Birkbeck welcomes Fulbright Scholar
Specialist in early 20th century literature comes to Bloomsbury
Birkbeck welcomes Professor Georgia Johnston (pictured right), Professor of English at Saint Louis University, Missouri, as the College’s first Fulbright-Birkbeck Scholar.
A specialism in early 20th century literature and modernist autobiography – and a particular interest in the writings of Virginia Woolf – has brought ProfessorJohnston to Bloomsbury, one-time home of the writer and many of her contemporary writers and thinkers. Birkbeck’s School of Arts building in Gordon Square, where Professor Johnston will be based, was home to Virginia Woolf and her siblings between 1905 and 1907.
Professor Johnston said: “I am delighted to have this opportunity to spend some time at Birkbeck, and to be able to use the British Library and other archive resources, including collections at the Wellcome Institute, for my current research.
“I think being here in Bloomsbury will bring huge benefits to my thinking about this early 20th century period of literature. Most of my published work has been involved in gender and autobiography in some way, and I am half way through a book exploring our understanding of subjectivity, and how the individual fits in with the culture of the time.
“The early 20th century was a fascinating period, when social sciences such as psychoanalysis, eugenics, and sexology were emerging and developing. Much energy was being spent on classification and the categorisation of types, sweeping the individual to one side. I am particularly interested in the literary representation of individuals who can’t or won’t conform to societal expectations.”
Professor Johnston added: “Coming from the US to England, I am finding out about the difference in cultures. I will be looking at how writers, such as TS Eliot, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Ford Madox Ford and Rebecca West, responded to those early 20th century emerging ideas of gender and categorization. I think being here in London, and in Bloomsbury, will help me understand those works in a way that I am not sure I could have gotten elsewhere.”
During her three months at Birkbeck, Prof Johnston will deliver a public lecture, ‘Cultural misfits – gender in early 20th century literature’, at the Museum of London on 16 March, as part of the American perspectives Fulbright series at Gresham College.
The US-UK Fulbright Awards Programme is part of the Fulbright Commission’s mission to foster mutual cultural understanding though educational exchange between both nations. Scholarships and grants are awarded to some 50 academics each year to study, lecture, or carry out research in any academic field at leading institutions in both the US and the UK.
Professor Johnston added: “While my interest in Virginia Woolf was a real draw for coming to Birkbeck, there are also many similarities between Birkbeck and my own institution, Saint Louis University. Both are concerned with educating the whole person, and preparing them for life ahead. While Saint Louis University doesn't teach so fully in the evenings as Birkbeck does, it nevertheless has the same strong community feel and connection with its students. I’m delighted to be here and to meet my Birkbeck colleagues, and to be able to do my research in this wonderful part of academic London.”