Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Revising the Canon, Extending Cultural Boundaries, and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity

Abstract

AbstractThis paper forms part of a Literature Compass cluster of articles which examines the current state of Victorian Literary Studies and future directions. This group of four essays was originally commissioned by Francis O’Gorman (University of Leeds), who also provides an introduction to the cluster.The full cluster is made up of the following articles:‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Introduction’, Francis O’Gorman, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00467.x.‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Revising the Canon, Extending Cultural Boundaries, and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity’, Joanne Shattock, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00468.x.‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? –“Interesting Times” and the Lesson of “A Corner in Lightning”’, David Amigoni, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00469.x.‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Historicism, Collaboration and Digital Editing’, Valerie Sanders, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00470.x.‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Historicism and Hospitality’, John Bowen, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00471.x.***This article argues that the future of Victorian literary studies will include the continuous revision and expansion of the canon, and the extension of what we regard as ‘literary’ texts to include writing on science, philosophy, history, medicine and related areas. Meanwhile the process of reviewing and rehabilitating unfashionable or neglected writers and consigning others to the periphery will go on, although a core of major authors will continue to attract scholarly and critical attention. There will be an increasing focus on the new histories of the book, on authorship and readership. Research on print culture in its widest sense will expand in the wake of the ongoing digitisation of printed materials, a process which ultimately will transform the way we do research. The focus on writers and texts will move from a metropolitan‐centred one to embrace the literatures in English of the countries of the Empire and of North America, and more problematically, to include the literature and culture of Europe in the nineteenth century. The latter development poses a challenge to the hitherto monolingual nature of Victorian literary studies. Finally there will be a continued engagement in multi‐disciplinary, cross‐disciplinary if not truly interdisciplinary work that has been characteristic of Victorian Studies since its emergence in the 1950s.