Early  Career  International  Research  Fellowship  2015  

  Mary  Fairclough    

‘Electrical  Tropes  in  Literary  and  Political  Texts’      

     

As  part  of  its  international  research  collaboration,  the  ARC  Centre  of  Excellence  for  the  History  of  Emotions  funds  outstanding  international  scholars  in  the  field  to  visit  one  or  more  of  the  Australian  nodes  for  a  period  of  between  four  weeks  and  two  months,  to  work  with  members  of  the  Centre  on  a  research  program  of  their  choice.  Visitors  are  invited  to  present  their  work  in  lectures  or  symposia,  where  they  will  receive  feedback  from  and  engage  in  discussion  with  members  of  the  Centre,  promoting  collaborative  research.      Mary  Fairclough  held  an  Early  Career  International  Research  Fellowship  in  2015  and  travelled  to  Australia  to  work  with  the  Centre  for  a  period  of  seven  weeks.  Mary  is  based  in  the  Centre  for  Eighteenth  Century  Studies  at  the  University  of  York  and  was  previously  a  member  of  the  Department  of  English  Language  and  Literature  at  the  University  of  Huddersfield.  She  completed  an  MA  and  PhD  at  the  University  of  York.  Her  research  interests  lie  in  the  intersection  between  literature,  politics  and  science  in  the  long  eighteenth  century  and  she  published  her  first  monograph,  The  Romantic  Crowd,  with  Cambridge  University  Press  in  2013.  Her  current  project  explores  the  ways  in  which  the  discourse  of  electrical  science  was  appropriated  in  literary  and  political  texts  and  she  is  preparing  another  monograph,  titled  Electrick  Communication  Every  Where.        Mary  comments  on  her  time  as  an  Early  Career  Research  Fellow  with  CHE,  below.      

 

In   the   spring   of   2015   I   had   the   privilege   of   undertaking   a   CHE   visiting   fellowship   at   The  University  of  Adelaide.  I  was  based  in  Adelaide  from  20  January  to  30  March  2015  and  made  a   very   useful   and   enjoyable   visit   to   the   CHE   node   at   The  University   of  Western   Australia  (UWA)  from  1–8  March.     My   research   investigates   the   connections   between   emotions   and   political  communication   in   the   late   eighteenth   and   early   nineteenth   centuries,   and   the  representation   of   such   communication   in   literary   works.   In   my   first   book,   The   Romantic  Crowd   (Cambridge   University   Press,   2013),   I   explored   how   theories   of   sympathy   and  sympathetic   communication   had   taken   on   new   political   resonance   in   the   aftermath   of  revolution   in   France   and   campaigns   for   reform   in   Britain,   1790–1830.   During  my   time   in  Adelaide  I  conducted  research  for  my  second  monograph,  a  project  arising  out  of  the  first  as  I   became   increasingly   interested   in   the  ways   in  which   communication   of  many   kinds  was  described   in   terms   of   electrical   language.  During  my   fellowship   I   researched   and  wrote   a  chapter  of  this  new  book,  Electrick  Communication  Every  Where  (Palgrave  Macmillan,  2016).  It  focuses  on  the  work  of  Dr  James  Graham,  a  notorious  London  showman  and  quack  in  the  1770s  and  1780s,  who  claimed  that  electricity  had  salutary  effects  for  both  the  conception  of  children  and  sexual  pleasure  and  charged  patients  £50  a  night  for  the  use  of  his  celestial  bed,   which   ‘combined   aethereal,   magnetic,   musical   and   other   irresistibly   animating   and  invigorating   influences  with   the   electrical   fire’.   I   found   that  Graham’s   scandalous   practice  had  important   implications  for  a   later  generation  of  poets,  who  made  electricity  a  catalyst  for   sexual   feeling  but  also   for  political  enthusiasm.  While  exploring   this  new  material,   the  support  and  guidance  of  Professor  David  Lemmings,  Dr  Heather  Kerr  and  other  colleagues  in  Adelaide   was   invaluable.   David   Lemmings’   new   project   on   emotions   in   the   eighteenth-­‐century  courtroom  dovetailed  in  particularly  interesting  fashion  with  my  work  on  sympathy  in   public   life.   During   the   fellowship   I   presented  my  work   on   sympathy   to   colleagues   and  students   in   a   session   titled   ‘The   Romantic   Crowd:   Collective   Emotion   at   the   Turn   of   the  Nineteenth  Century’,  on  11  March  2015,  and  at   the  end  of  my   time   in  Adelaide   I  gave  an  account  of  my  new  work  in  a  session  on  James  Graham  and  the  poet  Mary  Robinson.     My  week  at  UWA,  hosted  by  Professor  Bob  White  and  his  colleagues,  proved  equally  useful   and   informative.   During   my   time   in   Perth   it   was   a   pleasure   to   meet   more   CHE  colleagues   and   to   find   out  more   about   the  work   of   the   Centre.   I   gave   two   presentations  while  at  UWA:  the  first  a  work-­‐in-­‐progress  seminar  for  the  Discipline  of  English  and  Cultural  Studies  on  3  March  2015,   titled   ‘Electricity,  Feeling  and  Eroticism:  Mary  Robinson  and  the  Electric   Bed’,   and   the   second   a   public   lecture   on   5  March   titled   ‘Adam  Walker,   Electrical  Itinerant:  Science,  Showmanship  and  Sedition,  1760–1820’.  At  both  of  these  events,   it  was  great   to   receive   feedback   and   comments   from  CHE   and   English   literature   colleagues,   and  from  members  of  the  public.  These  short  papers  all  fed  into  the  content  of  my  monograph  Electrick  Communication  Every  Where,  so  it  was  really  important  to  road-­‐test  these  ideas  at  an  early  stage,  and  before  different  audiences.     My  fellowship  at  CHE  was  of  enormous  benefit  to  my  work.  It  was  a  privilege  to  have  time  and  opportunity   to   reflect  on   the  crossover  between  my  work  on   sympathy  and   the  

 

field   of   the   history   of   the   emotions   with   experts   in   that   field,   as   well   as   the   time   and  resources   to   pursue   work   on   my   new   project.   Since   completing   the   fellowship   I   have  discussed  my  research  on  Graham  on  the  BBC  Radio  Scotland  program  Mad  Science,  on  24  June  2015,  and  completed  my  work  on  the  monograph  on  electricity.  I’m  also  pleased  to  say  that  my  home  institution,  the  University  of  York  in  the  UK,  has  strengthened  its  connections  with  CHE.  The  interdisciplinary  centres  for  Medieval  Studies,  Renaissance  and  Early  Modern  Studies  and  Eighteenth  Century  Studies  at  York  now  have  partnership  status  with  CHE  and  we   are   jointly   organising   an   international   conference,   ‘Powerful   Emotions/Emotions   and  Power,   c.400–1850’,   to   be   held   at   the  University   of   York   in   June   2017.   I   look   forward   to  developing  many  of  the  important  relationships  that  I  formed  during  my  time  in  Adelaide  as  part  of  this  ongoing  partnership.