Dr Laura Eastlake
- James Murray Beattie Lecturer in Victorian Literature (English Literature)
- Affiliate (School of Critical Studies)
email:
Laura.Eastlake@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
She/her/hers
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2513-2176Biography
I joined the University of Glasgow as James Murray Beattie Lecturer in Victorian Literature in 2024. Before that I was Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Edge Hill University and founding Co-Director of EHU Nineteen Centre for Nineteenth Century Studies. I hold an MA, MLitt and PhD from the University of Glasgow.
Research interests
- Reception Studies
- Victorian Masculinities
- Substance Histories - particularly sugar
- Gothic and Sensation Fiction
My research focuses on receptions and legacies. I am interested in how the Victorians looked to certain pasts (particularly the classical world) to articulate their present, and how legacies of the nineteenth century continue to shape our culture, society and health today.
My book, Ancient Rome and Victorian Masculinity (Oxford University Press, 2019) uncovered how Victorian writers and artists looked to the ancient Roman world to construct models of masculinity. My most recent article explores how volcanos—particularly the excavations at Pompeii—have shaped the history of vampire fiction.
I have worked with museums including the Atkinson in Southport and the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, engaging audiences with different aspects of Victorian culture. As Honorary Research Fellow with the Atkinson I have curated exhibitions including:
- Dr Jekyll's Study: Science and Medicine in the Nineteenth Century.
- 'We Are Not Amused', which challenged the perception of the Victorians as po-faced and humourless.
- 'Fatal Attraction', which examined the long history of the ‘femme fatale’ from the ancient world to the silver screen.
My current research explores Britain’s cultural relationships with refined sugar from the nineteenth century to the present. I am interested in how sugar got into Britain's cultural bloodstreams as well as our literal ones in the century which gave rise to habits and health problems that continue with us today.
Supervision
I am available to discuss potential PhD or masters projects in Victorian literature, classical receptions, nineteenth century masculinity, Victorian Gothic and Sensation Fiction.
I have previously supervised PGR projects on topics including:
- Forgeries and invented art in fiction (jointly with Creative Writing)
- The seaside resort in the nineteenth-century imagination
- Fantastic beasts and where to print them: monsters and mythical creatures in the Victorian press
- Representations of hands in Victorian popular fiction
- Spartacus in fiction and film
Teaching
Semester 1
- 2A: Writing Ecologies (Convener)
- Literary Theories
Semester 2
- 1B:Critical Skill-Making - The Study of the Novel
- 2B: Writing the Body
