one of my published works in a talk at RSVP and the first to invite me to speak on a plenary panel. For Linda, mentoring fellow scholars was an integral part of her scholarly practice. A colleague, Dal Liddle, recently recounted a characteristic instance of Linda's generosity. He was attending the 2010 RSVP Conference at Yale and mentioned to Linda in passing that he was doing some research on Harriet Martineau. Moments later, Linda appeared with a stack of handwritten notes from her archival research abroad. Even though she was busy managing the conference, she took time to find a quiet room where Dal could study these archival materials between panel sessions. Such generosity was not unusual for Linda. In 2015, Linda Hughes noted how dozens of scholars stepped forward to acknowledge Linda Peterson's instrumental role in their careers, recounting how she "had helped them with recommendations, encouraged them in their work, or served as a role model for all that a scholar might be, whether they knew her or not" (VPR 49.3 [2015]: 303). "Among those lucky enough to know her," Hughes reflects, "each of us felt we had a special tie to Linda—because she made us feel this way and because friendships and collegiality were so important to her" (303). Linda Peterson's scholarship on gender, life writing, poetry, authorship, and the periodical press defined the field of Victorian studies in instrumental ways. Her monographs, Victorian Autobiography: The Tradition of Self-Interpretation (1986), Traditions of Victorian Women's Autobiography: The Poetics and Politics of Life Writing (1999), and Becoming a Woman of Letters: Myths of Authorship and Facts of the Victorian Market (2009), inspired a whole generation of feminist scholarship. And her editions of Harriet Martineau's and Margaret Oliphant's autobiographies [End Page 271] were crucial in establishing the importance of both writers in the history of Victorian journalism. She also contributed two important essays to VPR, "Mother-Daughter Productions: Mary Howitt and Anna Mary Howitt in Howitt's Journal, Household Words, and Other Mid-Victorian Publications" (VPR 31.1 [1998]: 31–53) and "Nineteenth-Century Women Poets and Periodical Spaces: Letitia Landon and Felicia Hemans" (VPR 49.3 [2016]: 396–414). RSVP will always treasure these and her many other contributions to our field. This special issue highlights the ongoing resonance of Linda's work within our scholarly community. Some contributors take Linda's theories of life writing as their starting point, using her critical insights as inspiration for new explorations of auto/biographical narratives in the periodical press. Others build upon her legacy by shedding new light on the careers of women journalists that Linda was instrumental in bringing back into the scholarly conversation: Mary Howitt, Margaret Oliphant, and Alice Meynell. It is with deep gratitude and ongoing admiration that we dedicate this special issue to the memory of Linda Peterson, whose work and life testify to all that we value most in our scholarly society—critical daring, passionate inquiry, and generous collegiality. [End Page 272] Copyright © 2017 The Research Society for Victorian Periodicals