Alumna Published in the Virginia Woolf Miscellany

Kylie Horan '24, English, was just published in the Virginia Woolf Miscellany (on Woolf's birthday, no less), with her paper "Woolf, Will, and the War Bride: Cymbeline and The Figure of Fascist Italy in Mrs. Dalloway."

As Kylie posted on her LinkedIn page, "The first English course I took at Villanova—the one that confirmed I truly had to study literature—was a semester-long dive into Woolf’s body of work taught by the incomparable Dr. Megan Quigley. Eighteen years old and a bit out of my depth, I was stunned by the beauty of Woolf’s words; I felt I had begun a relationship with her books that would last the rest of my lifetime."

As Kylie notes in the Miscellany, "The essay is the author’s adaptation of her final essay for ENG 5000: Woolf and Her Daughters, completed during her undergraduate studies at Villanova University." In the paper, Kylie argues that "Woolf revises Shakespeare’s political parable for a post-war Europe by doubling Rezia with Imogen as the synecdoche of her country, ultimately destabilizing Imogen’s (and thus Britain’s) happy ending to reflect the foreboding future influence of newly fascist Italy."

Kylie's paper, which won the Angelica Garnett Undergraduate Essay Prize, is featured in the most recent issue of the Miscellany, which can be read on the Miscellany's site here (Kylie's paper starts on p. 32). 

Virginia Woolf

2025 Literary Festival

More information here. 

Student Advisory Council Meeting: Friday, January 24

Join the English department’s Student Advisory Council! The Student Advisory Council plays a critical role in making the English department a vibrant, welcoming community. Members suggest programming ideas, serve as consultants for the faculty and as peer advisers for new majors. They also help promote the major to prospective and undeclared students throughout the academic year. It is a great opportunity to get involved and shape our community here at Villanova. For more about past members, see the English department blog. There’s no application, no election: anyone who is interested in getting involved is welcome to attend the meeting and be part of the Advisory Council. The first meeting of the semester will take place on Friday, January 24 at 3:00 pm in the English Department office, SAC 402. There will be cookies!! If you are planning to attend or have questions about the Student Advisory Council, email Professor Mary Mullen at Mary.l.mullen@villanova.edu

Nova English Students, Alumni, and Faculty Participate in Miltonathon

VU English faculty, students, and alumni were featured in a 24-hour global shared reading of the work of John Milton, produced by the Milton's Cottage Trust, on 8 November 2024 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of Milton’s death. Launching at Bread Street in London, where Milton was born, and culminating at St Giles Cripplegate, where he’s buried, the Miltonathon travelled to a wide range of venues with Miltonic connections and collections en route.

VU Prof. Lauren Shohet coordinated the reading of Paradise Lost book 4. You can hear English major Frankie Frabizzio '25, recent English alum Kylie Horan '25, and Professor Shohet reading from Milton's work on Youtube.

Professor Mary Mullen Publishes "Public Humanities, Then and Now"

 Professor Mary Mullen recently published "Public Humanities, Then and Now" in the recently launched journal, Public Humanities. The article draws on her research and builds on many discussions from her "Institutional Fictions" course. Here is the abstract:

"This essay considers how the nineteenth-century idea of the university as a refuge, constructed by thinkers like John Henry Newman, continues to shape contemporary universities and the field of public humanities. This vision of the university has lasting appeal for obvious reasons. In a culture predicated on speed, slowness is a political act. In a culture of hot takes, cold reasoning often provides necessary context, a wider view. And yet, as W. E. B. Du Bois warns, the “tenacious legend” of the Victorian university is dangerous because it separates the university from mass culture. Building on Du Bois’s thinking, the essay concludes that instead of seeking protection, enclosure, or recognition within university institutions, public humanities practitioners should seek refuge in the relationships of mutual responsibility they foster."