Literary Worlds Research Group
The Literary Worlds Research Group brings together Australia-based and international researchers in literary studies broadly conceived. The aims of this group are to develop and grow joint research projects on world literatures across the linguistic areas of expertise of its affiliated members including some of the lesser-spoken languages of the world, to support HDRs and ECRs through a community of practice, and to engage with diverse communities through outreach activities.
Our researchers explore the intersection between literatures, visual and material culture, global and regional cultures, translation, theoretical perspectives on literary studies, including gender and environmental studies.
Group convenors
Funded projects
Provincial Poets and the Making of a Nation (DE200101206)
The aim of my project is to rediscover prominent regional poetic voices swept aside by the powerful centralising forces constructing national identity in nineteenth-century France.
I love a sunburnt country | A land of sweeping plains, | Of ragged mountain ranges, | Of droughts and flooding rains… When I moved to what we now call “Australia” from the other side of the world, I realised that virtually everyone could recite these lines by heart. Poetry and songs have traditionally played a crucial role in conveying and fostering strong feelings of attachment to a particular place and sentiments of shared belonging. The aim of my project is to rediscover prominent regional poetic voices swept aside by the powerful centralising forces constructing national identity in nineteenth-century France. In doing so, I hope also to reach a more positive and empowering view of provincialism and to challenge the dated division between central and peripheral cultures. The rich potential of locality and place as expressed through poetry will provide novel evidence in support of public debates aimed at bridging the urban-rural divide in Australia, France and beyond.
Investigator: Valentina Gosetti
Call for papers open
Networks and Transnational Communities of Letters
A One-Day In-Person Conference followed by an Online Roundtable
Organised by
The Literary Worlds Research Group at the University of New England, Australia
Venue: UNE Sydney Campus
Date: Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Associate Professor Leonel Alvarado, lalvarad@une.edu.au; Dr Diana Barnes, diana.barnes@une.edu.au Dr Celina Bortolotto, mbortolo@une.edu.au Dr Bernard Bourque, bbourqu2@une.edu.au Associate Professor Elizabeth Hale, ehale@une.edu.au Dr Jennifer Mae Hamilton, jennifer.hamilton@une.edu.au Beth Kearney, bkearne4@une.edu.au Dr Sarah Lawrence, slawren4@une.edu.au Associate Professor Jennifer McDonell, jmcdonel@une.edu.au Dr Miriam Neigert, mneigert@une.edu.au Dr Lili Pâquet, lpaquet@une.edu.au Dr Sophie Patrick, sophie.patrick@une.edu.au Dr Victoria Souliman, victoria.souliman@une.edu.au Dr Ariella Van Luyn, avanluyn@une.edu.au NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS (alphabetical order) Dr Emma Louise Barlow, em.lou.barlow@gmail.com Dr Thom Conroy, t.conroy@massey.ac.nz Professor Natalie Edwards, natalie.edwards@adelaide.edu.au Dr Daniel A. Finch-Race, daniel.finchrace@unibo.it; Dr Paul Gibbard, paul.gibbard@uwa.edu.au Dr Christopher Hogarth, Christopher.Hogarth@unisa.edu.au Dr Amy Hubbell, a.hubbell@uq.edu.au Dr Greg Kerr, Greg.Kerr@glasgow.ac.uk Dr Alexandra Kurmann, alex.kurmann@mq.edu.au Dr Alice Loda, alice.loda@uts.edu.au Dr Christie Margrave, C.Margrave@uea.ac.uk Dr Caterina Paoli, paolicaterina@gmail.com Associate Professor Alistair Rolls, Alistair.Rolls@newcastle.edu.au Dr Kishore Saval, kishore.saval@acu.edu.au Dr Clara Sitborn, clara.sitbon@sydney.edu.au Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley, e.tilley@massey.ac.nz 21 October 2021 - Lectura Dantis in the Virtual Classroom in partnership with the The Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney, an official body of the Italian government, which has as its aim the promotion of Italian language and culture in Australia (NSW, Queensland and NT) and New Zealand through the organisation of cultural events fostering the diffusion of ideas in the arts and sciences. https://iicsydney.esteri.it/iic_sydney/en/gli_eventi/calendario/2021/10/lectura-dantis-nella-classe-virtuale.html Friday 25 March 2022 - Literary Worlds Research Festival, a very successful festival of ideas involving scholars from UNE, The University of Newcastle, The University of Adelaide, The University of Queensland, The University of Sydney, Massey University in New Zealand, and the University of Bologna in Italy. Tuesday 10 May 2022 – International Event “Bypassing Paris? Se Passer de Paris?” : An Online Multi-Platform Discussion Forum and Workshop (part of the ARC DECRA Project “Provincial Poets and the Making of a Nation”). Organisers: A/Prof. Valentina Gosetti, UNE & Professor Heather Williams, Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru | University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies; Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru | National Library of Wales Networks and Transnational Communities of Letters A One-Day In-Person Conference followed by an Online Roundtable Organised by The Literary Worlds Research Group at the University of New England, Australia Venue: UNE Sydney Campus Date: Wednesday, 19 June 2024 The Literary Worlds Research Group at University of New England (UNE), in Australia, co-chaired and co-founded by Giulia Torello-Hill and Valentina Gosetti, would like to encourage a broad discussion around the ongoing productivity of the idea of “network” within literary studies broadly interpreted during ‘Networks and Transnational Communities of Letters’, a one-day international conference to be held at UNE Sydney. This theme takes inspiration from the collection Early Modern Women and Transnational Communities of Letters (Campbell and Larsen 2009) that explored the interconnections between early modern women writers, their cultural geographies and their crossing of linguistic, cultural and literary borders. Building on Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih’s insight to ‘look sideways to lateral networks that are not readily apparent’ (2005: 1), as well as indigenous epistemologies that invite us to ‘seek the most insightful knowledge in the most marginalised point of view’ (Yunkaporta 2019: 33), this conference’s aim is to foster a cross-disciplinary, diachronic and multilingual investigation of the idea of ‘network’ as a framework for inclusion of silenced, neglected, or unjustly underrepresented voices in our literary worlds. In embracing Caroline Levine’s reorientation of literary studies around the network rather than the nation, this conference’s ambition is thus to highlight ‘patterns of circulation rather than rootedness, zigzagging movements rather than stable foundations’ (Levine 2013: 657). We encourage submissions for in-person individual or co-authored traditional papers, creative presentations or dialogic exchanges of around 15 minutes in English. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to: This One-Day Conference will run entirely in-person, but all presentations and keynotes will be broadcast live via Zoom for remote delegates. The Conference will be followed by a two-hour online-only round-table to workshop ideas, which will take place on Friday 21 June 2024. Format for remote participants: We invite anyone interested in participating to the two-hour online-only session to submit podcasts/videos of up to 10-minutes or, alternatively, 1000-word statements to be circulated around two weeks before the event itself. We invite reflections around the idea of ‘network’ within literary studies from all possible angles (across the centuries, across different languages and contexts, comparatively, creatively, etc.) The goal is a collective publication on this subject. Whether you are interested in the in-person One-Day Conference at UNE Sydney or in the online roundtable, please send your proposal of 250 words and a short bio up to 100 words to gtorello@une.edu.au and vgosetti@une.edu.au by Monday 19 February 2024. References Campbell, Julie D. and Anne R. Larsen (eds.), Early Modern Women and Transnational Communities of Letters (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2009). Caroline Levine, ‘From Nation to Network’, Victorian Studies, 55.4 (2013), 647-666. Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih, ‘Introduction: Thinking through the Minor, Transnationally’, in Minor Transnationalism (Durham: Duke University Press Books, 2005) Tyson Yunkaporta, sand talk. How Indigenous Thinking Can Save The World (Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2019)
