Georgina Gale

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

Research title: Chapters of Horror: Gothic Narrativisations of Gender Violence in Late-Victorian Journalism

Research Summary

My research focuses on how late-nineteenth-century journalists created gothic narrativizations of violence against women prior to the Whitechapel murders of 1888. Examining specific cases of news reporting, my thesis considers how the rhetoric and motifs of contemporary gothic fiction were used by the press as both a means of advocating for social reform and as a tool to apoliticise stories of gender violence and poverty.

My broader research interests include: 

  • The gothic 
  • Sensational journalism
  • Scissors-and-paste journalism
  • Penny bloods and dreadfuls 
  • 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 France. (2023)
  • RSVP merit-based travel grant, $500.00 to attend the RSVP annual conference in France. (2023)
  • RSA funding, £397.70 to attend the University of Vechta's 'Victorian Darknesses' conference in Germany. (2024)
  • RSVP merit-based travel grant, $250.00 to attend the RSVP annual conference in Scotland. (2024)
  • RSA funding, £243.60 to visit the British Library's Rare Books collection. (2024) 

Conference

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

  • Public Talk for Living Knowledge Network Exhibition at the Mitchell Library, presenting 'Chapters of Horror: How the Gothic Bled into Late-Victorian Journalism'. November 2023

  • 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

  • RSVP conference 'Place in the Victorian Periodical Press', presenting '“Grant me one hour of horrors fed full”: The St James’s Gazette’s use of horror to attack ‘Maiden Tribute’ (1885)'. June 2024

  • Public Talk for 'Horror at the Mitchell Library', presenting 'Blood Fantastic: The Gothic Roots of Victorian Popular Fiction'. November 2024

Teaching

GTA for English Literature 1A: Poetry & Poetics 

GTA for Centre for Fantasy & the Fantastic's Summer School: Fantasy TV Shows 

Seminar for Centre for Fantasy & the Fantastic's PhD cohort: Serials and Seriality 

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. 
  • Administrator for Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations Conference (GIFCon) 2024.